Cofounder Mike Morhaime says Titan likely won't carry a subscription fee when it does launch; project going through "re-envisioning."

Blizzard Entertainment's next-generation MMORPG--codenamed Titan--may not carry a subscription fee or even be an MMORPG when it releases, cofounder Mike Morhaime said today during an Activision Blizzard earnings call.

"We're in the process of selecting a new direction for the project and re-envisioning what we want the game to be," Morhaime said. "While we can't talk about the details yet, it is unlikely to be a subscription-based MMORPG."

At the end of May, Blizzard confirmed "large design and technology changes" for Titan. He also made clear today that no official release date for the game has been announced so far.

The executive also pointed out that several developers on Titan have been shifted to the World of Warcraft and Diablo development teams.

Blizzard Entertainment's current MMO, World of Warcraft, is the biggest subscription-based MMO on the market. It launched in 2004 and had 7.7 million subscribers as of June 30.

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Television musical series "Glee" will address the death of star Cory Monteith in the upcoming season, writing his character out of the show and touching on Monteith's real-life drug use, U.S. TV network Fox said on Thursday. Monteith, who played high school jock-turned-show-choir-member Finn Hudson, died last month at age 31 in Vancouver from an accidental overdose of heroin and alcohol. The actor's death has forced Fox to push back the show's fifth season premiere in September by one week as its writers rewrite episodes without Monteith's character. ...

Toys-to-life franchise reaches new global revenue milestone; Activision Blizzard posts $608 million in revenue for latest quarter.

Activision's Skylanders franchise has now generated more than $1.5 billion in revenue since the series debuted in 2011, the company announced today as part of its latest earnings report.

This new milestone is up from the $1 billion in lifetime sales announced in February.

The news came as part of Activision Blizzard's quarterly results for the period ended June 30. Net revenue for the period hit $608 million, significantly lower than the $1.05 billion posted this time last year.

Overall, Activision Blizzard posted a profit of $90 million for the quarter, well below the $224 million in net income the company recorded the same time last year.

The company's digital business accounted for $383 million during the quarter, making up 63 percent of Activision Blizzard's total revenues. Called out in this sector was Call of Duty downloadable content, which showed "significant growth," up 100 percent year-over-year.

"We are pleased with our second-quarter results, which confirm the preliminary results we released last week when we announced our transaction with Vivendi," Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said in a statement.

Kotick said he is cautious about the company's outlook going forward, due to "uncertainties" around the console transition, among other things.

"However, despite this strength in the front half of the year, we remain cautious about the back half," Kotick said. "The issues we previously identified, including increased competition in the second half of the year and uncertainties surrounding the console transition, remain on the horizon."

Activision Blizzard is currently holding a call to discuss results and answer analyst and media questions.

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Sterne Agee's Arvind Bhatia says upcoming open-world game has opportunity to perform "substantianlly better" than GTAIV due to larger installed base.

Grand Theft Auto V has the potential to sell 18-20 million units by the end of Take-Two's fiscal year in March 2014, according to Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia.

The game has the opportunity to perform "substantially better" than 2008's Grand Theft Auto IV because the console installed base is now an estimated three times larger, Bhatia said in a note to investors.

Worldwide Xbox 360 sales stand at 78.2 million, while Sony has sold an estimated 78 million PlayStation 3 units since launch, meaning GTAV will release on platforms owned by more than 156 million gamers across the world.

According to Bhatia's data, GTAIV sold-in 11 million units in its first month and more than 13 million units in the first 9 months following release. The game has sold 25 million copies to date.

GTAV launches September 17 worldwide only on Xbox 360 and PS3. For more, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Country singer Keith Urban will be returning to "American Idol" as a judge when the Fox singing contest returns for its 13th season next year, Fox Broadcasting Company said on Thursday. "I will confirm one thing, Keith is going to return to the show, you could see how much he loved the show," Kevin Reilly, chairman of entertainment at Fox told reporters at a Television Critics Association meeting. ...