Activision today announced that it is set to acquire RedOctane along with it's extremely popular Guitar Hero franchise. RedOctane will soon be a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision and the companies management have agreed to sign long term contracts. I guess we can expect to see more music based gaming from Activision in the future.

"Our acquisition of RedOctane perfectly aligns with Activision's strategy to broaden its portfolio by entering new genres that have strong global appeal," said Ron Doornink, Director and Strategic Advisor, Activision, Inc. "Guitar Hero integrates music and gaming in a unique and highly engaging way that delivers a compelling game experience for both the current- and next-generation consoles. The success we are seeing today is a strong indicator that Guitar Hero and the many potential extensions, new platform exploitations and international versions appear to be somewhat transition proof, as consumers are responding to this product on current-generation platforms in a manner that defies traditional late-cycle behavior. We think the online capabilities of the next-generation platforms offer new and well differentiated opportunities to create additional revenues from downloadable music, which today represents one of the most popular downloadable content categories."

"RedOctane is incredibly excited about joining forces with Activision to lead the industry in the music-based gaming category," said Kai Huang, President and Co-Founder of RedOctane, Inc.