Usually when there’s a company merger in the midst there’s a few rumours beforehand, but today Activision dropped a bombshell – they’re planning to merge with Crash Bandicoot and Spyro license-holders Vivendi. Let’s not forget about the recently announced Ghostbusters game, and the already announced Prototype and Wet either.
Vivendi of course also own World of Warcraft developers Blizzard, which is where the new company name comes in – Activision Blizzard. The deal is valued at 18.9 billion US dollars. We’ll say it again in italics, for added effect: 18.9 billion US dollars. The merger is expected to be completed by the first half of 2008.
The deal will also give Activision access to Universal Music Group, which will “benefit Guitar Hero and further extend our sizeable leadership position in music-based games.”