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Activision Vivendi injunction lifted by Delaware Supreme Court
A few weeks ago we reported on the holdup of the Activision-Blizzard buyback from Vivendi, due to court action on behalf a few stockholders. In September, an Activision stockholder sued Activision in the Delaware Cancery Court to prevent the deal from going forward. The lawsuit argued that the deal as it stood would give Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and Co-Chairman Brian Kelley too much control over the company, to the detriment of other stockholders. As of today, the Delaware Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Activision-Blizzard's appeal of the lawsuit. As a result, Activision-Blizzard looks to have the buyback completed by October 15th, 2013. The buyback will move forward as originally intended, with Activision-Blizzard as a company acquiring around 429 million shares from Vivendi, and the private investment group ASAC II LP simultaneously acquiring about 172 million shares. The total buyback is worth over US$8 billion.
Europe approves Universal - EMI merger, cements the dominance of the 'big three'
The European Union has signed off on Universal's $1.9 billion purchase of EMI music, provided that it sells off two-thirds of the fallen giant's assets to comply with competition regulations. The most notable jewel on the auction block is label Parlophone, home of the early Beatles records, Pink Floyd, Radiohead and Kylie. Chiefs added the conditions in the hope of preventing the new mega-corporation from gaining too much market share, but given that Sony (which bought EMI's publishing arm) and Warner Music are its only real competitors -- it's sealed the trio as the only guests at the top table of the music industry, problematic for anyone looking to found an iTunes or Spotify rival and doesn't fancy playing by their rules.
Jukebox Heroes: Chance Thomas talks about scoring Turbine's expansions
For many Lord of the Rings Online players, the name Chance Thomas is synonymous with the feel of virtual Middle-earth. From the earliest days in the game, explorers have traversed the Shire, Moria, and beyond listening to Thomas' melodies. So we were excited to hear that Turbine is bringing Thomas back to score not only Riders of Rohan (his first soundtrack for the game since Mines of Moria) but also Dungeons and Dragons Online: Menace of the Underdark as well. Thomas is an Oscar- and Emmy-winning composer who's been working primarily in the field of video game music since 1998. Being a huge fan of MMO soundtracks, I made it a personal quest to talk with him about these two new scores and how he feels about working in this genre. In the weeks ahead, I'll be reviewing both Rohan and Underdark's soundtracks, but today I wanted to focus on the man behind the music. Join me, then, as we embark on a voyage to worlds far away, sailing on the wings of a song. Geez, that's cheesy, ain't it?
Reuters: Vivendi finds 'few takers' on Activision stake sale, eyes other departments
Vivendi's planned sale of its 61 percent controlling stake in Activision is apparently waning, according to Reuters. Vivendi is said to be eying a sale of Brazillian telecommunications company Global Village Telecom (GVT), which would bring in anywhere from $8.59 to $10.42 billion – a distinctly larger number than the $8.3 billion Vivendi's stock in Acti is worth. Vivendi reportedly sought "at least 12 percent" more than the $8.3 billion stock valuation, which potential buyers turned down (Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and several other companies were reportedly offered the stock).Vivendi is a French conglomerate, and it's not in great financial shape. In an effort to shore up capital, it reportedly sought a sale of its controlling stake in Activision, turning to its GVT wing less than two months later in a similar effort. The French conglomerate purchased its stake in Activision back in 2007, forming what is now known as Activision Blizzard in the process.Economically minded readers may notice that Vivendi's interest in retaining control of Activision began declining along the same downward slope as the international economy. Though Vivendi's current financial situation is more complicated than "bad economy, sell parts of business," the worldwide recession surely can't be helping its standing.
Report: Vivendi looking to sell 'part or all' of majority stake in Activision
Activision's French multimedia conglomerate parent company, Vivendi SA, is said to be considering a sale of its 61 percent controlling stake in the US-based Call of Duty publisher. Bloomberg reports that Vivendi is holding a meeting on June 22 to discuss the potential for a sale of "part or all" of its Acti holdings. The report comes from "people with knowledge of the matter," who refused to be identified due to the privacy of the June 22 event.A Vivendi representative confirmed the upcoming executive get together, but didn't discuss the specifics of the meeting. Said meeting has taken place annually since 2005, and the rep noted it's intended as "a forum of exchange and discussion, not for quick-fix decisions or solutions."Vivendi and Activision came together in 2007, creating Activision-Blizzard as a result of the merger. Vivendi sold three percent of its Activision stock in late 2011, but kept approximately 60 percent of its holdings. Since today's report, Vivendi's stock rose 3.7 percent in Paris markets.Update: To help contextualize some of this super business-y madness, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter told Joystiq, "Some believe Vivendi is worth more if it is split up into various parts. The potential split doesn't really mean anything for Activision, other than a lot of shares on the market all at once. I don't think a sale is likely, as there are few potential buyers, if any. Instead, it makes more sense for Vivendi if they have Activision borrow a lot of money and pay a dividend of all of its cash. Spin it off to Vivendi shareholders." He added that he's not sure if the report is accurate or not.
