$200 Mil. Activision Media in Play

Publicis Groupe’s MediaVest, the U.S. incumbent on Activision, will defend, per sources. Other contenders, sources said, include Havas’ MPG, Omnicom’s OMD,  WPP’s Mediaedge:cia and independent Horizon Media, which is pitching in partnership with Columbus Media International, the global agency consortium it helped form three years ago.

In the U.S. alone the client spent approximately $70 million on ads in 2008, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

The review follows the July 2008 merger of Activision with Vivendi, a rival maker of video games under the Blizzard Entertainment label.