Activision + Blizzard = divide by zero

[Zyn]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7123582.stm

The companies behind Call of Duty and World of Warcraft are merging in a deal which could shake up the global video games industry.

Activision and Blizzard have said they will form "the world's most profitable games business" in a deal worth $18.8bn (£9.15bn).

US-based Activision also makes hit console games such as the Tony Hawk series and Guitar Hero.

Nine million people pay a monthly subscription to play World of Warcraft.

Oh snap!

[dux]

World of Guitars Online set during WW2 Normandy!

[Thrik]

That would certainly produce one behemoth of a company.

[Zyn]

It has begun : http://www.activisionblizzard.com/

[Felix]

how much $$ would blizzard already have got for WoW ? Isnt it enough to build a spacestation or something?

[KungFuSquirrel]

Enough to put $2 billion in this deal to ATVI's $1 billion.

Curious what this will mean for some of the ATVI-owned studios, they were already closing down and merging a number of them (Shaba, Luxoflux, and Z-axis I think all got closed/merged into Treyarch, as did Gray Matter). IW, Neversoft, and Treyarch are probably gold but the non-LA studios like Raven, VV, etc. don't seem to get as much love.

[e-freak]

if they close raven they go to far - i mean - raven is gaming-history, you can't simply shut it down

don't the anglosachsian countries have a Antitrust Division?

[Skjalg]

my hope is that blizzard will influence enough to keep most of em.

[Algor]

Sweet cuppin' cakes, that is some deal... It will be interesting to see what becomes of this, as with what happens to Bioware/Pandemic now. Though I would have preferred a better name... Actablizzard, Blizzavision.

[Warby]

can i has stockz please ?

[SixThree]

can i has stockz please ?

Get in line!

[JohnC]

Coming Spring 2008 from Activision Blizzard - Diablo 3.

Interact with other players at the local Applebee's!

Engage in PvP battles at the UFC/TapOut arena!

Heal your wounds with Pepsi rejuvination potions!

Buy and upgrade weapons at Cabela's, Wal-Mart, and Bass Pro Shops!

[Bl1tz]

I don't see much good coming of this. Activision is probably the most shameless in terms of wanting its devs to crank out the same franchised shit year after year. You know they won't want Blizzard to do anything other than something with the name Starcraft, Warcraft or Diablo for the next 10 years.

[Taylor]

I think Blizzard would be fine with that to be honest.

[Thrik]

They've already been doing it for 10 years without Activision, so doing it for another 10 years wouldn't exactly be much of a surprise.

Although publishers can be a bit of a pain, it does seem like they catch a bit too much flak for stuff that's just as much down to the developers and audience a lot of the time too.