It's a loss this time, but don't expect that to continue

The financial results for the 3rd quarter are in for Activision/Blizzard, and this time it's a loss. According to the number calculated through the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), the company took a loss of $194 million. If they didn't use GAAP, they'd have a profit of $113 million - but they have to use GAAP because the government says so.

Don't look at this as a trend though. The merger between Activision and Vivendi happened during this quarter, bringing with it a lot of large, one-time costs. Along with the financial report came some highlighted events for the quarter:

Business Highlights

-- For the September quarter, Activision Blizzard had two of the top-10 titles in dollars on all console platforms in the U.S., according to The NPD Group.

-- For the September quarter, Activision Blizzard was the #1 third-party publisher on the Nintendo DS, according to The NPD Group.

-- For the September quarter, Guitar Hero: On Tour was the #1 best-selling title overall in North America for the Nintendo DS, according to The NPD Group.

-- For the September quarter, Activision Blizzard had two of the top-five PC titles worldwide -- Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft: Battle Chest(R) and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, according to Charttrack, Gfk and The NPD Group.

-- For the first nine months of the calendar year, Guitar Hero remained the #1 best-selling franchise in U.S. on all console platforms, according to the NPD Group.

-- On July 9, 2008, Vivendi Games, Inc. and Activision, Inc. completed the transaction, announced on December 2, 2007 to create Activision Blizzard as the world's most profitable pure-play online and console game publisher. Activision Blizzard was formed by combining Activision, Inc., one of the world's leading independent publishers of interactive entertainment, and Vivendi Games, Inc., Vivendi's interactive entertainment business, which includes Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, the world's #1 subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game ("MMORPG").

-- On August 12, 2008, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and NetEase.com, Inc. announced an agreement to license Blizzard Entertainment's StarCraft(R) II, Warcraft(R) III: Reign of Chaos(TM), Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne(TM), and Battle.net(R) platform, which provides online multiplayer services for these games, to Shanghai EaseNet Network Technology Limited, an affiliated company of NetEase.com, Inc. Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase also established a joint venture, which will provide support for the operation of the licensed games and Battle.net platform in China.

-- On September 8, 2008, Activision Blizzard completed a two-for-one stock split.

-- On September 12, 2008, Activision Publishing acquired FreeStyle Games, a premier U.K. based video game developer specializing in music-based games.

You take all that, combined with the latest subscriber numbers from World of Warcraft, and you can see why there's no fear over Activision/Blizzard's future despite a nearly $200 million quarterly loss.

For the full financial report, please check here.