December 2, 2007
World of Warcraft publisher Blizzard and Call of Duty 4 publisher Activision have announced an intent to merge.
News of the $18.8 billion deal is already sending shockwaves through the video game industry. As reported by the BBC, Blizzard will invest $2 billion in the new firm, to be known as Activision Blizzard. Activision will put up $1 billion and its CEO Bobby Kotick will run things. Blizzard's current owner, Vivendi, will be the largest shareholder.
Said Jean-Bernard Levy, Vivendi CEO:
This alliance is a major strategic step for Vivendi and is another illustration of our drive to extend our presence in the entertainment sector. By combining Vivendi's games business with Activision, we are creating a worldwide leader in a high-growth industry.
Comments
My own level 37 pally is locked in that black void as well -.-
Say goodbye to tech support for WoW and Guitar Hero...
First post perhaps?
Vivendi should use that money to make Homeworld 3. Stupid bastards.
Blizzard is already owned by Vivendi. They have been for a while, they are just pretty much allowed to do whatever they want it seems so they might as well be independant. I don't think we'll see much difference in the way Blizzard handles things.
No idea about Activision though.
Uhm, Vivendi owns Blizzard, not Activision.
As such, practically everything good by Activision will get shafted much like the (nonexistant) support WoW has had since launch.
Actually, given that Relic, the developers of the Homeworld series is owned by THQ now, and given that THQ recently purchased the rights to the Homeworld franchise, Vivendi can't make Homeworld 3 anymore. On the other hand, THQ's purchase makes me suspect they may be planning something, and since they have the original devs it would probably be better for them to do it anyways.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Activision_games
Blizzard, High profile games? More like lowest common denominator ones!
Anyway, on topic, this looks interesting, not sure what my feelings on it are about now, wonder what will come of it?
Activision Blizzard sucks as a name though, you could have been called 'Vision Blizzard' or even 'Vizzard' and it would have looked better.
This is really strange...
Perhaps Activision can help Blizzard bring their MMOs to the consoles.
This is awesome news, for both the gamers and my portfolio!
The Unfortunate name, I'm sure, is proabably for "street cred" among gamers Activision is the number one third party developer and blizzard just plain kicks ass.
"Active Blizzard Vision" :)
Seriously though, I don't know how this will really impact Blizzard's processes. Vivendi already basically gives them a lot of leeway (considering Vivendi was dying, and trying to sell off their Games department to help cut losses before WoW launched, but now is really quite strong since WoW launched). Vivendi can see what happens when they meddle with Blizzard's timeframe (the WoW launch) vs. when Blizzard feels more comfortable with it (WoW:TBC launch).
What I wonder is.... does this mean StarCraft II might make it to consoles?
@Mad_Scientist: The thought of THQ just being part of these other two companies sends a chill down my spine. Really, do we want THQ to be more prolific at spewing out licensed game crap?
I'm not sure I understand your post. THQ isn't a part of or associated with Vivendi. They simply purchased a brand from them.
Well I would consider the Call of duty series, lord knows how many Star Trek games, Marvel games, Quake, as well as some really old series that haven't been seen in a while (I'm still fairly convinced I'm the only person that bought both Heavy gears)to mean that activsion does have a lot of high profile Ip's. Now just because its high profile does not necessarily mean it's good, but your still going to get publicity and sales. After all Daikatana had an absurdly high profile, but was also terrible and regarded mostly as a joke.
Activision on the other hand gets the opportunity to work with some great licenses like WarCraft, StarCraft, and possibly even a new Diablo could get thrown into the works.
umm... Blacktivision? Lol.... I'm not sure I should go near this.
There are so many possible jokes about games that would be made by this company, but I don't wanna get banned for offensive statements or anything.
To be honest, the last time I can remember playing an activision game was the Tony Hawk series (in its prime)... what have they made thats been great lately?
Also blizzard, please don't let WoW be harmed by this upcoming deal. In 2 weeks i'll finally get a chance to play it again. My college holiday break can't come soon enough! ^^
my 62 pally is growing tired of waiting, and my guild probably kicked me out to boot... but that's life.
It'd be hilarious to have an orc guitarist in the next GH.
I'm not a huge Vivendi Fan.
I am actually not looking forward to this.
I'm not sure having the Activision CEO come in to run everything is gonna work well, but only time will tell.
http://kotaku.com/gaming/business/vivendi-games-and-activision-merge-to-...
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/11/09
I think there might be a slight mixup. Blizzard developed, not published, World of Warcraft. So, I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be "Vivendi" in the place of "Blizzard" in those first two paragraphs. Reading the BBC article, it's pretty confusing because of the name that Vivendi wants to call the merged company.
Also... They want to call it 'Blizzard Activision'? Sheesh. Piggybacking on someone else's good name much? :P
Wow. That's almost scarily accurate. Insider info perhaps? Meh, PA is usually pretty good at calling things when they see them.
Yes but at least Daikatana was a fun lil game for what it was,over hyped to death sure but its still better than Jericho and a few other newer FPSs.
Hell level design and even weapon design in daikatana is better than Quake 4 and Doom 3....put together.........
Daikanata is a basic FPS thats fun and simple people read in to the hype to much and when it didn't turnout to be above average they turned on the hate, I can't wait till people wakeup and see Halo is mediocre as well :P
interesting.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=3168513654&sid=1&p...
Talk to a game industry professional and find out what they think of EA.
I'm going into game design and EA is a scary company. They are kind of like a giant virus, they find something that makes money and then eat it. Then their crappy management makes the devs hate their jobs and they leave, splitting great teams up.
EA has a horrible record as far as how they treat their employees and a nasty habit of lying to prospective employees about how they will be treated. They are extremely controlling on developers and have been known to destroy what would otherwise be a good game due to their insane restrictions and management practices.
Big example ebing when they tell you you'll be working 40 hour weeks on salary and as soon as you sign, they hit you with 60+ hour weeks.
Knowing what i do, I'll be avoiding EA like the plague when I start looking for a job, just thought I would point out that little flaw in your praise of EA.
Most companies are better companies, EA is just bigger.
I'm no hater, so I hope this doesn't seem like it, but EA has a history, in my opinion, of shipping crappy games that never further a physics engine or AI routine.
There are some fine exceptions to the above, but EA's history of doing nothing but releasing crappy sequels is why Activision recently passed them to become the #1 third party game publisher in the cosmos. I own a few EA games, but check their lineup... nearly everything is a sequel; although slightly shinier than it's predecessor.
Again, I'm no 'lan, attorney' hater, but I have been accused of being an EA hater.
Take a look at those titles, nearly 80% are pure crap, whereas all of Blizzards games have been excellent and they have cancelled several releases if they are not of the right quality.
It all comes down to quality vs. quantity. Infrogrames/Atari has also released more games than Blizzard, look how that's worked out for them.