Kotaku: Vivendi

Call of Duty Creators Infinity Ward Have Been 'Reconstructed'

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 21:00:00 EST

The studio that started the Call of Duty phenomenon fell to pieces earlier this year with the firing of its co-founders and the following mass exodus of pissed off Infinity Ward employees. With enough money, you can recover from that. More »

Fans At Last Will Find The Silver Lining

Owen Good — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 18:30:00 EDT

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When last heard from, those behind a long-in-development, fan-made King's Quest sequel were on the verge of an agreement with Activision allowing them to finally complete their project. This afternoon, that news came. The Silver Lining will finally be completed. More »

Activision Terminates Fan-Made King's Quest Extension

Owen Good — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST

The team of King's Quest enthusiasts who had, since 2002, been working on an unofficial continuation of the seminal adventure game, have complied with a demand by Activision to cease all development of their game. More »

Call of Duty: World At War Zombies Attack iPhone

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:30:00 EST

Thanks to the iPhone and iPod Touch you need never be away from the mass re-killing of hordes of shuffling, reanimated Nazi soldiers. Call of Duty: World At War: Zombies has been released via the iTunes App Store today. More »

Old Vivendi Digs Put To Constructive Use

Mike Fahey — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:00:00 EDT

Vivendi's Los Angeles headquarters at the Howard Hughes Center might be gone, but what's taken its place will leave a lasting impact on LA drivers for years to come. More »

Ludlum Rep Says Jason Bourne In The Hands Of "Grown Ups Now"

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:40:47 EST

Seems Robert Ludlum's estate was no fan of Vivendi's The Bourne Conspiracy. Keith Boesky, who represents the interests of Robert Ludlum, says of the new deal with Electronic Arts, "We're dealing with grown ups now." More »

Ghostbusters Gets Publisher, Release Window

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EDT

As was expected, it's been revealed that Atari have picked up the rights to the Ghostbusters game, left in limbo ever since the Activision/Vivendi merger killed off the game's original publisher, Sierra. Atari plans to release Ghostbusters "early next summer", to coincide with the first movie's 25th anniversary. Atari also announced they've picked up the in-development Riddick game (full title The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena), which will be out next spring. More »

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is Dead, Dead, Dead [Update]

Brian Crecente — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:00:00 EDT

Remember 50 Cent II, the sequel to discography-cum-video game 50-Cent: Bulletproof? The game that Sierra named 50-Cent: Blood on the Sand? The one that has a love-interest, slick graphics and tons of blood? More »

Ghostbusters Pulled From Gamestop

Stuart Houghton — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:30:00 EDT

We are getting reports that Gamestop have pulled Ghostbusters from pre-order. The tips center on an internal email at Gamestop, informing staff that pre-order customers will be entitled to a full refund. More »

Electronic Arts Publishing Brutal Legend?

Brian Crecente — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:00:00 EDT

So we know that Double Fine's musical epic Brutal Legend is fine, because Tim Schafer told us so. We also know that it's not going to be published by Vivendi or by MTV. But who is going to put out this Jack Black anthem? According to at least one source the game's future publisher is none other than Electronic Arts. More »

Sierra's Last Game Is A Sad Way To Go Out

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:20:00 EDT

Ah, Sierra. So, so, so many fond memories. King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, Quest For Glory, Half-Life 1, Homeworld, SWAT...so many good games, so many good times. So it's crushing to see that, as the label prepares to fade into oblivion following the Blactivision merger, its last game is...less than memorable. Hitting the printers as the ink dried on the Activision-Vivendi merger was Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, making it most likely the last game to be sold under the Sierra brand name (at least until someone digs it up, Atari style). An awful game based on an awful movie. Shame, that. More »

Is It Time To Let Sierra Die?

Luke Plunkett — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 00:40:00 EDT

That's a question Edge are asking today, and it follows on from a string of questions people have been asking for at least 10-15 years. What was once a company renowned for their PC adventure games, and later as the publisher of stuff like Half-Life and SWAT, are now facing oblivion, with Activision displaying zero interest in maintaining the brand following their merger with Vivendi. Me, I say put it to rest, and it's a sentiment shared by company founder Ken Williams: More »

Will We See The Ghostbusters Game In 2009?

