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Universal gets back Scarface 2 rights without a fight
The world is yours once more, Universal. Well, at least the world of Scarface as it pertains video games. Variety reports that the rights to a sequel based on the famous film franchise reverted back to their original holder after the recent mass dumping of properties by Activision Blizzard. Vivendi and Radical Entertainment produced the original Scarface: The World is Yours, sales of which the Variety piece places at a hefty 2.5 million worldwide. The story also mentions that a sequel to the game was at one time in development, although its current status remains a mystery. It's possible, as Variety speculates, that Universal itself could resurrect the title internally now that it is actively developing its own titles, such as the forthcoming video game treatment of the Angelina Jolie action vehicle, Wanted. Perhaps our dream mob-sim-meets-Halo-clone, Scarface: The Universe is Yours, just might happen after all.
We ain't afraid of no ghosts, just cancellation
If there's something strange in your neighborhood, who ya gonna call? Ghostbust ... er ... well, maybe not.With the Blizzavision merger, a few Sierra titles (like Ghostbusters) may get the axe. When it comes to efficiency, Sierra has been deemed a "non-strategic business unit," which (we're sure we don't have to tell you) is not good. While the recently merged publisher reports that Sierra franchises like Crash Bandicoot and Spyro will be safe, the fate of Ghostbusters is still up in the air. Offering a bit of reassurance, Sierra claims, "[Ghostbusters] is not cancelled and will not be cancelled." Some words from the people with the money, though, would probably make us feel better.
Vivendi Games sales down from this time last year
The word around town is that Vivendi Games has suffered an 11% sales drop in the first half of its fiscal year of 2008. Most of this is related to its 24% sales drop in the first quarter alone, but is this the entire story?Many times these fiscal sales comparisons don't paint the complete picture. In a recent Gamasutra article, it's pointed out that this sales drop is due to the fact that the first half of this year didn't have a major expansion for World of Warcraft in its line-up. So comparing sales figures from a time with no new expansion to that with a new expansion is apples and oranges. In fact, with Vivendi's recent merger with Activision and the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King which should release by the end of this year, we're sure to hear some incredibly positive numbers for Vivendi's sales numbers during the second half of 2008.
Activision CFO: "Blizzard is top notch"
Develop magazine got to talk to Thomas Tippl, who is Activision's CFO (we've heard a lot from CEO Bobby Kotick, but never from Tippl before) about the Activision Blizzard merger and how it will affect both companies. Tippl reiterates what we've heard before: that Activision has no plans to tell Blizzard how to do their jobs when they've been doing so well already.He does, however, say that a "portfolio review" is in order, and so employees of Sierra (Vivendi's other games division) should start working on their resumes, if they haven't started already. He also says the sales teams of each company will likely be consolidated -- they want to put an "all-star team" together, but the thing about stars is that not everyone can be one.So the merger remains good news for Blizzard, not-so-good news for the rest of Vivendi. We're still curious to see what happens when/if Blizzard falls out of Activision's good graces. Sure, everything is peachy-keen right now, but when Blizzard's stubborn commitment to quality bumps up against Activision's almost yearly franchise releases, who'll walk away the victor?[Via WorldofWar.net]
BEHOLD: Activision Blizzard is born
Stockholders have approved the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games to form the goliath Activision Blizzard. GameDaily reports the deal officially closes on July 9 and the new company will trade on the Nasdaq under Activision's ATVI ticker. This instantly makes Activision Blizzard the new alpha dog in the industry with a value of $18.9 billion -- EA now trails with $14.1 billion.Without getting into the nitty-gritty details, Activision Blizzard is expected to have the highest profit margins in the industry. Activision Blizzard should also continue to enjoy bagiggles of cash flowing into its coffers unless franchises like World of Warcraft and Guitar Hero suddenly self-destruct.
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.
