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Microsoft to Buy Vivendi Games Division?

Posted by timothy on from the passive-voice dept.

Unknown Relic writes "While far from confirmed, it is reported that Microsoft is seriously looking into buying, or may have already bought, Vivendi's Games Division. For those who aren't aware, Vivendi owns several prominent gaming companies, including Valve and Blizzard! While no official announcements have been made, one is apparently expected soon. While this would doubtlessly be a great boon to Xbox's library, it could be a shock to other consoles as titles which were originally planned for a diverse release become Xbox exclusives."

8 of 433 comments (clear)

  1. Microsoft not a monopoly? by druiid · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well this makes the quote that Bill Gates said they couldn't be a monopoly because they weren't in the game console market as well, even more funny...

  2. Far from confirmed? by Wind_Walker · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Come on, people. This isn't anywhere CLOSE to being confirmed. One news site, which has a reputation for reporting anything, has declared an internal memo was leaked (and then rescinded) that declared GBA game production was to be halted. Thus, it's obvious that Microsoft has bought Vivendi, right?

    Rumors of buyouts have been swarming the gaming world recently. Nintendo will buy Sega. Microsoft will buy Sega. Nintendo will buy Capcom. EA will buy Capcom. Nintendo will buy Sega AND Capcom. Microsoft will buy Nintendo. Sony will buy General Electric (ok, so I just made that last one up). You get the idea.

    Please. Until you read about this from Microsoft, Vivendi, or on legit gaming sites, assume that somebody made this crap up and are just looking for web traffic.

  3. Blessing for smaller developers by bstadil · · Score: 4, Interesting
    This is actually quite good as this will force Sony to put a lot of money into seeding/ development support for smaller players and start-ups.

    This could be the spark of some real creativity as a slew of ideas gets to be tried.

    A game franchise is only a franchise for so long. We need new franchises. There is 50Mu PS2's out there vs 8.3Mu for Xbox.

    This means that new idea can make money with a low penetration PS2, something that is not possible for Xbox. Say, 1% equates to half a million titles sold for the Sony camp or 80K for MS. Where would you put your bet?

    --
    Help fight continental drift.
  4. Re:I don't like this trend by NortWind · · Score: 3, Interesting
    You ASSUME the motification is to KILL COMPETION,

    That's right. MS doesn't want to kill the competion, at least not completely. They are very happy with only 97% of any market they take over, the other companies can fight over the remaining 3%. If not, where would inovations come from?

  5. Correlated to HL2 rumor? by Masem · · Score: 3, Interesting
    As others have pointed out, it's Sierra that is under Vivendi. But there's been an interesting rumor on the gaming groups that Half-Life 2 will be initially an Xbox exclusive, with the PC/Mac versions to be released at a later time (eg, like Halo). This is simply a rumor on the net, but if this rumor on the byout is true, there's definite positives for MS and the XBox if they get this.

    --
    "Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
    "I can see my house from here!" - ST:
  6. I've heard nothing within Microsoft Game Studios by jordanda · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If this is true then only a few people know about it. I work at Microsoft Game Studios and I haven't heard a thing. We just recently did some staffing changes in managment in order to manage Rare. We would have to do another huge re-org in order to absorb Vivendi. I've heard nothing along those lines. If we bought Vivendi then my team would have to double in size and haven't been told to do that.

  7. Re:Vivendi does not own Valve by KDan · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well, given the amount of time I've spent playing TFC and CS, I count Valve as a brilliant game company :-)

    Daniel

    --
    Carpe Diem
  8. A more reliable rumor by Y-Crate · · Score: 3, Interesting

    A more reliable rumor now circulating among game mags and their informers is that Half Life 2 is actually coming quite soon. The nature of the project has changed a bit, though.....

    Apparently the President of Valve has spent A LOT of time in Redmond.

    *coughXboxExclusiveTitle*cough*

    If the intent of "Xbox Exclusive" remains "It will come out somewhere else later on, almost always the PC" I will have no problem with this. The PC community is needed for modding. The Xbox can be where people go to play the game, and its mods with a performance guarantee.