Activision/Vivendi Merger

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6183557.html?action=convert&om_clk=latestnews&tag=latestnews;title;0

Well, after years of being the biggest third party publisher around, EA has been dethroned. A new merger between Vivendi games and Activision was announced today. If the merger is approved, newly formed Activison Blizzard will become the largest third-party publisher around.

I'm not sure I really like this. It's just a sign of the gaming industry becoming controlled, more and more, by a few huge developers, instead of many independent companies. :-\

I think services like Live Arcade and their various Sony and Nintendo counterparts are going to help a lot in keeping simple yet fresh ideas and developers alive. While the bigger players in the industry keep getting bigger, their unlimited bankroll and lust for quick-cash sequels will only satisfy their revenue-loving overlords so much, sooner or later they are going to have to come up with games people haven't seen before and enjoy. As it stands, that happens nearly every week with games that range between 4-10 dollars on XBLA.

Current gen systems require a ridiculous amount of development time to just seem average in terms of graphics and gameplay. The industry has so many staples that are simply expected in many genres that producing any game on a current gen console requires enormous financial backing. XBLA and the like may be the answer for giving people with a good idea and some programming talent the ability to make a game.

Yeah, I agree with stealth, the 'garage' developers will repeat the cycle. As the current ones grow large, these small ones will pop up, grow large if successful enough, repeat. We're fine.

Activision and Vivendi merge, to form "Activision Blizzard"

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3164668

That's right, Activision now owns Blizzard Entertainment...Great, Tony Hawk in Warcraft...JUST what we need...lame...

Re: Activision and Vivendi merge, to form "Activision Blizzard"

Ugh......is this going to affect any of Blizzard's projects?

Re: Activision and Vivendi merge, to form "Activision Blizzard"

GamingMaiden said:

Ugh......is this going to affect any of Blizzard's projects?

Click to expand...

I would say no, since Blizzard is on focus, Activision just saw the money they were making and jumped on it.

Re: Activision and Vivendi merge, to form "Activision Blizzard"

MegaDrive20XX said:

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3164668

That's right, Activision now owns Blizzard Entertainment...Great, Tony Hawk in Warcraft...JUST what we need...lame...

Click to expand...

Because that would make PERFECT sense, right? If anyone played a WoW game with Tony Hawk as the main character, it'd be more like a joke, like adding Chuck Norris to be his own faction.

Re: Activision and Vivendi merge, to form "Activision Blizzard"

the most profitable game business in the world