Topic: Activision Blizzard possibly being sold

[TJ Spyke]

Bloomberg is reporting that at their annual executive meeting next month, Vivendi SA will consider selling their 61% stake in Activision Blizzard. The company is their 4th largest unit (they also own Canal+, Universal Music, and several telephone companies) and 2nd fastest growing, but the companies stock has dropped from €19 to €13 in the last year. Other plans may include dividing the company in two with ACTV, Universal, and Canal in one.

If Vivendi were to sell their majority stake in Activision Blizzard, who would most likely buy it? I am sure EA or Microsoft could afford it and would love to have stuff like the Skylanders series making money for them.

[Chozo Ghost]

Well, I've often said Nintendo needs to obtain more studios....

[Sarail]

Ya know, it would actually be quite incredible and smart of Nintendo to go after and buy Activision. Why?

Call of Duty.

Nintendo would own the number 1 FPS series in all of gaming. AND it would be exclusive to Nintendo systems - this would also cut off that CoD game in the works for Vita, too... BAM.

World of Warcraft, Starcraft.. and yes, Rock 'n' Roll Racing. They'd have an awesome lineup of added IPs to bring them money. And isn't that what matters? The all-mighty dolla dolla?

[broodwars]

I really don't see why Vivendi would sell off what's very likely their most profitable division.  I would probably drop 2 of the other 3 divisions before I dropped Activision.

[ThePerm]

Well, I've often said Nintendo needs to obtain more studios....

in a perfect world

[Plugabugz]

Nintendo is incredibly purchase-averse. Why would they spend the tens of millions on Activison when Retro Studios was bought for only $1m?

[Chozo Ghost]

Nintendo is incredibly purchase-averse. Why would they spend the tens of millions on Activison when Retro Studios was bought for only $1m?

Because the COD franchise is worth billions, so if it can be procured for tens of millions then that is a super awesome deal. That said, if anyone does buy Activision its probably going to cost a hell of a lot more than tens of millions.

[Ceric]

I really don't see why Vivendi would sell off what's very likely their most profitable division.  I would probably drop 2 of the other 3 divisions before I dropped Activision.

I agree with this.  It was surprising when the Activision-Blizzard merger happened to begin with because Blizzard at least was still really profitable.  Activision wasn't as profitable.  Both currently are really profitable last investor meeting I heard about and have a good road plan for the future.  I honestly don't see why there stock would drop.

<insert rant here about the stock market being nothing more than a popularity poll>

I think Activision-Blizzard has a lot to offer to Nintendo, but ,unlike a lot of studios, they don't really need Nintendos care and feeding.  Nintendo would need to buy them as an investment and let them do there own thing for the most part.  I don't think Nintendo could resist meddling.

[SixthAngel]

I really don't see why Vivendi would sell off what's very likely their most profitable division.  I would probably drop 2 of the other 3 divisions before I dropped Activision.

I think they are dropping it on expectations that it goes down the crapper next gen.

CoD is the biggest thing right now but next gen it most likely won't be.  The biggest games in the previous generations usually do well but are not the end all be all they were previously.  If CoD isn't the biggest thing next gen as expected it will suffer more than most because of the yearly sequels that will quickly saturate the market and its reliance on multiplayer to keep bringing everyone back to play with their friends.

WoW is not going to last forever and people have been talking about the need to replace it for quite some time.

Without those two you have Blizzard who historically has an incredibly slow pace when it comes to game releases and whatever Activision has left lying around now that they have smothered Guitar Hero.  I guess thats just Skylanders.  Its got potential but I don't think it can fill the gap particularly now that Nintendo is letting everyone into that business without  bundling a magic portal.

If they have also upped their development budgets for next gen as I expect they may be trying to get rid of it while they can still get a great price.

[Chozo Ghost]

CoD is the biggest thing right now but next gen it most likely won't be.  The biggest games in the previous generations usually do well but are not the end all be all they were previously.  If CoD isn't the biggest thing next gen as expected it will suffer more than most because of the yearly sequels that will quickly saturate the market and its reliance on multiplayer to keep bringing everyone back to play with their friends.

I disagree. COD isn't going away anytime soon. Each successive game is breaking the sales records set by the last, and the games are raking in literally billions of dollars for Activision.

