Activision Blizzard buys independence from Vivendi. "costs $8.2 billion."

[mibuokami]

Aielyn said:

eFKac said:
I wonder whether they will change some of their developing and publishing practices and characteristics now.

In the long run, it does open Activision up to a bit of a risk - if their current cash cows all fade, and they aren't able to create new ones, Activision may crash and burn in the long run; being owned by Vivendi provided a bit of safety from that possible end result.

Vivendi is not a great safety net atm, they are $17 billion in debt and tried to pull $3billion from ActiBlizz's reserve to pay some of it off and maintain their credit rating.

Gamers may not be thrilled with Kotick but damn if he isn't a fine CEO - Vivendi was seeking action against ActiBlizz's best interest and swift like ligtning, he cuts and cauterizes the infected limb.