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.

In a press release announcing Q1 2008 results (PDF File), Blizzard owner Vivendi Universal asserts that the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King is "anticipated to be released in the second half of 2008." Mark your calendars, as we suspect the Christmas season is going to be a lot less productive.

While we always expected release this year, Blizzard, who has yet to make a formal announcement, is notorious for delaying games until they've met some in-house standard of quality. Our attention is now focused intently on Blizzard's WWI event in Paris next month.

[Via Big Download]

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Following up on a rumor posted on Kotaku, we've just learned that Activision and Vivendi Games has discontinued its membership with the Entertainment Software Association. This information comes in the wake of yesterday's announcement that Activision and Vivendi would not attend E3 this year.

The ESA's Rich Taylor, senior VP of communications and research (full quote after the break) says, "We can confirm that Activision and Vivendi Games opted to discontinue their membership. The ESA remains dedicated to advancing our industry’s objectives such as protecting intellectual property, preserving First Amendment rights, and fostering a beneficial environment for the entire industry."

The European Commission has given permission to the games division of French telecom and media group, Vivendi, to run free into the arms of Activision. This is one of the final loose ends left in the $9.85 billion deal spawning the behemoth known as Activision Blizzard (or by its street name: Actilizzard? Blizzavision?). Vivendi will procure a 52% stake in the EA rival and is expected to have annual revenue of $3.8 billion.

The Commission essentially needed to approve that there weren't any antitrust issues in the mega-merger. In its report the group stated that there are several effective competitors in the market, such as EA and the game console manufacturers. Guess it's time to start ordering the office stationary.

Against our better judgment, we've been getting progressively more excited for the non-Matt Damon, don't-call-it-a-movie-adaptation Bourne Conspiracy. We learned this morning that we'll figure out if we picked a winner or got bourned again when the game drops on June 3.

We're happy that we're not going to have to wait to much longer, but it's also nice to see a major release in the heart of the summer. If only more publishers would realize that dropping a fun oasis into the summer desert could translate into a lot of extra attention (and dollars) for them.

When we first read the title 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (the previously untitled sequel), we, like you're surely doing right now, prayed for Fugitive Hunter-esque hi-jinx that would have Fiddy & friends sorting out the U.S.'s problems in Iraq and getting home in time to record a new smash hit with Rhianna ("I'll stop those terrorists ... or die tryin'"). Sadly, MTV has shattered our dreams, reporting that the game "sets 50's character against a cabal of international gangsters on a far-flung, bullet-riddled adventure." Missed opportunity? Table for 1? (There are some screenshots here if you want to get a better feel for the new setting.)

On the plus side, the game will have nothing plot-wise to do with the poorly-received 50 Cent: Bulletproof. There's also encouraging word from Vivendi producer Aaron Blean who said, "We've emphasized the gameplay quality [more] than anything this time around." We think we speak for everyone when we say, "Yes. Yes, that's a good choice."

Turns out not everybody's happy with the recently-announced formation of super-company Activision Blizzard. One particular investor group is suing Activision, claiming that the merger will leave its shareholders in an "unfavorable minority position."

Since Vivendi comes out on top in the merger -- with 52% majority ownership of Activision -- the Wayne County Employees' Retirement System believes Activision didn't think of the stockholders when accepting the deal, which it claims otherwise could have proven more lucrative. No further details of the lawsuit are known at this time. The Activision Blizzard merger is scheduled to occur sometime in the first half of this year.

[Via Next-Gen]

Desperate for "more" open-world action, the Joystiq crew stopped by Vivendi's Prototype shindig on Thursday evening. To experience the event's "New York crammed into a room" theme for yourself, give the above image a good ol' clicking. Perhaps you'll have better luck than us when it comes to stalking spotting Barry Pepper in the crowd.

New details have emerged surrounding Prototype, Radical Entertainment's sandbox-style successor to Hulk:Ultimate Destruction, specifically concerning whose voice we'll be hearing when the shape shifting protagonist Alex Mercer flaps 'genetically mutated' lips. Mercer will be voiced by Barry Pepper, who some may recognize for his role as Officer Dean Stanton in The Green Mile, or for his arguably most memorable work as Jake in one episode of Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years.

Other voices confirmed for Prototype include NYPD Blue's Gordon Clap and CSI's Paul Guilfoyle, both of which publisher Sierra note as being appropriate additions to the cast given the game's "uniquely mysterious and conspiracy-filled plot." Prototype is expected to change shape and smash New York City later this year for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

[Via press release]

A proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission tells the tale of how the Activision Blizzard merger almost didn't happen. GameDaily sifted through the massive document to discover that discussions about the possible merger go back to November of 2006, with things really heating up going into last summer. After little progress on transaction terms, Jean-Bernard Lévy, CEO of Vivendi, called up Activision head Bobby Kotick in June to say that he "did not think it made sense to continue discussions concerning a possible transaction at that time."