Activision-Blizzard stocks drop amidst selloff rumors
Activision-Blizzard has certainly done well for itself over the past year. World of Warcraft may have seen a slight dip in subscriptions, but that hasn't made the company any less profitable. But rumors are swirling that owner Vivendi may be looking to sell off the company, either lowering its current 61% share or selling it off entirely. Vivendi will discuss its exact plans in its meeting with investors on June 22nd. In light of these rumors, shares of Activision-Blizzard have dropped 3.3%, while shares of Vivendi have grown 3.8%. Vivendi as a whole saw a net 28% drop in stock price over the past year, so the company is looking for infusions of cash, but considering Activision-Blizzard's upcoming titles (including the new World of Warcraft expansion, Mists of Pandaria), we can't help but wonder if selling the house might be a bit premature. We'll have more on this story and the impact for both companies as it develops.
Leisure Suit Larry creator talks dirty about the past and future of the mature series
After seeing success, both Leisure Suit Larry and his creator Al Lowe fell upon dark times. Lowe and his polyester-clad protagonist have lived through the rise and fall of Sierra On-Line, multiple intellectual property changes, and two very poor attempts at bringing Larry to a new generation of gamers."It was like seeing a video from your son's kidnappers!" Lowe told Joystiq. "On one hand he's still alive but it's like, 'Oh God, what are they doing to him!' And it just pained me to watch it happen. You know I put ten years of my life into that guy and he was very good to me."Leisure Suit Larry starred in seven titles under the Sierra banner, turning it into a billion dollar business for founders Ken and Roberta Williams. But success would be bittersweet for both Lowe and the Williams family, as Sierra On-Line found itself ensnared in the middle of a hostile takeover that would evolve into one of most infamous scams in video game business history.
Vivendi sells $427 million in Activision Blizzard stock
French media conglomerate Vivendi, majority owner of Activision Blizzard, sold three percent of its stock in the publishing giant, valued at around $427 million. It now owns 60 percent. The reduction of ownership in the company that, thanks to a little game called Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, just had the largest entertainment launch of all time, came as a surprise. As the Financial Times reports, the prevailing theory is that Vivendi's $1.9 billion acquisition of EMI's music business last week required the company to create some quick cash to stay sexy on paper. "The wisdom of selling about three percent in a business that is one of the key bastions of growth for the group to aid a transformational acquisition in a challenged business, such as recorded music, seems questionable," Claudio Aspesi of Bernstein Research told the Financial Times. "This is a tactical disposal with regards to our overall capital structure, and we remain committed to Activision and to being the main shareholder," a Vivendi spokesman told Reuters. The company is gonna have to be if it wants to keep siphoning assets for its portfolio from a shrinking industry.
The Game Archaeologist and the What Ifs: Middle-earth Online
I had so much fun walking down the halls of "What if?" last week that I thought I'd keep the streak going for the rest of the month (if you'll allow for some summertime indulgence). It's not that I necessarily wanted MMO history to turn out differently than it did, but it's always tantalizing to wonder what the field would look like with different games out there. Would they have proven more popular than our current crops? Would they have pushed the envelope of innovation? Of course, it's easy to project greatness onto never-released titles, bemoaning that "if only MMO X had launched, we would've had the perfect game!" What ifs are interesting but should never be taken as absolute fact. This week I wanted to look at a project that's related to an MMO near and dear to my heart. As most of you know, I'm somewhat of a Lord of the Rings Online nut here at Massively. Sure, the rest of the staff is upset that I smoke pipeweed inside and never wear shoes, but that's just how far I go to understand the game. But even my LotRO isn't immune to a massive what if. Known to some but not to all, Turbine wasn't the first MMO studio to take a crack at Tolkien's license -- no, for that we have to travel back to 1998 and revisit Sierra On-Line. It was this company that had a brief but memorable run designing Middle-earth Online, aka "What if LotRO had permadeath?" It's a fascinating glimpse into an entirely different approach to the IP, and even though it died a fairly early death, it's important to be remembered. Frodo lives!
