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ACTIVISION SIGNS AGREEMENT TO ACQUIRE PREMIER GAME DEVELOPER RAVEN SOFTWARE

Agreement Underscores Activision's Mandate to Expand Through Mergers and Acquisitions

Santa Monica, CA, August 7, 1997 -- Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Raven Software Corporation, a leading entertainment software developer that has created such popular titles as Heretic and Hexen: Beyond Heretic.

The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of August. Upon completion, Raven will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision and Raven shareholders will receive 1,040,000 shares of Activision common stock. The transaction will be effected on a tax-free basis and will be accounted for as a pooling of interests.

As a result of the merger, Activision will add the Hexen and Heretic properties to its growing lineup of category-leading brands and the company plans to create new extensions and sequels to these properties. Activision currently maintains long-term exclusive control over such genre-leading franchises as Zork, Heavy Gear, Dark Reign, Interstate '76, Shanghai, Pitfall and Civilization.

Raven is world renowned for its development of high-quality games in the action/role-playing genre. Approximately 1,000,000 units of the Hexen and Heretic lines have been published to date.

Activision expects that Raven's long-standing business relationship with id Software will continue after the acquisition. Brian and Steven Raffel, the founders of Raven and its principal shareholders, will continue to manage the Raven studio operation.

"This move is consistent with our strategy to acquire industry-leading franchise properties and the technical and design talent necessary to ensure high-quality future product flow," states Bobby Kotick, Chairman and CEO of Activision. "Raven has a proven track record of producing successful games and they meet all of our requirements for a sensible corporate acquisition."

"We at Raven Software are very excited about becoming part of the Activision team," states Brian Raffel, co-founder of Raven. "Activision is a quality publisher and has always created top-notch products. We feel the synergy between our two companies will facilitate many outstanding games in the future from Raven Software and Activision."

Hexen II, which is being developed by Raven, executive produced by id Software and published by Activision, currently is slated for a September release. Raven's other upcoming game titles Mageslayer and Take No Prisoners also are expected to be released this fall.

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Raven Software, founded in 1990, is based in Madison, Wisconsin. Activision, Inc. is a publicly held developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software for Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS compatible, Macintosh and other computers, as well as Sony PlayStation, Sega and Nintendo game systems. Activision is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and Australia.

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