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Vesayen
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(Vivendi owns Blizzard, and Sierra, amoung others)
Reuters
Microsoft, Vivendi in video game talks - analyst
Friday January 24, 12:30 pm ET
LOS ANGELES, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Investment bank Investec said on Friday that it believed Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) was in talks with French media conglomerate Vivendi Universal (NYSE:V - News) about buying Vivendi's video game business for as much as $2 billion.
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A spokeswoman for Vivendi Universal's game unit declined to comment. A Microsoft spokeswoman could not be immediately reached for comment.
Jeff Van Rhee, Investec's director of enterprise software research, told Reuters he had received indications a deal was in the works. "There was some pretty actionable data that said something had just happened and things were heating up pretty quickly," he said.
Speculation has been rampant for months on the fate of Vivendi Universal Games, which publishes well-known PC titles like "WarCraft" and "Diablo" and games based on J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" books.
The division, which is strongest in PC games but also has significant console game operations, has been reported at various times in the last year to be either up for sale or in preparations for an initial public offering.
Sources told Reuters in mid-December that Vivendi had had at least preliminary conversations about the potential for a deal with Microsoft, Sony Corp. (Tokyo:6758.T - News) and Electronic Arts Inc. (NasdaqNM:ERTS - News).
Van Rhee, in his note, reiterated past speculation that Vivendi has been seeking a price of anywhere from $1 billion to $2 billion for the games unit. Most financial analysts have characterized the lower end of that range as more likely.
Microsoft, which bought British games developer Rare for $375 million cash in September, has said it would be most interested in acquiring game developers that could add to its internal product efforts rather than a full-fledged publisher.
One of the main criticisms of the company's Xbox video game console has been the lack of internally produced hit titles, though the company did find success with the military action game "Halo" in 2001 and 2002.
A number of video game companies have warned that their results for the December quarter would be weaker than previously expected as retailers became more conservative in their ordering, only taking large quantities of titles with proven hit potential.
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Asher
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Calgary, Alberta
Nov 1999
time: 22:25
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ComputerandVideoGames.com reported it on wednesday.
Not only would it be Blizzard, but also Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike, TeamFortress 2, etc...
quote:
MICROSOFT TO BUY VIVENDI?
Fevered speculation points to a shock swoop by Bill Gates's company, with an announcement imminent
19:25 If insider speculation is to be believed, Microsoft has bought US publisher Vivendi, with an announcement to that effect due soon. Take a deep breath and reflect on the implications of that, if true.
Half-Life 2, Warcraft, Counter-Strike, Crash, Spyro, Lord of the Rings... Vivendi has an enormous portfolio boasting some of the biggest titles on all formats, and it would be an ultra-smart move on Microsoft's part to snap them up. Such a buyout, of course, would come at a terrifically high price, making the 365 million acquisition of Rare look like peanuts. But if anyone has the necessary funds, it's Microsoft.
Rumours regarding potential buyout targets for Microsoft are nothing new, of course, and have been spreading for months, with the likes of Sega and Capcom both mentioned in dispatches. However, talk of the Microsoft/Vivendi deal seems far more serious, with one insider suggesting the buyout could be confirmed as early as Friday.
Furthermore, an email from Universal was accidentally sent out to developers last week stating that all work on GBA titles should be suspended. The email was promptly recalled and branded an error, but could it be that this was in some way tied in with this alleged deal?
We contacted Vivendi for comment and a spokesperson told us: "We've heard all sorts of rumours over the past months - Activision, EA and many more. They'd all like to get their hands on Blizzard. I guess Microsoft are one of the few companies that has enough money."
A Microsoft spokesperson would only state: "This is a rumour and we do not comment on rumours."
If the rumours prove true, this will be a huge boost for Microsoft's soaring Xbox console, providing it with a broad spectrum of big-name games that would either appear as Xbox lead or as Xbox exclusives outright. |
I don't see why your reaction is "NOOOOOOOOOO!" though. MS funds its game division way better than Vivendi ever did, and they make PC games as well as Xbox games...
The only direct implication this has on Blizzard games would be Starcraft: Ghost would not longer be on all three consoles, and now is an Xbox exclusive...
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Asher
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Calgary, Alberta
Nov 1999
time: 22:25
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quote:
Originally posted by Azazel
Asher? remember, when there were more developers? More titles came out then. Games were innovative, brilliant, etc. now, We don't see that. We only see different games of SAME generes. I don't like it.
I am an oldie fan. But clearly isn't just that. |
Um...Azazel...there's far more developers now than there ever was in the history of games.
And competition doesn't cause people to innovate, it causes people to clone eachother's games. 
Microsoft is one of the few developers to actually encourage innovation in games. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Blinx is an innovative platformer, Tao Feng an innovative fighter, etc.
To be honest there's just no basis for your rant. There are plenty of brilliant and innovative games out there, there's no shortage of them now.
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Asher
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Calgary, Alberta
Nov 1999
time: 22:25
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quote:
Originally posted by SnowFire
Sigh... Ashie, Ashie...
Even if this deal DID go through, that's hardly a guarentee that "all the multi-platform console games will go XBox only." Just like after Sony bought a good chunk of Square, Square still didn't stay PS2 only. Now, would they encourage more games to be ported to the Box, and maybe encourage more new XBox games? Sure, I bet they would. But I don't think they'll toss out all the previous work. |
This makes no sense.
First, Sony bought less than 10% of Square. MS is buying 100% of Vivendi's game division, if this is true.
And yes, they WILL toss out all of the previous work. That's what Rockstar did when Sony signed them to an exclusive contract: the Xbox game was scheduled to ship a couple months after E3 but was cancelled due to the deal.
MS would certainly NOT publish any games for the PS2 or Gamecube...you're smoking something if you think they will.
quote:
And why do you say that Ghost is being done XBox first, then port? Any source? |
Every single one of the screenshots released have been Xbox screenshots, figure it out. 
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24-01-2003 23:51
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