During the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Activision Blizzard announced that 2007’s “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock” has become the first multi-platform console game to reach $1 billion in worldwide retail sales.

Considering that the publisher bought the Guitar Hero franchise for nearly $100 million a year earlier, you can bet they’re not singing the blues about this investment. Activision Blizzard also said the series has sold more than 21 million song downloads to date.

It’s not the company’s first game to rake in nine figures for a title, either, as the multiplayer online role-playing game “World of Warcraft” has generated more than $1 billion in revenue for the company thanks to nearly 12 million PC gamers paying a monthly subscription.

Activision publishing president Mike Griffiths also said during a keynote speech that video games are poised to “eclipse” all other forms of entertainment: “Movies, recorded music, and TV -- these are all stagnating or contracting entertainment sectors,” he said.

Between 2003 and 2007, Griffiths said, the U.S. market has seen a 6 percent decline in movie ticket sales and a 12 percent drop in music sales, while the game industry grew by roughly 40 percent.