While it is possible the popularity could eventually decline, its not going to decline so much that they will pull the plug on it within the next 5 years. It may not be the most popular franchise next gen, but it will still be popular enough that it won't be going away.

[Ceric]

...
Without those two you have Blizzard who historically has an incredibly slow pace when it comes to game releases and whatever Activision has left lying around now that they have smothered Guitar Hero.  I guess thats just Skylanders.  Its got potential but I don't think it can fill the gap particularly now that Nintendo is letting everyone into that business without  bundling a magic portal.
...

I think you're underestimating both Activision and Blizzard.  Blizzard has had for many years now a new MMO in the works.  Still lucrative support on there current one.  Just releasing Diablo III and have the expansion for SC2 on the way.  They have big sellers in the pipe.

Activision on there side have Skylanders Giant coming, COD, and plans for something different in the relatively soon time period for the gaming world.

[SixthAngel]

I disagree. COD isn't going away anytime soon. Each successive game is breaking the sales records set by the last, and the games are raking in literally billions of dollars for Activision.

While it is possible the popularity could eventually decline, its not going to decline so much that they will pull the plug on it within the next 5 years. It may not be the most popular franchise next gen, but it will still be popular enough that it won't be going away.

It will still make some money but it won't be pulling in the incredible cash it is now.  A/B needs emormous sellers like this to actually make any money right now.  It won't do zero units overnight but I can pretty much guarrantee a huge drop next year when all the next gens are out.  It is going to be old hat and EA and other companies will be releasing new IPs because they typically gain traction and become big at the beginning of a generation.  All signs point to their best selling title no longer setting the world on fire like it is now.

I think you're underestimating both Activision and Blizzard.  Blizzard has had for many years now a new MMO in the works.  Still lucrative support on there current one.  Just releasing Diablo III and have the expansion for SC2 on the way.  They have big sellers in the pipe.

Activision on there side have Skylanders Giant coming, COD, and plans for something different in the relatively soon time period for the gaming world.

There is no way to know whether fans will migrate to Blizzards next MMO.  Even if it is very successful it most likely will never reach WoW's dizzying highs.
Blizzards other games are good but they don't come out regularly and B/A needs regular hits.

Skylanders Giants and CoD will certainly sell well now but next gen any company can sell Skylanders style figures on the Wii U with no pack in and CoD is almost assuredly going to sell less.

Remember how few companies made money last gen. A/B was one of them but they were riding on WoW, Guitar Hero,  and CoD almost the whole time.  With WoW looking to be replaced, CoD future sales in question and most likely an increase in dev costs the future of B/A becomes very fuzzy.

[bustin98]

Some say that with Activision Vivendi is too big, and not focused enough on its core business. Dropping Activison has the potential to not only bring a huge influx of cash but allow Vivendi to streamline its offerings. Michael Patcher says Vivendi would be better off to use Activision's credit to borrow from banks and use the cash for dividends...

I really have no clue. Though Nintendo would never buy Activision. Their cultures and business practices are miles apart.

[ThePerm]

Nintendo buying Activision Blizzard would be like China getting Hong Kong back, look at China 10 years later. Nintendo is not likely to buy them because they don't buy companies often. Though they did want to make a grab for
Bandai a couple of years ago even though that didn't pan out.

[nickmitch]

Activision Blizzard is too big for Nintendo to own and control. And Vivendi is crazy for considering selling it's stock in Activision Blizzard. I could see selling off some of it, but still maintaining ownsership of the company. There's got to be some smaller, less profitable business units they can selloff or cut.

[Louieturkey]

I disagree. COD isn't going away anytime soon. Each successive game is breaking the sales records set by the last, and the games are raking in literally billions of dollars for Activision.

Actually, while MW3 sold more on launch day than BlOps, at this point in its lifecyle, BlOps has sold more units and MW3 is actually starting to track slower than even MW2 at this point.  It will end up selling less than MW2 or BlOps in the end.  I would not be surprised if BO2 also ends up lower than MW2.

