Slashdot Mirror
NBC Merger Leaves VU Games, Blizzard, Sierra In Cold
Thanks to Reuters for their report that Vivendi Universal Games has still not found a buyer, with indication that, despite much confusion, "The video game unit is not a part of the newly-created NBC Universal, and Vivendi has signaled its intention to hold on to the division." VU Games is also the parent company of both Sierra and Blizzard, but although "...industry insiders have questioned why Vivendi would want to retain ownership considering its divestiture of other entertainment assets", VU Games will stay as it is for now, since "...sources in the banking and games-publishing industries have said the sale bogged down over price, with Vivendi asking on the order of $800 million."
It may be a one trick pony, but that's a damn nice trick. WarCraft, StarCraft, and Diablo titles are pretty much guaranteed to be top sellers when they ship.
Worth $800m? Not sure about that. It all depends on the sales and profits. Obviously the other game companies either don't have the cash to do the deal, or don't think it's worth that much to them.
Laugh while you can, monkey-boy!
But those days are long past. Now all they do is bug-ridden knockoffs of whatever was popular 2 years ago.
Half-Life - $lots, less a percentage to id Software for the engine.
Counter-Strike - $0, was available as a free download, the commercial version was mainly a loss-leader to improve sales of Half-Life.
Half-Life 2 - $0, is not out. In a post-Halo world, things are a little different.
Team Fortress 2 - $0. Was due in 2000, then 2001, then 2002, then I stopped caring about it. The idea of a Team Fortress sequel now seems quaint and outdated after Battlefield 1942 and Planetside. I think they've missed the window of opportunity with this one.
Valve has released one (1) commercial game ever (Half-Life). Even the expansion packs weren't made by them (Gearbox software made them). Valve may very well have made piles of cash, but until they prove that Half-Life wasn't blind luck, they sound very much like a one-trick pony to me.
Oh, and on Blizzard - Warcraft 3 has been selling well compared to most other games, but relatively poorly compared to the other top Blizzard games. Starcraft 2 is the only game they could make now that would interest me, although I'm not sure they could make it right since so many core Blizzard folk left this year. Anything else I'm apathetic towards. (Starcraft Ghost - looks like an Oni clone, World Of Warcraft - it plain looks *bad* after seeing Everquest 2 shots).
"..ONE BILLION DOLLARS." (pinky to the mouth) "MWUhahahah!"
Uh.. I don't think so. At 800 million asking price, assuming they make $25 back per copy of a game sold (assuming retailer markup, cost of duplication brings the retail price to $50 total), they would have to sell, what.. 32 million games?
To sell 32 million games, you'd have to make 10 titles that sell over 3 million each - they would take over 30 years to make assuming 3 years each (or 15 if they do 2 in parallel).
AND I've not included the cost of financing development. Not a great long-term investment.
"Team Fortress 2 - $0. Was due in 2000, then 2001, then 2002, then I stopped caring about it. The idea of a Team Fortress sequel now seems quaint and outdated after Battlefield 1942 and Planetside. I think they've missed the window of opportunity with this one."
Correction, first due out 2nd quarter 1998 according to TF1's birthday mode. By 2000 most people gave up hope, although seeing the sourcecode to it shows they are atleast working on it. (For anyone that doesnt know, HalfLife2's sourcecode leaked out recently, and apparently tf2 and cs2 were both in there. TF2 can even compile in its current state, so it may be close to release.)
Pain lasts, kid. Its how you know you're alive. Sometimes I think this growing up thing is just pain management-TheMaxx