Vivendi boss says Activision is over Infinity Ward drama, studio 'reconstructed'
Jean-Bernard Lévy, chairman and chief exec. of Vivendi, which has a controlling interest in Activision Blizzard, noted that the megapublisher has "reconstructed" Infinity Ward. The Financial Times reports that, at the Morgan Stanley TMT conference, Lévy stated, "We have reconstructed Infinity Ward, we are very happy with the way we have been able to reconstruct it." Lévy claims Activision "got over" all the Infinity Ward drama from earlier this year, which likely came much easier with the help of the record-breaking success of Call of Duty: Black Ops, which made Treyarch the top cog in the Call of Duty development mill. Call of Duty currently has (at least) three studios developing titles: Infinity Ward is apparently working on Modern Warfare 3, Sledgehammer Games is delivering the 2011 installment for the franchise and Treyarch's project is currently classified. Meanwhile, Jason West and Vince Zampella, the former studio heads of Infinity Ward, who started Respawn Entertainment after their firing, have started from "absolute zero" on a project for EA Partners.
Vivendi considered digital distribution for WoW expansions
Amidst all the talk of digital distribution versus retail sales at the LA Games Conference today, one big reason arose for game publishers to keep the retail channels open: the midnight launch. While a lot of gamers might tell you that it's a pain for them to schlep out into the cold to pick up the latest game or expansion, publishers actually prefer it. Pascal Brochier was the president of Global Retail at Vivendi Universal Games when it released World of Warcraft's Burning Crusade expansion (one of the biggest retail launches ever), and he says that while Blizzard had the option to digitally distribute that game, it chose not to. "We were patching all the time," he told Joystiq. "It was always in the discussions internally; 'Should we go direct digital or should we go both with retail?'" In the end, the company wanted the extra exposure that a big retail launch provides. "When you're at the store with all of the events, you actually have people who've dropped [their subscriptions] come back." And being in the stores doesn't just drive return players, it drives new players as well. "The midnight events and all of the functions help people come back who've stopped playing, but also guys who've wanted to try it will be attracted to the event and become new-found players." A few weeks after launch, says Brochier, Vivendi did enable digital distribution quietly. But even for a game so tied to the online experience, he adds that "retail is a very important critical part. There's also a significant percentage of players who just play through pre-paid cards, and that's retail, that's a retail model. So you've got to find the balance."
Vivendi UK sees cuts as part of ActiBlizz merger
While much of the coverage of the union between Activision and Vivendi Universal has focused on the people reaping the benefits--including those indirectly affected by Blizzard's rockstar status as well as those who saw direct monetary advantage--little attention has been paid as yet to the victims of this mega merger. According to recent reports, Activision Blizzard will be making cost-saving staffing cuts in Vivendi's UK divisions. Several Sierra titles are also reportedly getting the axe as part of the merger.Just in case any Massively readers in the UK were wondering, this won't affect your World of Warcraft experience at all, as Blizzard's European division is being left to its own devices. This seems to only reaffirm the long-espoused notion that Blizzard was really the only prize in which Activision was actually interested. If Vivendi's other games fall by the wayside, we doubt the ActiBlizz senior management would bat an eyelash. Still, our hearts go out to the folks who have lost their jobs, and we wish them a fruitful and speedy job hunt!
Shareholders officially approve Activision-Blizzard merger
Like a storied Hollywood romance, the landmark merger of Activision and Vivendi Universal first took us by surprise; then garnered approval over time; and finally comes to fruition today as Activision's shareholders have approved the buy-out, with a whopping 92% voting in favor of the deal. When you consider EA, their biggest rival, is reporting losses and both Activision and Vivendi Universal riding high on the backs of Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft respectively, this deal will have as much resonance on the stock market as it does within the game industry proper.We've heard many a detail on the stormy courtship between the two publishers, with hints at who sought out who and to what ends for some time now. Even as much as we've written about it, this whole affair has had a sense of unreality since the beginning, and it's bizarre to think that the deal is finally complete. This blogger, for one, welcomes our new Activision-Blizzard overlords.
Investment of $1 billion+ wouldn't dethrone WoW, exec says
We all know that World of Warcraft is the big daddy on the MMO block. Hell, with the amount of money Blizzard is raking in, World of Warcraft is the big daddy on the gaming block. And what's more, it's still growing. According a report, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick stated in an investor meeting that his company had done extensive research on the MMO category, and came to the conclusion that even a game bolstered by an initial investment of $500 million to $1 billion would still probably have a hell of a time competing in the same space as the Blizzard juggernaut. This likely came as part of their research prior to the massive merger with Vivendi Universal late last year.Kotick points to the relative failures of big companies like Microsoft in trying to develop a competitive product as proof in the pudding. Even companies with decades-long track records of extracting money from lose-lose situations don't stand to gain much from trying to directly compete in the same space. For his part, Kotick believes it's the ingenuity of the guys at Blizzard that is really the deciding factor. Since no amount of money is liable to recreate the success of Blizzard, they simply found the prospect of buying them out more amenable. If you're wondering why it seems like so many MMO development houses are scaling down their products to make them more niche oriented, this is why. Throwing money, even a billion dollars, into a competition with World of Warcraft is only likely to end in tears.
