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Vivendi's Revenues up 35 Percent

Posted by Zonk on from the can't-imagine-why dept.

Vivendi Universal Games, the publisher for games from Blizzard Entertainment and Valve Software, posted high revenues for last year. The company showed an increase of almost 35% over 2004. From the article: "Vivendi also reported its revenues for the fourth quarter of 2005, VU Games' revenue actually dropped from 2004, down 7 percent from 264 million euros ($319 million) to 245 million euros ($296 million). The company blamed the slide on 'an exceptional quarter in 2004,' in which Half-Life 2 and World of Warcraft both debuted." Update: 01/30 21:12 GMT by Z : It helps if I pay attention to what I'm typing.

25 comments

  1. Not owned... by avalys · · Score: 3, Informative

    Valve is not owned by Vivendi. They do have a (somewhat rocky) business relationship: Vivendi has published most of Valve's games. But Valve is independent.

    Blizzard, on the other hand, is a subsidiary of Vivendi.

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    1. Re:Not owned... by VGPowerlord · · Score: 2, Informative

      Technically, wasn't it Sierra that published most of Valve's games, back before they were swallowed by Vivendi?

      --
      GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
    2. Re:Not owned... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      my GOD you got modded informative fast... about 1 minute id say
      but yeah, true to the point, valve have an unstable if any, buisness relationship with them.. but i suspect that their main sales would have been WoW regardless..

    3. Re:Not owned... by ToasterofDOOM · · Score: 1

      I remember some great Sierra games, but not from Valve I think. The Homeworld series was (and arguably still is) one of the best RTS series ever.

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      I am Spartacus
    4. Re:Not owned... by JimmehAH · · Score: 1

      They don't have an unstable business relationship with them anymore. EA are now Valve's publishers. Even for the back catalogue.
      They're still independent so no need to worry about interference from EA.

    5. Re:Not owned... by damsa · · Score: 1

      Sierra published Counter Strike. I remember Sierra logo first then the Valve logo second.

    6. Re:Not owned... by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      Sierra published Half-Life itself.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  2. Valve isn't owned by Vivendi by Tankko · · Score: 4, Informative

    >> Vivendi Universal Games, owner of companies such as Blizzard Entertainment and Valve Software

    Valve isn't owned by Vivendi. How can you miss something that blatant. Gads! It's starting to feel more like digg around here every day.

  3. Heh by JavaLord · · Score: 2, Funny

    Valve Software, posted high revenues for last year. The company showed an increase of almost 35% over 2004

    Maybe with all that money they can buy a D+D book and figure out what the difference between the paladin class, and cleric class is.

    1. Re:Heh by holySherm · · Score: 1

      ha, i can't even get away from the paladin whining on slashdot...

      granted I'm also one of them who contributes to it. Melee hybrid...psshhh

  4. Personally I'd like to see them go under... by haplo21112 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Seriously this company has runined some the greatest game companies that have ever existed. The fact that they have not managed to destroy Blizzard is some sort of miracle fluke. Of course Blizzard of late seems to have devolved into the house of Warcraft. They have not cranked out something new in serveral years. WoW is great and all, but it is just an inflated retread of Warcraft concepts.

    How about Starcraft 2. Or Diablo3 or something completely NEW! Has all the inovative talent filtered away?

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    Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
    1. Re:Personally I'd like to see them go under... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Blizzard North which created the Diablo/Starcraft series has been dissolved. Bill Roper and many of the other talents left to start their own companies or work with others (NCSofts Guild Wars has people from Bliz North).

    2. Re:Personally I'd like to see them go under... by Dmac1985 · · Score: 1

      How the hell is Starcraft 2 new?