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:00:00 EDT

So Activision doesn't want to publish Ghostbuster: The Videogame (silly, Activision). We've heard that the game isn't cancelled, but what exactly does that mean? Is it even coming out or will it just languish? According to Variety, Sony Pictures, who owns the rights to Ghostbuters and who licensed the IP to Vivendi last year, is working Vivendi "to evaluate various options surrounding the release of the 'Ghostbusters' video game." What's more, Sony adds: More »

Vivendi Gives Bourne Back To Ludlum

Mike Fahey — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:40:00 EDT

As a part of Activision's continuing offloading of Sierra properties, Ludlum Entertainment has required the rights to create games based off of the works of Robert Ludlum. These include the Bourne series and Covert One, both of which excited Crecente to no end when Vivendi first announced them back in 2005. Now three years and one measly game later the ball is back in Ludlum's court. More »

"Ghostbusters Is Not Cancelled And Will Not Be"

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EDT

Earlier, we brought word that Activision was taking inventory of Sierra's catalogue and picking and choosing games it wanted to publish. Some games, like Crash Bandicoot, made the cut. Other games like Ghostbusters: The Video Game did not. Does that mean the game's been canned? Well, no. It means that the game doesn't have a publisher. The dev team is still there! Dan Aykroyd is still there! Ernie Hudson, he's still there!! Activision isn't the only show in town, and as a Vivendi spokesperson told game site Destructoid: "It is not cancelled and will not be cancelled." More »

Activision Adds Sierra's Spyro, Crash To Line Up; Ghostbusters, Brütal Legend Dropped?

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:40:20 EDT

Activision announced today that it would be taking a handful of titles formerly published by (and planned to be published by) Sierra and add them to its own product portfolio. Games in the Crash Bandicoot, Ice Age and Spyro the Dragon series will join the Activision family of published titles, with Prototype and an unnamed, unannounced fifth title to rest in the shade of the mega publisher's wing. More »

Activision Blizzard Merger Finalized

Leigh Alexander — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:20:00 EDT

When yesterday over 92 percent Activision shareholders gave their thumbs-up to the company's pending merger with Vivendi, it was pretty much a done deal, and today Activision Blizzard is official. More »

We Won't Be Seeing Brütal Legend At E3 :(

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:00:55 EDT

Sunday night's pre-E3 Kotaku party is going to be a booze-fueled, feel-good adventure. None of that, however, will dull the pain of Brütal Legend's absence at E3, an absence confirmed by MTV Multiplayer today. Double Fine Productions frontman Tim Schafer confirmed the bad news earlier today and I'm just barely keeping it together. More »

Court Denies Injunction To Retirement Group In Acti-Blizz Merger

Leigh Alexander — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:20:00 EDT

Shareholders are expected to approve Activision's pending merger with Vivendi with a vote on July 8th, and now one more obstacle has been cleared: the Delaware Court of Chancery has denied a request for a preliminary injunction on behalf of Wayne County Employees' Retirement System, who sued in April because it, as a group, opposed the merger. More »

Ghostbusters Game Gets With The Jibber-Jabber

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 07:30:00 EDT

Movies tend to run longer these days than they used to (where'd the 87-minute feature go?), but even taking that into account, the average size of a film script today is around 120-150 pages. The Ghostbusters game? 480 pages. Oh, sorry. According to Ernie Hudson (and if there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything he says), it's "480 pages or something". While that's not huge in terms of games, where sometimes thousands upon thousands of lines of dialogue must be recorded (hi, Oblivion), it's huge when you consider the entire principal cast of this game are Hollywood talent. And huge when that means they've recorded three Ghostbusters film's worth of stuff. More »

Some Electronic Arts ESA Cheerleading

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 19 May 2008 09:00:00 EDT

So, yeah, Activision and Vivendi pulled out of ESA. What does that mean? Let's ask EA! Jeff Brown, the Canada's arm of corporate communications, said: More »

