During their earnings call yesterday, Activision Blizzard revealed their intended release line-up for 2009, including new Guitar Hero games, new franchises and new entries to old franchises.

To start, the company intends to release a bevy of Guitar Hero (and just plain Hero) titles this year, including the already announced Guitar Hero: Metallica, a new DS title called Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits, the possibility (and inevitability) of something along the lines of Guitar Hero: World Tour 2, as well as their DJ-inspired title, DJ Hero.

The Blizzard portion of the company has dedicated itself to releasing one ‘frontline’ title per year, although it isn’t yet clear whether 2009’s frontline title from Blizzard will be Starcraft 2, Diablo III or perhaps another World of Warcraft expansion.

As a result of poorer than expected sales for James Bond: Quantum of Solace, the company will be moving the release of the next entry into the James Bond series of games to 2010, to avoid Activision Blizzard’s own titles cannibalizing each other’s sales, as they believed happened with the release of Call of Duty: World at War in a similar timeframe to Quantum of Solace.

2009 will also see the release of the new Wolfenstein game in the summer, currently in development at Raven under the watchful eye of series creator, id Software. Additionally, a new Tony Hawk game will be available at year’s end, which has apparently been ‘reinvented’ to successfully compete in the market, as Activision Blizzard CEO Mike Griffith comments:

“We said we would reinvent this franchise from the ground up and we have developed a very innovative and interactive approach for Tony. This should allow us to broaden the appeal of skateboarding beyond the core to mass market audiences and take advantage of this cycle’s dynamics. More details later for competitive reasons.”

New franchises from Activision Blizzard this year will come in the form of three titles, Singularity, Prototype and an unannounced racing game from Bizarre Creations. Griffith said of their new intellectual property:

“We’ve been cautious with new IP development. That’s lead to an excellent track record of success with the focus on big new franchises, not just one-off opportunities.”

A lot of games coming from Activision Blizzard to be excited about this year!