    3. Re:Personally I'd like to see them go under... by MishgoDog · · Score: 1

      Well.... there is Starcraft Ghost... However they also did manage to spawn off a number of (potentially) very interesting game houses when most of their staff quit in one mass exodus! flagshipstudios.com - Hellgate:London is one game I'm REALLY looking forward to! And of course a number of the Guild Wars guys are from Blizzard. P.S. WoW is a good game - not perfect, but no MMORPG (especially) is going to please everyone, so they're not a total loss. But I just kicked my WoW addiction! I've been clean for 4 months! P.P.S. If only I could do the same for my Civilization IV addiction... JUST ONE MORE TURN

    4. Re:Personally I'd like to see them go under... by Schitzoflink · · Score: 1

      The fact that it isn't out yet would make it new once they created it...

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      Mr. T carries a postage stamp in his wallet at all times on the back is a list of all the fools he doesn't pity
    5. Re:Personally I'd like to see them go under... by Schitzoflink · · Score: 1

      Will Ghost ever come out? And when it does...how much of a run and gun shooter will it be...will all the initial stealth be cut out?

      The only problem with the splintering of old good game studios is that the new studios don't have the same level of talent and even if they do they are now owned by some parent company who has no idea how to make decent games. I remember when games were at least 25 hours GP...now there are games that are listed as 15 hour games.../end rant

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      Mr. T carries a postage stamp in his wallet at all times on the back is a list of all the fools he doesn't pity
    6. Re:Personally I'd like to see them go under... by JavaLord · · Score: 1

      or something completely NEW!

      Diablocraft?

    7. Re:Personally I'd like to see them go under... by Coltman · · Score: 1

      As an observation, yes all their talent has filtered away. They can be found at ArenaNet.

      http://www.arena.net/about/team.html

      The way I see it, Guild Wars has the gameplay I would have expected for a Diablo 3.

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      - my $.02? - you can't have it...it's all I have!!
    8. Re:Personally I'd like to see them go under... by narfbot · · Score: 1

      Arena.net, the makers of Guild Wars, was started by the three main programmers of Blizzard South. They did not originate from Blizzard North. Now they may have hired some Ex-Blizz North guys after they were dissolved, I don't know.

  5. BUT... by narftrek · · Score: -1

    Though you are correct, Guildwars is STILL an MMORPG and so the parent's point still stands IMHO. Some of us (myself included) HATE online games if not for the ideal of not paying for your game again and again but for those little P'Killin cheaters that drive us INSANE. Myself and others want, whether a sequel or an original title, a new game that can be played solo or through a LAN, which is the ONLY place I play multiplayer games. Blizzard pioneered the RTS and even though that department has been hosed, there is no reason to stop making those kind of games. It's not like the WoW programmers can't program an RTS. I think Blizzard is simply trying to milk every last dollar from the MMORPG cashcow to the exclusion of thier other genres and titles. Frankly it annoys me...just like reality TV.

    1. Re:BUT... by dhakbar · · Score: 1

      I don't know why you seem to think that all online gaming requires any payment beyond the original purchase of the game. In addition, I don't see why you feel that the industry should cater to you.

      Oh yeah, because you are a whiner.

    2. Re:BUT... by voidphoenix · · Score: 1

      Technically, Guild Wars isn't an MMORPG. It's a CORPG (competitive online RPG). You might think there's no difference, but there is. In Guild Wars, all the combat maps accomodate one party of 8 players per instance. The PvP maps take 2 teams of 8, 16 people total. The only parts of GW where you have anything approaching MM interaction are the towns, which are essentially chat/trade rooms, and PvP observer mode, also basically a chat channel.

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      Excuse me, wtf r u doin?
  6. VU killed of Dynamix and Papyrus by Rifter13 · · Score: 1

    They have even destroyed the once great Sierra name. VU has hurt the gaming market for many years. They have bought out some of the best game makers, and then destroyed them through layoffs and "restructuring".

  7. Blizzard North did not do Starcraft by AHumbleOpinion · · Score: 1

    Blizzard North did not do Starcraft, the folks in Southern California did that.

  8. *Claps* by SphericalCrusher · · Score: 1

    And they wanted to get rid of their games section...

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    "Instant gratification takes too long." - Carrie Fisher