Activision was the first independent, third-party, console video game developer. on Octoin Sunnyvale, California, by former Atari game developers upset at their treatment by Atari in order to develop their own games for the popular Atari 2600 home video game console. The company was founded as Activision, Inc. Activision is one of the largest third-party video game publishers in the world and was the top United States publisher in 2016. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California.