In a conference call following its earnings report, Activision has confirmed that a new Call of Duty title will be released in 'fiscal 2009' - that is sometime between April 1st 2008 and March 31st 2009. The company has also stated that it will release the game to more platforms than it did for the fourth instalment in the series.

In his summary of Activision's upcoming highlights, Michael J Griffith, president & CEO of the Publishing Unit, said, “In addition to Guitar Hero, we’ll also continue to capitalize on the strength and momentum created by this year’s blockbuster launch of Call of Duty 4. In fiscal 2009, we’ll deliver the next annual release on more platforms and to a larger worldwide audience.

“This year, we’ll add the PS2 and Wii to the lineup in addition to the PS3, Xbox 360, NDS and PC. The large hardware installed base of the PS2 and growing base of the Wii will benefit the brand, especially as these consumers have not had a new Call of Duty for two years.”

There were no details beyond that, meaning questions as to what era the game will be set in and whether Infinity Ward will stay on board as developer remain unanswered.

Griffiths also stated that the Tony Hawk franchise is set for a further overhaul, noting that the release of Electronic Arts' skate has challenged Activision in the skateboarding genre. "Over the past six months, we’ve been working reengineer the Tony Hawk brand”, he stated. “We started with a deep dive evaluation of our approach to the genre and new trends in the videogame market. Then we conducted a significant amount of consumer research and testing to better understand the types of innovations that consumers want from this brand.

“...The results of our study have yielded fresh new concepts and breakthrough approaches that have been testing very well.”

Of Guitar Hero, Griffiths teased, “...we’ll continue to expand the Guitar Hero portfolio with two new offerings. For competitive reasons, we’re not going to announce the specifics yet but you’ll continue to see the franchise across a broadening platform base, new headline rock bands aligned with the game, new hardware innovations, and deeper international growth.”

With regard to Activision's Marvel licenses, Griffiths said, “We’ll also be supporting our leadership position in the superhero category with two new releases -- an all new Spider-man title and the sequel to the best-selling Marvel Ultimate Alliance.”

Griffiths also confirmed a couple of points on the cuddly movie front. “Also on the movie front, we have a standalone Kung Fu Panda game scheduled for the holiday season in time for the DVD launch (in addition to a release planned when the film débuts in cinemas) and a game based on Dreamworks’ upcoming Madagascar 2, and a release based on Dreamworks Monsters Versus Aliens.”

You can catch SPOnG's coverage of Activision's earnings report here.

^{Source: Seeking Alpha}