*upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/01/Activision.svg/200px-Activision.svg.png
A big shake up in the world of the video game Publishers has occoured this afternoon. Activision famous for its Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk and Call of Duty franchises and Blizzard Entertainment known for its 9+ million subscriber MMORPG World of Warcraft have announced that they will merge to create Activision Blizzard the “world’s largest, most profitable pure-play video game publisher“. Move aside Electronic Arts. *www.rlslog.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif UK corporation the BBC were the first to reveal the news ealier today. As a result of the merger, Activision and Blizzard will henceforth be called Activision Blizzard, a deal which is worth $18.8 billion.
The deal will work by Blizzard investing $2 billion into Activision Blizzard and Activision will invest a lowly $1 billion. The CEO of the new company will be the current CEo of Avtivision, Bobby Kotick. However French mega company Vivendi Universal the owner of Blizzard wil remain the biggest shareholder in the company, retaining 52% of all the shares. *upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b2/Blizzard_Entertainment_Logo.svg/250px-Blizzard_Entertainment_Logo.svg.png
Jean-Bernard Levy, CEO of Vivendi, said, “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.”
Mike Morhaime, CEO and president of Blizzard, said, “From our interactions with the Activision team, it is clear we have much in common in terms of our approaches to game development and publishing. Above all, we are looking forward to continue creating great games for Blizzard gamers around the world, and we believe this new partnership will help us to do that even better than before.”
Both Activision and Blizzard have issued press releases filled with jargon and technical stuff confirming the merger but at least we know its for real. I dont know if i like this or not but either way a new super power in the video game industry has been born. I guess time will tell if this is a good thing or bad thing… Let war commence.