Sony BMG will reportedly offer DRM-free music
In a move that could finally sound the death knoll for the universally-hated digital leech known as DRM, Sony BMG Music will reportedly become the last of the top four major labels to offer unprotected tracks for download. Citing people familiar with the arrangement, BusinessWeek.com reports that full details of the label's plan will be released "in the coming weeks," although at least part of its catalog will supposedly be available without DRM sometime this quarter. If this does indeed pan out, Sony would follow EMI, Vivendi Universal, and Warner in moving towards a much more consumer-friendly music distribution model.[Thanks, Mack S.]
Zero Punctuation boos F.E.A.R. expansion
Having traipsed through the corridors of Valve's American headquarters, Zero Punctuation's Yahtzee is notably unimpressed with the assignment greeting him upon his return. More creepy corridors, this time found in "uninformatively" titled F.E.A.R. expansion, Perseus Mandate. While he appreciates the infrequent mind-bending sequences (they're rather scares, you see), Yahtzee can't wrap his brain around the developer's constant recycling of environments and combat. As usual, hidden within the rapid-fire rants and elaborately constructed metaphors lies an astute observation -- how is this game supposed to be scary if your character's running around with a bloody bazooka? Check out the video after the break... and note the special threat message left for last week's Zero Punctuation imitator.
PGR4 and F.E.A.R. Files demos land on XBLM
Two new game demos hit the XBLM this morning, adding a little bit of speed and a little bit of fear to the Marketplace. The first demo comes from our pals over at Bizarre Creations and is the critically acclaimed Project Gotham Racing 4. Weighing in at a rather hefty 1.27GBs, the demo includes three racecars, two bikes and features an exclusive Nürburgring Snow Challenge and an exclusive Arcade event. Oh, and the PGR4 demo is available to all Xbox Live locales, w00t, w00t! F.E.A.R. Files: Extraction Point is the other new game demo and clocking in at 585MBs we presume it to be a single player mission-o-fun that F.E.A.R. fans the world around will enjoy. Funny thing is that the demo is only available to US and Canadian Xbox Live members ... so maybe the world around can't enjoy it. Both demos are available for the free on the XBLM right now, so get your download queue on and give 'em a whirl. Read - PGR4 demo Read - F.E.A.R. Files: Extraction Point demo
Vivendi wants bigger cut of iTunes pie
Poor, poor Vivendi Universal, Apple is really pulling a fast one on them (which I assume is why they didn't renew their iTunes contract). Vivendi CEO Jean-Bernard Levy said that the contract between Apple and content providers is 'indecent.' It would seem that Vivendi Universal, and other content providers, only get .70 Euros out of the .99 Euro price of tracks on iTunes. It is enough to make you shed a tear, right?I imagine that Levy will only be happy when Apple pays Vivendi 2 euros for each .99 euro track as well as a few euros for each iPod sold (it worked for the Zune!). My question to Mr. Levy is this: out of that .70 euro that you get from Apple for one of your artist's work, how much is going to the artist? I'm betting that amount is the truly indecent one.Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
There is, apparently, more F.E.A.R. to be downloaded
OK, it's gotten out of hand. Defying any reasonable expectations that fans could have had, F.E.A.R. on 360 has just received its third downloadable content pack in less than six weeks -- and this one's free. Now available for your downloading pleasure are "Ecosphere," "Hotel" and "Sewers." We think it's great they're taking care of their community, honestly, any gamer would be lucky to get this kind of support. But is this starting to seem a bit ... desperate to anyone else? At what point does the seductress giving you come-hither glances from across the room become the weird aunt whose too-small bikini top keeps "accidentally" falling off?
F.E.A.R. the free Bonus Map Pack
Major Nelson sends word that this morning Monolith has released a free F.E.A.R. Bonus Map Pack downloadable off of the XBLM. This free Bonus Map Pack includes three additional multiplayer maps including the vegetation filled Ecosphere, close quarters battle Hotel and the dark and smelly atmosphere of Sewers. Again, the new multiplayer maps are a free download, so you have nothing to fear but the F.E.A.R. Bonus Map Pack itself (bah dum bah ch!).
