Vivendi to Acquire a Controlling Stake in Activision

[AngryGerbil]

My understanding isn't concrete, but doesn't all this whole thing do is change whose pocket Activision's money ends up in?

A very similar deal happened recently with my company and in essence, all it did was change the name of which guy ended up with my company's profits. They don't fuck with us and we don't fuck with them, but now their guy gets all our money.

If anything it can be a benefit as the revenue might be more wisely re-invested. The idea in shit like this is that you are just purchasing (as was said) a golden goose. Let that bitch lay eggs and don't fuck with it. All that changes is who gets the eggs. If anything, the new guy might sell an egg or two to buy the goose better food or something to make it shit out even more eggs. Whereas with other such purchases like this, you see a normal goose who could maybe have the potential to become a golden goose so you buy it and sink money into it and change a lot of shit about it in hopes it becomes a golden goose.

Financially (stocks) I dunno how this plays out but as a gamer I am left only to assume that this is a good thing. (caveat: unless they do something like make World of Starcraft both PC and console, which may well be a financial success, but will disappoint me greatly. But then again, I'm not very trendy.)

[Ukerric]

Originally Posted by Gecko

I still fail to see how this is a merger. As Reggie Hammond said, we're not brothers, we're not partners, and we're not friends.

This is a merge. Of VU Games and Activision; Blizzard being a fully owned studio from VU Games, who becomes a fully owned studio from Activision Blizzard.

Activision just stole the most popular name from the "junior partner" to prop its own

EA buying Bioware and definitively owning them is one thing. Signing a deal that says you are together, but not in any substantive way makes me shake my head.

Something ain't right here.

What's not right? Blizzard goes from being a quasi-autonomous studio under VUG's flagship banner to a quasi-autonomous studio under AB's flagship banner.

Most Synergies are going to go at a different layer. After all, Activision is mostly consoles, VUG is mostly PC, so they have different focus. Expect a lot more cross-platform porting in the future.

I think the only real synergy in the near future that sounds possible would be a console version of Diablo 3. Because the frenetic gameplay of Diablo 2 always made me think of a console game adapted on the PC.

[Zarcath]

There are no joint projects YET. But as mentioned in another thread, this will give both companies a larger library to pull media from without having to pay hefty licensing\royalty fees. We COULD possibly see more Blizzard influenced content in the future. I imagine the merger could severely benefit Blizzard in any project outside the scope of PCs. Their movie venture for instance may cost them a lot less to produce.

[Gecko]

It's not right or wrong, it's just that really this is much ado about a name change.

Vivendi already was a very large company. Activision and Blizzard are not intermingling after this change.

You stated rightly Blizzard was an autonomous wing of Vivendi, and will remain exactly as it is. Activision will still be making console games. Both will still be doing their thing, and I don't see how this effects Blizzard or Activision at all over the next 3 years.

I think of merge, or acquisition, I tend to equate that with two companies becoming one. Heck, their names even indicate they are distinct.. Activision Blizzard?

[Zarcath]

Maybe this will just set the ground work for Blizzard to buyout Vivendi and Activision.