It has been confirmed that Activision is cutting several franchises including Guitar Hero, True Crime, and Tony Hawk in 2011 due to declining sales. This action could prompt job cuts for employees at Freestyle Games and 7 Studios. The move to disband the Guitar Hero business unit is directly linked to sales of the game declining since it earned $2 billion from 2005 through 2009. It's clear that the popularity of the games has dropped as well and with other genres reshaping the industry, it's easy to understand why the franchise is getting axed. Guitar Hero had a very respectable run however, and was among the most popular titles in 2006 and 2007, but now it's game over.
Activison plans to refocus its resources and create a new studio, Beachhead, who will be in charge of putting together a dedicated online community for Call of Duty. This new company will also provide the games industry with additional content and services, though no specific information has been released. CEO Robert Kotick said that Activision/Blizzard finished as the No.1 game publisher in North America and Europe for 2010, with revenue increasing to $4.45 billion (compared to $4.28 billion on 2009). A reduction of 7% (around 500 people) to the publisher's global workforce will result in new jobs created by the Call of Duty initiative Beachhead Studios (working title) and other affiliates.