January 20^th, 2005 (2:39pm) - Strengthening its next-generation development capabilities, Activision announced that it has acquired game developer Vicarious Visions, the development studio behind the #1 best-selling third-party Nintendo DS title, Spider-Man 2. Vicarious Visions’ proven proprietary Alchemy middleware technology and tools will be combined with Activision’s next-generation tools and libraries to further enhance the company’s overall development efforts.

The acquisition underscores Activision’s strategy to continue building its technical infrastructure in order to take full advantage of the high-growth potential of the next-generation hardware platforms by acquiring technical and design talent with a history of high-quality product creation, while over time enhancing the company’s financial operating model.

Vicarious Visions has developed five games that have sold more than one million-units each and is currently co-developing the highly anticipated DOOM 3 for the Xbox with id Software, as well as Spider-Man 2, which will be a launch title for the upcoming PSP platform. In addition, they have developed such popular titles for the Game Boy Advance as Shrek 2, Shrek 2: Beg for Mercy, DreamWorks’ Shark Tale and Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 and Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro for the PlayStation game console.

Kathy Vrabeck, President of Activision Publishing, said, "Vicarious Visions’ talented development team and proprietary technology combined with our internal systems and capabilities will play a key role in Activision’s continued leadership on the next-generation platforms. Vicarious Visions has a track record of success and we are very excited to partner with them."

Under the terms of the agreement, Vicarious Visions’ 100-person studio, headquartered in Troy, NY, with offices in Mountain View, C.A, has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision. As part of the transaction, Vicarious Visions’ management team and key employees have signed long-term employment contracts with Activision.