Blizzard (Vivendi) Activision and Ubisoft
| December 2nd, 2007
This leaves Ubisoft out in the cold. So, here are 10 things to know about this particular merger.
1: Starcraft Ghost will finally be finished.
2: Blizzard certainly understands how to keep the parents quiet. Remember, Blizzard was passed around like a cheap whore in the 90’s, and still managed to produce some of the best games ever made.
3: Blizzard is in Irvine, Activision is in Santa Monica.
4: Bioware is Canada, Vancouver I think. EA has been expanding its Vancourver and Montreal operations over the last few years.
5: Ubisoft was #1 in EA’s sites. EA was #1 in Ubisoft’s sites. Both of these targets have now changed drastically.
6: EA bought Mythic already, which was basically an initial play into the MMO space for the company. Having tasted the possibilities, EA was probably looking at Vivendi with doe eyes. Vivendi has been for sale since the day it was created. But thanks to Blizzard, the company actually had something other than a back catalog to offer. Remember, WoW alone generates ($10 x 12)8,000,000= a hair under $1 billion per year. general estimates for the price of a business are eight year’s revenues. $8 billion is all fine and dandy, but when Universe of Starcraft launches, it’ll be double that in 5 months. Nevermind Starcraft 2, which will likely be powerful enough to calm the plunge of the dollar in Asia….
Anyway: Can you allow EA to buy this magnificent gold mine that essentially runs itself and shits money?
7: Activision wasn’t in the MMO world at all.
8: Activision runs call centers already. It has done customer service for almost 30 years. Blizzard is sick of being a front-line customer service company.
9: Ubisoft is now dead in the water. Watch for it to buy Atari.
10: Now, at long last, Tony Hawk can go skateboarding with a shotgun through Azeroth!