http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/Activision

Cue the letter tornado.

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Activision is known in the United States as the first "third-party" developer, getting its nose in the video game industry with games for the Atari 2600, and co-founded by four former Atari designers (David Crane, Larry Kaplan, Bob Whitehead and Alan Miller) on October 1, 1979. Against Atari's publishing policies at the time, Activision was the first studio to allow programmers to take credit for the games they designed.

Unlike many other companies developing games for second-generation consoles, Activision survived The Great Video Game Crash of 1983 intact, being quick to jump on the Commodore 64 bandwagon, and even added to its catalog several games from defunct competitor Imagic, whose advertising Tagline for their games was "Designed By Experts For Experts". Activision acquired Infocom in 1986.

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In 2007, Activision merged with Vivendi Games (who owned Sierra and Blizzard Entertainment at the time), to became Activision Blizzard, the single largest third-party game developer in the United States, surpassing Electronic Arts. (Vivendi Games was previously Universal Interactive, before being acquired by French media company Vivendi.)

Today, the company is best known for being the publisher of the Call of Duty series and games by Blizzard Entertainment, kicking off the late 2000s music game fad with the Guitar Hero seriesnote Although they only signed on to publish from the second game onwards and for its controversial business practices, especially concerning the contractual dispute with Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward.

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Pre-crash Activision games:

Pre-crash Imagic games:

Post-crash Activision games:

Sierra Entertainment/Vivendi/Universal properties:

Blizzard properties:

See Blizzard Entertainment For a complete list.