Ghostbusters Gameplay: Don't Cross the Streams

Owen Good — Sat, 17 May 2008 13:00:00 EDT

This, courtesy of Playr TV over on the UK's Bravo, seems to be the video that Flynn saw at the Sierra Spring Event back in April. If you're itching for this game, due out on all platforms around Halloween, you've probably seen gameplay clips in other videos so far. This one is a good five-minute look that lets you form your own impressions of the game, due out around Halloween on all platforms. A few of mine after the jump. More »

Blizzard Made $295M Last Quarter, Wrath of the Lich King Dated For Second Half Of '08

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:40:10 EDT

Vivendi Games, which contributed some $340 million to its parent company's "very good" first quarter, continues to place much of its success on Blizzard Entertainment. The World of Warcraft developer provided an impressive $295 million to Vivendi's games division, with a good portion of that cash coming from the MMO's 10.7 million subscriber base. Vivendi says games revenue was down, year over year, with some of that poor performance due to unfavorable exchange rates. Yawn! Who cares about another billion dollar year? We're not Rob Pardo's kids! Where's the next WoW expansion, already? More »

Activision Announces Record Billion-Dollar Growth In "Breakthrough" Fiscal 08

Leigh Alexander — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:30:00 EDT

Activision saw a record $2.90 billion in revenue for the fiscal year ending March 2008, the publisher announced today - $602.5 million was in the fourth quarter alone, as compared to $312.5 million during the same period last year. More »

Industry Insiders Discuss ESA, E3's Future

Leigh Alexander — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:40:00 EDT

What's the fate of E3, and of the Entertainment Software Association? It's worth examining in light of recent events. This morning we broke the news that two major publishers, Activision and Vivendi, have decided to take a pass on the event and exit the trade association, while other companies have withdrawn their E3 attendance as well. At the same time, the ESA appears to be facing stirrings of industry discontent with the ESA's leadership, namely its current president, Mike Gallagher. More »

ESA Confirms Activision/Vivendi Departure

Leigh Alexander — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:08:53 EDT

The Entertainment Software Association told Kotaku today that both Activision and Vivendi are no longer a part of the industry trade organization, confirming a rumor we broke earlier this morning. More »

Activision and Vivendi Break From ESA

Brian Crecente — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:08:06 EDT

Yesterday word broke that Activision was one of what might be several companies not attending this year's E3 Media and Business Summit. Today I've heard that neither Activision nor Vivendi will be attending the annual conference and are in fact no longer members of the association. More »

Warner Bros. Gets Vivendi Vet For Prez

Leigh Alexander — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Warner Bros. has hired former Vivendi prez Martin Tremblay as president of its Interactive Entertainment business. In his new role, Tremblay will handle the studio's long-term strategy, from publishing and distribution to licensing and business development. More »

This Is Good Games PR

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:30:00 EDT

Hey, PR types: CGI trailers are misleading. Screens can be, too. Fact sheets are boring, community Q&As never really tell us anything and for God's sake, no more developer diaries, OK? If you want to get reader's attention, do what Vivendi just did to start drumming up attention for their Ghostbusters game, and give the people they want. They want to see some cool shit. Like this fully-restored Ectomobile, which made an appearance at a Minnesota Best Buy solely to promote the new Ghostbusters game. Well, that and fulfil the fantasies of hundreds of grown men, all of whom wish they could have stepped right in, got down to the point and cleaned up the town. Oh yeah. More »

EU Gives Blizzard Activision Its Blessing

Mike Fahey — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT

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! More »

50 Cent Sequel's Story Is AMAZING

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:20:00 EDT

We've got a little more info on today's darling of the internets, the unexpected sequel to 50 Cent's first game outing, Bulletproof. This time relating to the game's story. A story of blood, sand, promises, treachery, revenge and...a crystal skull. Which we're guessing somebody was paid to write. I...you...look, just read this, will you?

...what's inspired the title is, 50 and G-Unit are putting on a sold-out performance somewhere in a fictional Middle Eastern setting. This is where the 'blood on the sand' comes in. They put on the performance; the people are pleased, but the concert promoter stiffs them and doesn't give 50 and G-Unit their payment.

