Vivendi Considering Sale of Activision Blizzard

[News Portal]

Vivendi aren't a name that we bandy around a lot in gaming circles, but they're a huge stakeholder in the international media business, claiming ownership to other companies like the Universal Music Group. They also, more to the point, are considering selling off their 61% stake in Activision Blizzard as part of a company restructure. The potential buyers are being kept private, but discussions are apparently set to take place at a June 22 meeting.

Source: Bloomberg

Read full article by GON News

[Spooler]

WoW why on earth would they consider selling Activision-Blizzard?

[Marius]

WoW why on earth would they consider selling Activision-Blizzard?

The stock isn't exactly performing admirably. Maybe they want companies who actually grow.

[shlaimon]

They have no growth, they release two CODS or three a year! they got nothing. Probably trying to sell so some idiot thinks they will make a game and make billions.

[SomeXspeC]

Blizz should have never merged/sold their soul to activision in the first place. Their games were top notch and completed projects on their own schedule but once activision started poking their nose in they stopped using the words "soon or when it is ready" then bowed to their schedule and it reflected in D3.

I can't even begin to imagine what will happen once the sale of Activision-Blizzard is completed.

note: this is only my thoughts and 2cents

[Spooler]

WoW why on earth would they consider selling Activision-Blizzard?

The stock isn't exactly performing admirably. Maybe they want companies who actually grow.

I had no idea honestly I had assumed the largest western MMO and the largest FPS game series would be something you wanted to hold onto, I don't mean any disrespect in this but where do you get the information on stock growth ? (too lazy to google)

[Marius]

Well, essentially, without CoD and WoW, Actizzard have nothing, really.

As said by this article: http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Activi ... 36234.html

[jambo]

Blizz should have never merged/sold their soul to activision in the first place. Their games were top notch and completed projects on their own schedule but once activision started poking their nose in they stopped using the words "soon or when it is ready" then bowed to their schedule and it reflected in D3.

I can't even begin to imagine what will happen once the sale of Activision-Blizzard is completed.

note: this is only my thoughts and 2cents

What are you talking about? Diablo III was in development for 11 years, and that's certainly not an Activision schedule!

Blizzard are separate from Activision, they have their own management and are a unique entity.

[Mythor]

Activision do also have some movie tie-ins coming this year, Spiderman, 007 and Transformers games.

But even with "just" WoW and CoD, those're the two heavyweights in their respective genres so it's not like Activision isn't worth anything. I think it's more likely that Vivendi are just looking to focus more on other kinds of media in the future, rather than spreading themselves further?

Even though Activision's mainstays are currently WoW and CoD they've got the clout from those two to get attention focused on anything else they make, so it's not impossible they'll invest in something that turns into a hit.

I do kind of hope someone like EA buys them. A company that knows you can't just churn out endless sequels, you've got to diversify and try new things sometimes.

[Matty]

Buy it Valve! Do it!

[Mugsy]

I do kind of hope someone like EA buys them.

Oh god no! EA shut down their servers for older games to migrate people to newer games. Yeah, I know that some of those games just had zippo players half the time but in the case of games like Diablo, I'd hate to think that Diablo 3 won't be supported when/if Diablo 4 comes out... even if that is a while off.

[shlaimon]

What are you talking about? Diablo III was in development for 11 years

Thats ****, theres no way it was in development for 11 years, maybe if 1 person was making it then i can see it being possible.
--

And EA does release the same game every year, look at their sports games. Its the same game with different coloured jerseys and updated physics, which they could probably update with a patch.

[Wanell]

Well, essentially, without CoD and WoW, Actizzard have nothing, really.

As said by this article: http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Activi ... 36234.html

Except they do have CoD and WoW. With or without Vivendi they will still make money off both those titles alone. Still waiting to see how much D3's RMAH will generate for Blizz though. If that thing kicks off it's basically a casino for Blizzard.

Just a case of investors wanting more bang for their buck.

[Mythor]

And EA does release the same game every year, look at their sports games. Its the same game with different coloured jerseys and updated physics, which they could probably update with a patch.

Yes, they do yearly iterations of games that make sense and people want sequels to, but they also take chances on things like Spore, Dead Space and The Secret World.

EA learned their lesson on that front but are still getting bagged a bit because people keep looking at the yearly releases of various sports games. You can't just ignore all the other games they release each year!

[coatsy22]

I do wonder how much this is linked to Activision having to settle on the court case over MW2. Depending on how big that check is, they could very well be in the red for a while profit-wise.