RealNetworks to offer Activision games on Internet

LOS ANGELES: Streaming media leader RealNetworks Inc. said on Wednesday that

it will begin distributing games published by Activision Inc. on its RealArcade

online gaming system, marking the third major game publisher to join the

service.

Activision, which publishes titles like "Quake III Arena" for

personal computers and "Spider-Man" for Sony Corp.'s PlayStation

console, will license some of its PC games to RealArcade.

"They have a huge suite of PC games, and that library is open to us to

request," said Paul Thelen, group product manager for games for

RealNetworks. No offerings from the Activision library have been announced yet.

Thelen said the decision on which games Real will offer will be determined by

potential download size and by royalties. Activision's console games are not

included in the deal and terms were not disclosed.

The RealArcade desktop software, which allows users to play, download and

review games, has had over 1.5 million downloads since its consumer launch in

May, the company said.

Thelen said that 25,000 to 30,000 games are being downloaded daily from

RealArcade, with 5 per cent of users opting to buy the games after a free trial

period.

Over 50 game publishers are now participating in RealArcade, the company

said, including many small and independent firms. The service launched with 40

publishers and 120 games. The other two major publishers are Infogrames Inc. and

Sierra Inc.

Real shares were down 20 per cent at $8.62 in afternoon trade on the Nasdaq,

after announcing weaker-than-expected results for the second quarter on Tuesday

and warning that the current quarter would be weaker as it waited out the

technology slump. Activision shares were down almost 5 per cent at $38.08 on

Nasdaq on Wednesday. For the year, Activision stock is up almost 165 per cent,

in line with the triple-digit percentage gains for many third-party video game

publishers.

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.