[Ian Sane]

Blizzard's whole business is in PC games.  That's totally incompatible with Nintendo.  Would Nintendo want to keep Battle.net going?  Many of Blizzard's games currently require some ongoing server maintenance.  This isn't like when MS bought Bungie and could just move their future projects from the Mac to the Xbox.  Nintendo can't just abandon WoW or they'll piss off the very fanbase they want to sell future Warcraft games to.  And they can't move it to the Wii U either.  If they took on Blizzard they would have to take on the PC gaming market.  It's too bad because Blizzard is one of the few devs I would consider on par with Nintendo in terms of talent.

Call of Duty is getting milked like Guitar Hero.  One year it is going to just die because everyone will be sick of it.  The annual releases will make it completely irrelevant.

[broodwars]

Blizzard's whole business is in PC games.  That's totally incompatible with Nintendo.  Would Nintendo want to keep Battle.net going?

Nintendo would take one look at Battle.net and have no idea what they were looking at.  They wouldn't know how to "keep Battle.net going" if they wanted to.

[TJ Spyke]

I doubt Vivendi SA knows either. Nintendo could just do the same thing and let Blizzard continue with the technical aspects of it.

[ThePerm]

the wii u is pc like, I wish developers would see that and jump on it. If you really look at it, the wii u is more pc like then the xbox 360. Though, i would want Nintendo to develop their own strategy series(or just take the wars or fire emblem series and innovate them with touch screen interfaces on consoles)

[Chozo Ghost]

I disagree. COD isn't going away anytime soon. Each successive game is breaking the sales records set by the last, and the games are raking in literally billions of dollars for Activision.

Actually, while MW3 sold more on launch day than BlOps, at this point in its lifecyle, BlOps has sold more units and MW3 is actually starting to track slower than even MW2 at this point.  It will end up selling less than MW2 or BlOps in the end.  I would not be surprised if BO2 also ends up lower than MW2.

I doubt that. The reason MW3 sales have stalled is because the game sucks. It was a copy and paste job of MW2 that was done by talentless scabs who were hired to replace the old Infinity Ward staff that left the year before.

Infinity Ward is in shambles, but don't take that out on Treyarch. Treyarch still makes quality games, and that's why Black Ops 2 will do well in the long run. It is not a copy and paste piece of **** made by incompetent scabs like MW3 was.

[Ceric]

I disagree. COD isn't going away anytime soon. Each successive game is breaking the sales records set by the last, and the games are raking in literally billions of dollars for Activision.

While it is possible the popularity could eventually decline, its not going to decline so much that they will pull the plug on it within the next 5 years. It may not be the most popular franchise next gen, but it will still be popular enough that it won't be going away.

It will still make some money but it won't be pulling in the incredible cash it is now.  A/B needs emormous sellers like this to actually make any money right now.  It won't do zero units overnight but I can pretty much guarrantee a huge drop next year when all the next gens are out.  It is going to be old hat and EA and other companies will be releasing new IPs because they typically gain traction and become big at the beginning of a generation.  All signs point to their best selling title no longer setting the world on fire like it is now.

I think you're underestimating both Activision and Blizzard.  Blizzard has had for many years now a new MMO in the works.  Still lucrative support on there current one.  Just releasing Diablo III and have the expansion for SC2 on the way.  They have big sellers in the pipe.

Activision on there side have Skylanders Giant coming, COD, and plans for something different in the relatively soon time period for the gaming world.

There is no way to know whether fans will migrate to Blizzards next MMO.  Even if it is very successful it most likely will never reach WoW's dizzying highs.
Blizzards other games are good but they don't come out regularly and B/A needs regular hits.

Skylanders Giants and CoD will certainly sell well now but next gen any company can sell Skylanders style figures on the Wii U with no pack in and CoD is almost assuredly going to sell less.

Remember how few companies made money last gen. A/B was one of them but they were riding on WoW, Guitar Hero,  and CoD almost the whole time.  With WoW looking to be replaced, CoD future sales in question and most likely an increase in dev costs the future of B/A becomes very fuzzy.

I'm fairly sure Activision knows that Skylanders will not contain to enjoy the current level of success beyond the next game.  Blizzard already knows that there Next MMO will never be as popular as WoW was at its peak.  The market has shifted.

Blizzard is actually at a place where they need to figure out what they want to do next or go back into a dormant cycle.