Today the European Commission granted French telecom and media group Vivendi permission to merge its videogame unit with Activision, thus bringing to fruition the merger first announced back in December. The Commission had to be sure that the joining of the two companies wouldn't cause a monopoly in the marketplace. They could have just asked us, but no, they had to be all official.
The Commission said for "all categories of game software, the combined firm would continue to face several strong, effective competitors, such as Electronic Arts, and the game console manufacturers, such as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft".Thank goodness. I know we were all on the edge of our seats there. Go tough-actin' BlizzActin!
EU approves Vivendi-Activision deal [Reuters - Thanks Thibaud!]







Comments
What? Is this hinting at a furture ActiBlizzion console system?
Not the place for this, I know, but I have to ask:
Why, exactly, does the post on the new LittleBigPlanet trailer keep disappearing? It's the second thread on the topic to go up and immediately be taken down.
Obviously the Commission did not research enough; it is foretold that Blizzievision is one of the keys to the 12 gates.
I hope they do produce some original IP. I would love me some World of Duty.
Blizzvision all the way
John Madden?
@Dannon: Just don't call them Blactivision.
@Fyren: I have no clue why, but the title "World of Duty" makes me laugh like a stoned hyena every time.
Hell, it's about time.
i'm a bigger fan of activizzard
Actiblizzion
@tnx3: That does provide an interesting question. With EA, Blizzactivsionard-whatever you want to call it has real competition. But to stake a claim in console producers such as Microsoft, whose game titles are simply proxyed out, it does raise the question. With Blizzard's behemoth team of success and Activisions meh, it could suggest a larger library of middle class games though. GL all the way.
I swear the Monopolies and Merger Commission has no clue whatsoever.
There was no reason to even look at this merger, and they don't know an anti-competitive monopoly like the Game/Gamestation debacle when it bites them in the nose.
Yet they freak when Microsoft includesa a Media-player in windows....
If there's going to be an onbudsman like this (and I'm ure we do need one) that looks at the Electronics industry it really needs to get some perspective, and some more knowledgable people.
I mean how much did this thing cost? and as Mike said you could have asked someone who had knowledge of the subject and been told in two seconds that it wasn't worth investigating.
Interesting. It sounds better than EA (king of working towards a monopoly?). I think this might bring Blizzard to console, so it's almost safe to say we'll see Starcraft 2 on Xbox 360 and PS3? At least I hope.
@macr0planet: Still a snowball's chance in hell. Blizzard's console games will be made for consoles, not ports of PC games. Remember that the Blizzard name here is just a rebranding of the Vivendi name.
Now let's see that Bard class in WoW.
It's not really a merger. Vivendi essentially bough Activision. Now, had it been the other way around where an American company (Activision) had bought the European company (Vivendi) the EU would have probably stalled it.
@Lixie: That's not exactly the way European anti-trust legislation works but sure, whatever.
@Agies:
Remember Starcraft for the N64?
@InsaneGenius: Yes. I rest my case.
Why Activision dont allow Harmonix to Patch the GH3 Guitar to Rock Band PS3?
I knew EA was good for SOMETHING......
Go go gadget Activlizzard!
This merger pleases me.
I keep seeing EA instead of EU and it just bugs me that my mind is that strange.
@Lixie: You missed the second part. Vivendi bought out activision, then merged their gaming devisions with activision, then sold off 52% of their stake in the resulting company to.. well.. the resulting company. The end result is a new company which encompasses all of the game-related assets of the two old companies, is a separate entity (due to its 52% controlling share in itself) and has a large silent partner (read: money collector) in vivendi.
Does anyone know if there are anti-trust dealings in north america over this?
Er, I screwed up the numbers there. Make that 52 a 48. So I guess they don't have a controlling interest in themselves.
@InsaneGenius: Actually Starcraft64 is the reason there won't be SC2 for consoles. It had abysimal sales(enough of a reason for the corporate guys) and console controls simply are not up to par with the requirements of a fast paced RTS, even the keyboard/mouse combo used by pros is still not enough to do everything(needing to prioritize your own actions and a balance between micro and macro tasks is also a part of the game's charm and this goes horribly wrong with a controller, you can't even do basic micro tricks, because it's too slow). Once you've tried the PC version nothing can make you go back to the torture of playing it without a mouse.
Oh God the WOW Bard class is back XD
Here's to seeing the Tauren Marine make a serious appearance in Starcraft
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