Activision financial reports reveals possible Bond videogame licence fee

10-Aug-2006 • Gaming

An SEC filing from major publisher Activision has revealed several additional details on the firm's finances, following its recent financial results, including a $99.9 million total purchase price for Guitar Hero publisher RedOctane - reports GamaSutra.

But of interest to James bond videogame fans and 007 historians will be the possible licence fee paid by the studio to acquire the franchise rights - a coup that ended EA's reign.

A hint as to the upfront pricing of the Bond license was contained within a discussion of licensing revenues, since it was mentioned: "Continued investment in intellectual property licenses. We spent approximately $13.6 million in the quarter ended June 30, 2006 for license agreements granting us long-term rights to intellectual property of third parties, such as our agreement with MGM Interactive and EON Productions Ltd. granting us the rights to develop and publish interactive entertainment games based on the James Bond license." However, it is unclear how much of the $13.6 million was the Bond deal specifically.