14 DAY TRIAL // After we've reported that the Activision shareholders have approved the merger with Sierra Games, we're getting info that the entire process which was initiated last December is now complete. Activision Blizzard is officially the newest and biggest videogame developer and publisher in the world.
The process has seen Vivendi Games become a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision, with Vivendi Universal, the parent company of Vivendi Games, becoming the most important shareholder of the newly formed company. Vivendi Universal is getting 295 million shares of Activision Blizzard outright, and will use some 1.7 billion dollars to buy additional shares needed for a controlling stake. Apparently, approximately 146.5 million shares of the new company will be put up for sale to the public in the following days, with the price being set at $27.50 a share.
Bobby Kotick, who went from the position of Chief Executive Officer at Activision to that of CEO of the newly created videogames giant, says that "leading market positions across all categories" are the main strength of Activision Blizzard.
Blizzard brought with it the most played MMO in the world, World of Warcraft, with more than 10 million subscribers. Guitar Hero is being described as the number 1 music franchise, while Call of Duty is the number 1 first person shooter franchise. Kotick believes that Tony Hawk is the most important sports franchise in the world, while Spider-Man is seen as the most important superhero franchise on the market. However, do take all the number ones with a grain of salt, as these are the words of a man who must have dribbled a bit too much on champagne as the merger went through.
We should not underestimate the impact that the merger has on gamers and the videogame market. We are truly witnessing the birth of a giant. It is estimated that in 2008 the company will have revenues of almost 4 billion dollars. And they will probably grow in 2009, as the different parts of the newly formed entity are fully integrated. We can only hope that the new company will not forget the concept of quality over quantity, which both Activision and Blizzard upheld.