Did the unthinkable just happen? It may be only temporary, but Guitar Hero publisher Activision actually unseated juggernaut Electronic Arts as the top third-party publisher for the first half of this year. According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, Santa Monica-based Activision has become the first independent publisher this decade to overtake EA. For the first six months, Activision reported sales of $397.8 million compared to EA's $365.7 million.

One of the main reasons for this success of course has been the incredibly popular Guitar Hero franchise. Activision's Chief Financial Officer Thomas Tippl said the series would be "the fastest Activision brand in the company's history to hit $1 billion in sales." For the year alone, the Guitar Hero franchise is expected to reach $360 million in sales, accounting for about 20 percent of Activision's estimated revenue of $1.8 billion.

Other hot franchises like Tony Hawk and Call of Duty along with movie-based games like Spider-Man 3 and Transformers have contributed greatly to the company's bottom line as well.

"We've never been better positioned as a company to take advantage of the growth in the video game industry," said Bobby Kotick, Activision's longtime chief executive. "For 17 years, I've focused on becoming the No. 1 video game company, and we're getting a lot closer to achieving that objective."

"Activision is doing a lot of things right," said Michael Pachter, Wedbush Morgan Securities. "They're growing really fast, and they're being opportunistic."

As the Times points out, however, Activision's lead could be erased in the second half as EA storms back with Madden NFL 08, Medal of Honor: Airborne, Rock Band, Skate (which will compete with Tony Hawk) and more. EA in some ways has really been in a lull for the first part of 2007.

That doesn't worry Activision's executive vice president of publishing, Robin Kaminsky one bit. "We're well situated to win," she said.