Around July, Kotick contacted Lévy with Activision's new proposal. The lawyers went to work and sometime around September, with "little progress on open issues," Kotick called the deal off. Strangely, Blizzard's Mike Morhaime and other Blizzard managers (who were under the Vivendi umbrella at the time) stepped up and got things back on track with a management structure proposal. By November the Activision Blizzard deal was final and the industry got another 800 lb. gorilla to keep EA company.

Vivendi Games' revenues totaled €1.02 billion ($1.5 billion USD) in 2007, with much of the cash flow thanks to World of Warcraft's 10 million players and the €814 million ($1.2 billion) Blizzard brought in, an increase of 58% from 2006. WoW's next expansion Wrath of the Lich King is expected later this year and should keep this little phenomenon on track.

Proving how much of a work horse Blizzard is in Vivendi Games, the Sierra Entertainment, Sierra Online and Vivendi Games Mobile businesses saw combined revenues of €204 million ($301 million), a 29% decline from last year. Timeshift and World in Conflict drove sales but didn't perform as well as 2006's Scarface, Ice Age 2, Eragon, Spyro: A New Beginning and F.E.A.R. Now forget all you know of Vivendi Games -- here begins the age of Activision-Blizzard.

It doesn't matter where your office is located or how high it is -- if you're an executive in the video game industry, you can stare out your window and spot the looming shadow of the colossus, Activision Blizzard. Ben Feder, CEO of Take-Two, shared this view at a recent UBS investment conference (as reported by Reuters), where he stated that the soaring costs of game development make industry consolidation "inevitable."

"Video-game development is not getting any cheaper," said Feder. "It's a capital-intensive business, and I don't see that going away. That will drive some of the smaller competitors out." If the last few months have been any indication, rising costs and expectations are prompting publishers to snap up notable developers and even each other, much like [disturbing Hungry Hungry Cannibal Hippos reference removed]. A stable financial base and a desire to best the competition may provide an incentive for taking new IP risks, but the cynic among us would more quickly rub his hands together in anticipation for UbEAsoft's Madden's Assassin 2k7.

The Joystiq Podcast Roundtable returns to dissect the latest megatons in the video game industry. This installment we're talking about the new corporate entity of Activision Blizzard ... err, Blizzavision ... err, Actiblizzard? Whatever you call it, it's complicated.

To make sense of the deal, and its ramifications, we've assembled an all star panel. Seated at the roundtable are James Brightman, Lead Business Editor for Game Daily BIZ; Simon Carless, Editorial Director of the CMP Game Group (think Game Developer Magazine and Gamasutra.com); and lastly the alphabetically prejudiced Michael Zenke, Editor at Slashdot Games, blogger at Joystiq's own Massively.com, as well as blogger at his own MMOGNation.com. Topics discussed include Blizzard's independence, Activision's gains, Sierra's status, the possibility of console games from Blizz, the possibility of MMOs from Activision, and whether or not EA needs some new drawers, so give it a listen.


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Though some World of Warcraft fans may be in a tizzy over the news that Vivendi and Activision would merge to form Activision Blizzard, it seems that shareholders in the two companies weren't put out in the slightest. GameDaily is reporting that Activision saw a NASDAQ bump of 16 percent ($3.55) in their stock since the news was released, bringing its worth to $25.70. Vivendi got a three percent jump.

Not every investor is smiling though. When faced with the news that the company would have a new, super-powerful competitor, EA's stock tumbled 91 cents to $55.29. We're sorry, Electronic Arts, but at least you can take comfort in the fact that (at the moment, at least) your company has the far better name.

While their enormous press release ironed out all of the technical details behind the Activision/Vivendi Games merger which occurred earlier today, there are still a number of questions left unanswered by the two companies. How is control over the new company going to be distributed? Will you be developing games together? What was the main reason for the merger? Will Activision now use a new logo and brand name? Where you get them jeans?

Basing his analysis on the tone of the press release, and on recent movements in the video game industry, Simon Carless over at GameSetWatch addresses some of those outstanding questions. Apparently, Activision is going to be in charge of running the business, Electronic Arts has cause for concern, and Blizzard has more money than a number of countries, including Grenada, Tonga, and the Solomon Islands. Thanks, Wikipedia!