As gaming evolves, Activision zeroes in on its Destiny, Call of Duty, and Skylanders (interview)

The appointment with Destiny has arrived. Activision is about to learn just how much gamers will love developer Bungie’s new major first-person shooter, Destiny. The sci-fi game ships in September, and the alpha test goes online to consumers Thursday.

Destiny will join Skylanders: Trap Team and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare as Activision’s blockbuster offerings for this fall. Billions of dollars are at stake, and the man on the hot seat is Eric Hirshberg, the chief executive of Activision Publishing, a division of Activision Blizzard. We caught up with him at the giant Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) tradeshow, and we talked about the prospects for the big games as well as the game industry itself.