Vivendi and Activision merge nears completion as Delaware Court denies preliminary injunction
It's a hectic summer over at Blizzard HQ. Inundating the masses with Wrath of the Lich King across the pond at the World Wide Invitational, announcing Diablo 3 on top of that, and battling it out in the courts against the kingpin responsible for World of Warcraft's bot brigade. Aside from all that, there's the whole pending merger with Activision and Vivendi approval process with Blizzard Entertainment right in the middle. The latest legal development involves a preliminary injunction filed by some shareholders who weren't satisfied with the $27.50 per share offer. The injunction suit was filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery last February by the Wayne County Employee's Retirement System in an attempt to halt the merger. Activision has announced that a Delaware Court junked that preliminary injunction, a decision made by the very illuminated and WoW-knowledgeable Chief Judge William B. Chandler III. Activision will be holding a stockholder meeting next Tuesday on July 8, if approved the merger will complete on July 9th and a new titan, Activision Blizzard will join forces and the gaming world will never be the same again. We wonder how many level 70 characters the Judge plays or maybe he's already level 75 in the WotlK beta?
Judge compares Vivendi-Activation merger to a WoW quest
The judge ruling on a dispute related to the Vivendi-Activision deal has used WoW metaphors for the actions of the litigants. William B. Chandler III, the chief judge of the Delaware Court of Chancery, showed an unusually keen grasp of the dynamics of the game -- way more than either of my parents would understand. His ruling describes, among other things, crafting, questing, battlegrounds, guilds, and even our unique linguistic habits. (My mother, for example, calls them typos.) Continuing his analysis, Judge Chandler says that the world of Mergers & Acquisitions is similar to an MMORPG where "participants take on certain roles, interact in their own community, hone specialized skills, and even develop a unique, somewhat curious vernacular." The judge concluded his denial of the injunction with the words "GAME OVER."Judge Chandler is no stranger to hipness. In previous decisions he has also made references to 50 Cent, Ray Charles, Notorious B.I.G., and Cerberus, the mythological dog that guarded the gates of the underworld. Perhaps he's trying to keep the jurors awake?
Blizzard to Activision: we choose you
We don't know if anybody has told you, but Blizzard is actually kind of a big deal. Not many companies can hold the attention of their target audience for an entire week with naught but a series of cryptic splash pages. They're such a big deal, in fact, that when it came time for Vivendi to choose a partner for their big merger, Blizzard's preference for Activision was instrumental in their ultimate decision. That is, if Blizzard COO Paul Sams is to be believed.It was no secret that Blizzard was the real prize in the merger, having pulled in approximately $1.2 billion for Vivendi in 2007 alone. With the twin juggernauts of Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 looming on the horizon, and their "next-gen MMO" project still lurking in the shadows, it seems clear that Sams' comments are anything but idle boasting. According to Sams, the leverage they have in this arrangement is what is going to allow them to preserve their existing management structure that has proved so spectacularly successful. I think that's something we can all get behind.
The rise, fall, and rise again of the WotLK Information Wiki
This past Monday, June 23, The WotLK Information Wiki relaunched on a new web host after having been pulled down by a Cease and Desist order from Blizzard. Darkside, one of the admins for the WotLK Information Wiki, gave an interview to Medros over at All Things Azeroth to explain what happened. The interview was conducted as part of Medros' podcast Episode 53. Some highlights from the interview include: Most of the information that the alpha wiki provides is a result of file and image extraction from Blizzard's publically-available alpha client. The alpha client files contain all the information on the spells, creatures and environments to be tested and new things are added or subtracted each time the alpha is patched. The alpha wiki folks set up a "sandbox" where they could fly through the new locations and spawn creatures for screenshots. A small portion of the WotLK info -- some screenshots, for example -- has come from Blizzard employees under non-disclosure agreements the identities of whom the alpha wiki admins protect. Blizzard, Vivendi, and Activision IP addresses had visited the wiki frequently since it began. The Cease and Desist order from Blizzard arrived last Friday, June 20. Over the weekend the WotLK wiki admins tried several ways to appease the lawyers and eventually settled on moving to a new web host. The wiki's readership is approximately 200,000 page views per day. Go to All Things Azeroth to hear the rest of the interview. Make sure you listen to the first few minutes of the podcast to hear a very humorous and well-sung parody of Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues called Pugging Kara Blues.[Thanks, Matticus and uber.]