50 Cent Sequel To Feature Bloody Sand

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:40:10 EDT

Yep, Fifty and the G Unit are back. The follow up to 50 Cent: Bulletproof, the educational shoot 'em up in which the rapper took on a criminal organization out to get him, is known as 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. According to the MTV reveal on the Vivendi-published, Swordfish Studios-developed title, the details of whom 50 and his G's will be shooting at are still super secret. We know 50's going somewhere sandy, bringing AI and player controlled buddies with him and that Formula 50 Vitamin Water and bottles of bub will most likely be consumed. More »

Yes, There Is Going To Be A 50 Cent II

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:20:01 EDT

It was simply inevitable. With Vivendi shipping well over a million copies of 50 Cent: Bulletproof to over a million suckers with crap taste in shooters, a sequel was expected. According to a cover snap of the latest issue of EGM, 50 Cent II, as we're calling it now, is reality. It's getting the "first look" preview treatment in next month's mag, something for which we're sure the boys at EGM were gentlemanly enough to feign interest in for a well-deserved exclusive. More »

'Designing Filmic Games': Designing the Bourne Game

Maggie Greene — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:30:34 EDT

Gamasutra has a great interview up with Paul O'Connor of High Moon Studios, talking about the challenges and pitfalls of designing games based on movie IPs (in this case, a game based on The Bourne Conspiracy; while not directly tied to any of the films, they are using parts of the films in their game). As he succinctly notes early in the interview, the terrible reputation of movies-turned-games is entirely deserved; while I've read a number of interviews tackling this question, this interview is in-depth and a meaty read in a way that most of the others aren't. More »

Activision May Be Considering A Massively Multiplayer Call Of Duty

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:20:00 EST

The head cheese at Activision, Bobby Kotick, recently made headlines for his assertion that, in order to compete properly with World of Warcraft, publishers may need to invest nearly a billion dollars in such a venture. Fortunately for Kotick and crew, they now have access to the big brains at Blizzard and Vivendi, a group of folks who know quite a bit about the MMO business. How then, can Activision exploit its biggest earners into even bigger financial monsters? More »

Activision Sued Over Blizzard Merger

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 03:30:00 EST

Time for more crazy lawsuit news! Why? Because everyone loves crazy lawsuit news. The mighty Wayne County Employees' Retirement System are unhappy with the merger deal Vivendi and Activision signed last year, claiming that as shareholders they copped a bum deal:

The merger, stock purchase and tender offer, working in concert, convey control of Activision to Vivendi but fail to offer the Activision stockholders an opportunity to realize a true control premium for their stock.

And to think, there once was a time people had to work for their money. Cry me a river. More »

The Activision Blizzard Merger That Nearly Wasn't

Maggie Greene — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 15:30:31 EST

Trying to combine two companies into one successful partnership that all sides are happy with is hard work - and the Activision Blizzard merger was no exception. Papers filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) detail the process - the preliminary proxy statement is really, really massive, but does contain some interesting details about how the merger came to be (and almost wasn't on multiple occasions). More »

Blizzard Loots $1.2 Billion From 2007, Thanks To WoW

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:20:00 EST

Vivendi, of which Blizzard Entertainment is a division, released its 2007 earnings revenues today, revealing that the World of Warcraft publisher raked in $1.2 billion (€814 million) in revenue last year. WoW's 10 million large subscriber base contributed the lion's share of the Vivendi Games division's $1.5 billion take (€1.018 billion). Blizzard's revenue was up 58% year over year which can be attributed to strong sales of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade and a subscriber boost of 2 million people. More »

Surfer Girl Speaks Again: Blizzard MMO and EA's Karma

Mark Wilson — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:40:51 EST

Surfer Girl—the rogue rumor writer who still hasn't really been proven reliable or full of crap—has put up another interesting post. First, if you read between the lines a bit, she claims that Diablo is the new Blizzard MMO.

What is this new Blizzard MMO?

What If EA Bought Take-Two?

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:20:00 EST

GameDaily tests the raw mental computing power of four top industry analysts today, gathering their collective thoughts on the possible purchase of Take-Two Interactive by mega-publisher EA. It wasn't that long ago that EA boss John Riccitiello implied that big industry mergers were on their way out, following the company's own acquisition of Bioware/Pandemic. But with the Activision/Blizzard/Vivendi deal still piping hot fresh on industry watcher brains, one has to wonder: will EA snap up another? More »