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Fallout From the Activision and Vivendi Merger

Posted by Soulskill on from the metaphorical-fallout,-and-not-the-game-either dept.

SlappingOysters writes "Despite being announced last year, the merger of Activision and Vivendi into the company Activision-Blizzard only became official recently. Gameplayer investigates how the merger has affected upcoming games and development studios between the companies. As part of that investigation, they received official word that only three Vivendi games made the cut, and in this article they detail which titles have been dropped, which studios have been dropped, and who is likely to snap them up and add them to their portfolio. A lot of big names have been affected."

11 of 51 comments (clear)

  1. Yes... by The+Living+Fractal · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This was expected. It's a common concept in resource application. It applies in all sorts of things, ranging from development to things like battle and war. It's called "focus fire" by some.

    They are simply focusing their resources on the most important (they think) projects in order to release the best possible ones they can and maximize their business potential.

    Fallout? Is that the right word? I guess... Unless you see it like I do: We're going to get a few really good products instead of a bunch of just ok products. I'll take the former every time.

    --
    I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
    1. Re:Yes... by sznupi · · Score: 3, Funny

      Fallout is a REALLY bad word to use in a news headline (especially one with the text hidden on main /. page) for people waiting for release of Fallout3...

      --
      One that hath name thou can not otter
    2. Re:Yes... by The+Living+Fractal · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I seriously doubt the November release is in danger. I'm wondering more about Diablo 3's release.

      --
      I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
    3. Re:Yes... by Ren.Tamek · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, that's not how it goes. The titles Activision-Blizzard chose to keep for release were the safe bets - Spyro and Crash Bandicoot. Not great games by any accounts, but playable family entertainment. Games they're dropping include World in Conflict (critical gem) and Brutal Legend (developed by the Psychonauts team). The entire dev teams behind these titles now have no funding and an uncertain future.

      Fallout is the right word, because what we're going to get is a few cash cows instead of a bunch of products of varying quality, including niche masterpeices.

      Now I can see why A-B want to have few titles which sell in big numbers, but if every company did exactly the same thing our industry would collapse overnight under the weight of it's own mediocrity.

      --
      "If you want a vision of the future, Winston, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever." - George Orwell, 1984
  2. Is ANY company better after a merger? by JonTurner · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Serious question: can you name any company that was better after a merger? I can't think of a single example! (And when I say "better" I mean better from the customer's or employee's point of view not just a short-term-stockholder's view.)

  3. Got me worried... by jddj · · Score: 2, Funny

    Will I still be able to get cartridges for my 2600?

  4. Sierra by Dripdry · · Score: 2, Interesting

    As someone who basically grew up on Sierra adventure games (King's Quest was ythe first adventure game I ever played, on the IBM PC Jr, with IR Keyboard!) I have to wonder what in the world their problem is.

    King's Quest? Space Quest? The adventure games haven't gotten a lot of play the last ten years, but now that we see Sam & Max coming back, and episodic content online, how hard would it be to create a 3rd person Quest for Glory action/adventure RPG? Count me as first in line to get that one!

    Phantasmagoria? Gabriel Knight? Those two *at least* could be crafted into horror/action games. Not that they should.

    I really hope these games dont' get buried under legal BS as so many important titles have in the past. There's a lot of marketing potential there, and if it's done the right way it could make whoever has the rights a nice little pile of cash, and maybe a new following.

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    -
    1. Re:Sierra by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 3, Informative

      As someone who basically grew up on Sierra adventure games

      As did I - Sierra games were among my first PC gaming experiences.

      I have to wonder what in the world their problem is.

      Well, from someone in the gaming industry, I can tell you what happened from my perspective. It's the same reason many companies go to hell - horrible management. For the past decade or so (a few years after Sierra was sold to CUC International), it's been pretty well known in the industry to stay far, far away from Sierra. I had heard many stories from a fellow programmer who had escaped - he had worked there for a number of years before being let go in one of their many "reorganizations".

      Essentially, they were borderline abusive to their employees... long hours, low pay, little respect, and constant lies. People were developing chronic health problems from the stress, etc... If anyone complained too much, they were simply replaced by new developers fresh out of college - who would tend to put up with much worse than seasoned developers. Basically, it epitomized the worst of the game development industry from a few years ago (it's not like that so much anymore).

      The result was obvious and predictable. Sierra's ability to create and release a decent product dwindled along with it's company morale, and the best and brightest employees were slowly bled off. Eventually, internal product development was canceled, and they became a publisher only. However, bad management screws up all things over time, and this was no exception. Sierra eventually reorganized pretty much out of existence, and the doors of their Bellevue, Washington offices closed in 2004. At this point, they're essentially just a division in name only of whoever owns them.

      I really hope these games don't get buried under legal BS as so many important titles have in the past. There's a lot of marketing potential there, and if it's done the right way it could make whoever has the rights a nice little pile of cash, and maybe a new following.

      I'd love to see this happen. My bet is that Activision will be too greedy to sell the rights at a price anyone could afford, but too indecisive to make any use of them, and they'll lie unused in perpetuity. It's what happens with a lot of great properties.

      I suppose I could be wrong, but I'm really not holding my breath.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
  5. Companies don't merge to benefit customers. by EWAdams · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Or employees. Customers are just people they sell their products to; employees are people they hire when they need labor. The definition of "better" doesn't include them. Better, in business terms, means more valuable and more profitable.

    Electronic Arts was definitely better after it bought Tiburon. Tiburon was a truly excellent development studio, working closely with EA, and it was in both their interests for EA to buy them.

    --
    I piss off bigots.
  6. Vibrant in-text ads by argent · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yet another website that uses in-frame popups when you just mouse over a word, and refuses to disable them.

    This kind of annoyvertising reminds me of X10.com's popups, and shouldn't be tolerated.

    1. Re:Vibrant in-text ads by SupremoMan · · Score: 2, Funny

      It's not a problem at slashdot. We don't read the articles anyway. It's your own fault for following the link and wishing to be informed!