Blood on the Sand: the Burnout of shooters
In an interview with Xbox World 360 magazine (as reported by OXM UK), the producer of 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, Julian Waddows, stated that he hopes Fiddy's new game will do for shooters what Burnout did for the racing genre. He adds further that he wants the game to do, "What Diablo did for RPGs. We wanted to take all that makes the genre fun and exaggerate it." An over-the-top, exaggerated shooter? Oh no, that's never been done before. Seriously though, we kid Blood on the Sand. After all, we certainly wouldn't wish any game to be bad. In theory, there's nothing wrong with Waddows hopes. We just hope that his hopes come to fruition. Otherwise, we'll probably just lose hope altogether. Editor's note: Since we're on the subject, let's get someone started on porting Diablo II to XBLA, mkay?
Where the Activision Blizzard merger stands
Shock and awe hit the gaming industry on December 2, 2007, on that morning two giants announced a deal worth 18.8 billion dollars. Activision and Vivendi Games are to merge, a monstrosity in the making set to rival Electronic Arts for the throne to the word's biggest and most profitable force in game development and business. An acquisition on this scale doesn't happen overnight, and since the original announcement there have been numerous noteworthy developments. Gamasutra delves into the acquisition providing an in-depth analysis which focuses on the overall impact thus far about key players and their new positions, what this means for Blizzard Entertainment, and of course more numbers. The piece also includes commentary with some respected authorities in their field including Massively's own Michael Zenke.
Fiddy's friend says Blood on the Sand "as good as Gears of War"
This should allay everyone's fears about 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. According to TeamXbox, a member of 50 Cent's G-Unit crew, Tony Yayo, has been quoted as saying that Blood on the Sand is "looking as good as Gears of War." Lofty words to be sure. Of course, given the source, we're a little skeptical. Fortunately, Yayo doesn't seem to be the only one impressed with the game, as TeamXbox also reports that Epic's own Mark Rein told CVG he was "blown away" by the game last year. In fact, even our own Terrence Stasse managed to enjoy the game during a recent Sierra event. Who knows, maybe Blood on the Sand will make us all forget about Bulletproof (or die tryin').
Activision shareholders to vote on Activision-Blizzard merger
In Blizzard company news, another major milestone for the planned Blizzard-Activision merger is now set for July 8th, when a special meeting of Activision's shareholders will vote on their merger with Vivendi Games, Inc., the parent company of Blizzard. The meeting will take place in Beverly Hills, CA. So far, Activision's been clearing the hurdles to the merger nicely, and executives from both companies seem pretty excited about the deal, so It seems unlikely that the shareholders will balk too much (then again, there is that lawsuit). The timing of this meeting is apparently later than expected according to sister site Big Download, but it is worth noting that it still beats out E3, which will take place on July 11th-13th. You'll recall that Blizzard and Activision dropped out of E3. Rumor has it that they are also planning to hold a press conference during E3, on the first day, and being able to reveal final details of when, where, and how the merger will complete during that press conference would be quite a coup, for sure. [Via Big Download]
Metareview -- The Bourne Conspiracy (Xbox 360, PS3)
Despite our well-earned hesitancy about getting excited over a licensed game, we held out some hope for High Moon Studio's The Bourne Conspiracy. Maybe it was the kinetic energy of the trailers, or the company's insistence that they were putting a lot of thought into the game. Either way, we were ready to be hurt. But now that we're getting some of the first reviews we can see that our hopes for an above average game have not been dashed. Huzzah! GamePro (75/100): "The Bourne Conspiracy, which is loosely based on the events of the first movie, doesn't suck. In fact, it's pretty good. Sure, it's not a true blockbuster but it's not total garbage either." IGN AU (73/100): "A trifle repetitive and brief, The Bourne Conspiracy is a diamond in the rough. Well worth a look but it's not going to change your life. However there're two more films worth of material to adapt so maybe future Bourne adventures will give a little more control to the player and a little less to the button pressing mini-game." Game Informer (68/100): "Though The Bourne Conspiracy is weighed down by broken gunplay mechanics, its thrilling hand-to-hand combat, slick presentation, and relatively short time commitment (eight hours) make it a perfect rental for fans of the films."
