Vivendi merges its game unit with Activision
Submitted by Gaming Briefs and Nostalgia Bits
This French-based company now joins with the US-based one:
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - French telecom and media group Vivendi won permission from the European Commission on Wednesday to merge its videogame unit with Activision Inc in a $9.85 billion deal.
The complex deal will give Vivendi a 52 percent stake in a new industry giant called Activision Blizzard with annual revenue of $3.8 billion, rivaling that of Electronic Arts Inc, the world’s biggest independent game publisher.
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.”
Activision is riding high on the success of games such as “Guitar Hero,” “Call of Duty” and “Tony Hawk” but has lacked an offering in the online role-playing area, dominated by “World of Warcraft” from Vivendi’s Blizzard Entertainment.
I don’t like that this had to get the approval of the EU though, knowing what a corrupt, pretentious bunch they are, and how they’ve actually done Europe more harm than good with the Euro currency.
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