Activision and Blizzard merge to form largest game publisher in the world

Guticb | December 02, 2007 | News | Company Gaming Tech/Hardware

As some may remember, Activision became the largest third party game publisher July of this year. Recently, Vivendi (Which owns Blizzard and Sierra) has merged with Activision. The publishing giant is now the largest game publisher in the world, called Activision Blizzard.

The combination of Activision and Vivendi Games, Activision Blizzard, will create the world's largest, most profitable pure-play video game publisher with some of the most popular titles in the industry, including Guitar Hero®, Call of Duty®, Tony Hawk, World of Warcraft®, Starcraft® and Diablo®.

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Comments

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dmf_dynasty | December 02, 2007

That's a terrible name. Activision Blizzard. It just sounds terrible. Maybe a merge of the names, Activendi. No, that sucks too. Oh well.
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tidus04 | December 02, 2007

That is indeed a strange name to have though I would have though Vivendi would have wanted some of there name still in it. Hopfully they can pull of some great titles together. A great sign of things to come..
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VeGiTAX2 | December 03, 2007

Vivendi also merged their Vivendi Games catalog with Activision and dumped 1.7 billion into the merger as well taking majority stock holding in the new company (52% with option to control 68%).

This is more a case of Vivendi now showing off their two properties in the same name it seems.
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Play ISDF | December 03, 2007

I'm......so scared! Blizz and Acti, thats just an awesome and scary combo. Imagine the games @_@. They really should call themselves Actizarrd or Blizzion or something lol. They still sound bad but it's better than saying Activision Blizzard all the time.
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Guugley | December 03, 2007

Haha, pretty unusual but as long as they do the job with the games then it doesn't bother me the slightest.
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Saiya | December 03, 2007

The name is pretty stupid is I must add, but a joint game company wasn't such a stupid idea. I can see them producing great games together.
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  VeGiTAX2 | December 03, 2007
  
  It's apparently following the ever so popular merger of Namco Bandai Games.
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Silver Mirror | December 03, 2007

Hmm what kind of titles has Activision made over the years?
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  VeGiTAX2 | December 03, 2007
  
  Well the merge is between two publishers, as such you generally talk about their published titles not what they made.
  
  Call of Duty series, Doom titles, Quake Titles, Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk series, Spiderman series, X-Men Series, The Movies, Soldier of Fortune.
  
  Thats a general list of things, they have a boatload of franchise exclusives which they churn out for fast money as well.
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iLLmatic | December 03, 2007

I don't believe I own any Activision, Blizzard, or Vivendi games. The last Activision game I bought was that shitty Spiderman movie game. So yea, don't really care. I'm just surprised this merger makes them that big?
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  Dine_Agoti | December 03, 2007
  
  D= ... You, sir, are missing out.
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Akira_EX | December 03, 2007

Weekend megaton.

Where the hell was the info on this? Stealth occurrence confirmed.
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Storm | December 03, 2007

It's a better name than Bandai Namco. Two big names coming together...Blizzard famous for the Warcraft series, and Activision...well who cares? xD
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  Akira_EX | December 03, 2007
  
  Activision owns Guitar Hero and Call of Duty, making them very respectable. They own some pretty damn popular series, and is why they are one of the biggest third-parties hanging along with EA.
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Storm | December 03, 2007

Yeah, I know about CoD quite well, but they don't develop the game, don't they just publish it? I don't think that's the same as owning it.
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  Akira_EX | December 03, 2007
  
  The larger idea here is that Activision's developers can now have access to Vivendi's resources.
  
  Although I would hate to use Gamespot right now, they have what I'm talking about here
  
  Paragraph in question:
  quote
  If the union is approved by US regulators, Activision Blizzard's estimated $3.8 billion in annual revenue will eclipse EA, which expects $3.35 to $3.65 billion in net revenue for its 2008 fiscal year. It will also put many marquee game franchises--Call of Duty, Tony Hawk, F.E.A.R., Diablo, StarCraft, Warcraft, and World of Warcraft--under a single roof. It will also give Activision's Guitar Hero franchise direct access to the library of Vivendi's Universal Music Group, the world's largest record label.
  Bolded for emphasis.
  
  I'd say that's pretty damn important.
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chaosmonkix | December 03, 2007

your post alone akira, just made my day. more music for one of my favorite games= pwnzors beyond belief.
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Storm | December 03, 2007

Yeah, great things to come with this merging. ^^
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Dine_Agoti | December 03, 2007

This sounds like it'll be pretty good for Guitar Hero. I'm looking forward to it. Although I will agree about the name, it is rather horrible. Why don't these mergers insight a bit more creativity?
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  Akira_EX | December 03, 2007
  
  Brand name. If you change the name, people won't know who you are beside the few who knew you changed your name.
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BANDITO ATTACK | December 03, 2007

good lord. can someone say 'monopoly'?

Maybe that's a bit drastic, but DAAAAAMN
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Seproth | December 03, 2007

Awesome merger. Terrible name.