Activision CEO: Blizzard merger best way to enter industry
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick told Gamasutra that his company explored avenues by which it might enter the MMO industry, but decided that the only sure way to succeed was to join forces with Blizzard.That reality was a driving force behind the merger. "We kept looking at it, and realizing that even if we put hundreds of millions of dollars of capital towards it, and had the very best intellectual property, we still would very likely be unsuccessful," he said. "So the merger was really our mechanism to get access to Blizzard's talent, Blizzard's capability, their infrastructure."Kotick has already said in the past that taking on World of Warcraft directly would be next-to-impossible even with virtually unlimited coffers. But others, such as EA Mythic's Mark jacobs, believe there's room for more than one 800 pound gorilla in the market. Perhaps the problem isn't so much competition as it is the fact that the production values bar has been set so high that MMOs have become too risky. They cost more to produce than most other games, and their success rate is uninspiring.
id leaves the ESA
At this point the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) must be thinking, "another one bites the dust."Today developer id Software revealed to GamePolitics its intention of leaving the ESA group of members. Following suit with their publisher Activision, who recently left the organization with Vivendi, and Lucasarts, id has yet to release a statement explaining the decision.The ESA has yet to comment on the decision that we're sure the organization hopes will not become an industry-wide trend.[via Joystiq]
TimeShift DLC adds more achievement love
Today, a second piece of downloadable content goodness has graced TimeShift, bringing with it an extra dose of achievement love as well.Available for download for the gotta have it price of FREE are two TimeShift DLC packs called "Futures-Past" and the newly released "Urban ReDuel". And with the DLC release, TimShift received a Gamerscore bump up to 1250, adding an additional ten DLC based achievements each worth 25 Gamerscore. To recap. Free DLC, more achievements and a possible 250 Gamerscore increase. We can't complain too much.
EA knocks Activision/Vivendi for leaving ESA
EA's VP of corporate communications, Jeff Brown, says that Activision and Vivendi pulling out of the ESA shows a "lack of leadership" from the two (soon to become one) large publisher. Brown tells GI.biz that EA has no plans of leaving the lobbying and business affairs group, expressing that a big company like EA has a "responsibility to consumers" to work on policy issues and it should be done through "industry consensus."EA will not be leaving the ESA, but Brown urges the organization to make a strong case to remaining members. He insists that it's the ESA's job to "prove" that membership is for the good of the publishers, but believes with Activision/Vivendi leaving, along with LucasArts announcing its departure last week, that the organization will be proving itself more. Now, whether that proving is in the public spotlight or behind the scenes (which is normal for a lobbying group) is something the ESA is going to have to work out after these very public publisher exits.
No WoW causes Vivendi Q1 sales to drop 24%
Vivendi Games, soon to merge with Activision and become the goliath Activision Blizzard, saw its sales fall 24% from Q1 last year, thanks to the lack of a World of Warcraft expansion. The percentage may be down, but the money still flows like an Azerothian river, with Blizzard contributing €192 million of Vivendi's €221 million in sales this quarter. Vivendi also announced that WoW added another 700,000 players and the Sierra divisions performed "slightly higher" than last year.With Vivendi expecting the next WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, sometime later in 2008, we'll plan on a Naaru size jolt to Activision Blizzard's cash flow at that time. For now, Vivendi will just have to enjoy the disgusting amounts of cash it gets from WoW, instead of the nauseating amounts Activision Blizzard will make from the WotLK release.
