Activision goes indie

[maxy]

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/07/26/activision-in-8-2-billion-deal-to-buy-back-stake-from-vivendi/?_r=2&

Activision Blizzard, the world’s biggest video game publisher, has a reached an $8.2 billion deal to separate from Vivendi and become an independent company.

Under a deal that was announced early Friday, Activision Blizzard and a group of investors led by the company’s management will buy back shares owned by Vivendi, the French conglomerate that controls the video game maker, leaving a majority of Activision Blizzard’s shares held by the investing public.

Activision Blizzard will buy about 429 million of its shares shares and certain tax attributes from Vivendi for roughly $5.83 billion in cash, or $13.60 a share, the company said. In addition, Robert A. Kotick, 50, the chief executive, and Brian Kelly, the co-chairman, are leading a group in buying about 172 million shares of the company from Vivendi for about $2.34 billion.

Vivendi will retain a stake of about 12 percent, or 83 million shares, in Activision Blizzard, the company said. Mr. Kotick will continue to lead the company and Mr. Kelly will become the sole chairman, according to the terms of the deal.

[SantaC]

He's the kind of boss every shareholder loves, I'll give him that.  Slashes, burns, and exploits to increase short-term profit, with no regard for its effects on the long-term.

Thanks to CoD, Skylanders, and WoW, Activision is on solid ice right now, but I don't see any of those three holding out the next five years.

i think you forgot starcraft and diablo as well...

[SantaC]

No, I didn't forget them.  Unless Blizzard starts putting them out on a yearly schedule, they won't be sufficient to keep the gears greased at a company Activision's size should their present tent poles falter.

the truth is that blizzard are on a downward spiral, arent they?

[archie4208]

I can't find any reliable Diablo 2 stats, but Diablo 3 sold >12 million as of December 31, 2012.

Starcraft sold >11 million and Starcraft 2 sold 6 million.  That series has had a marked decline, but I believe it is primarily due to the rise of MOBAs.

I'm really interested to see how the console versions of D3 fare, considering the game's negative buzz post release, year and a half late port and being put on consoles that are on the way out.

[Huff]

Ill add it to the charts I've been keeping, b

[archie4208]

I believe Tencent only has publishing agreements with EA and Take 2 to bring their FIFA and NBA games to China, which is the status quo because China requires a domestic partner to publish games.  I don't recall of Tencent actually owning shares of those two companies.

[tiesto]

Why the hell hasn't Blizzard done a World of Starcraft yet?

Not that I'd play it (don't like MMOs) but it seems like it'd make a killing.

[Phoenix Dark]

World Of StarCraft would be the only way you could get me to play Protoss

[archie4208]

Why the hell hasn't Blizzard done a World of Starcraft yet?

Not that I'd play it (don't like MMOs) but it seems like it'd make a killing.

MMOs are on the decline and Starcraft ain't the franchise it used to be.

It would be a giant loser.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

does anyone think it would have been possible to keep Guitar Hero as a sustainable series, or that the fad would have died out eventually anyway and the rapid iteration (strike while the iron's hot) was the only way to go.

and also Skylanders is gonna get creamed this year.  Not just because Disney is putting together a first-to-market clone with better branding, but because you can only ask people to buy so much physical crap for games before they start to rebel (once again, see Guitar Hero)

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

oh shit, and also, when Rockstar was pulling down crazy amounts of money for Take 2, they invested in sports games and building/buying other studios, which are now probably more important to Take 2 than Rockstar is now.

Just a thought Activision.

[archie4208]

It was a fad.  Bobby did the right thing milking it dry.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm sure you could pull up some 5 year old posts at GAF where I said otherwise because I was such a Rock Band fanboy.   

[close]

[Phoenix Dark]

It's going to be very interesting to see where SC2 is in a year or two. WoL seemed pretty dead before HOTS arrived, and so far it has revived the game quite a bit. Still it's floundering in Korea compared to LoL, and I don't think the Chinese launch is going to be noteworthy.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Its never going to have the success of lol, thay ship has sailed.

I think a game like Heartstone might turn out to be a way bigger thing then sc2 in a matter of months.

[Himu]

Blizz really need an LoL killer

[etiolate]

ugh lets not go from unimaginative WoW clones to unimaginative LoL/DOTA clones

[Cerveza mas fina]

I think were there already etiolate

[Phoenix Dark]

Blizzard's moba looked horrible the first time they showed it lol. I'd imagine it's looking way better now, but I doubt it have much of an impact. From what I understand DOTA2 is like the more skillful, professional moba whereas LoL is the casual side. I'm not sure there's any room for a Blizzard moba.

[etiolate]

and awesomenauts is the actually fun MOBA

[archie4208]

Blizz really need an LoL killer

It's going to suck.

[chronovore]

Activision is just about the only game publisher about whom I feel no guilt buying used. Kotick is just such a mercenary minded guy; if I had stock I wanted to sell in a few years, I might like the guy, but he's all about the immediate future. If Activision started tanking, he'd be the first one out, with a platinum parachute which would make the hidden bank accounts of escaping dictators blush with embarrassment.

I think they could have sustained GH for a longer period of time, but I'm not sure that would have resulted in more raw sales.

And yeah, Starcraft MMO would be a bad idea at this point.  Starcraft free-to-play cow clicker for smartphone?  Holy shit the money.

Activision were even talking about taking the GH series to plug-n-play toys at one point. There were so many games they cranked out, and they were mainly anti-consumer-facing with their peripherals, which I think had a chilling effect on the market overall.