[RLacey]

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/29041/Acti...Games-to-merge

EA dethroned as the world's largest publisher.

Interesting.

[TangentBlack]

That's huge. However, I am not sure that it will effect us gamers positively.

[Ninja Dodo]

Merge!*

I'm going to say: Oh dear.

Big hulking mega companies... never a good thing. The tiresome re-branding is usually the least offensive part. Shareholders rejoice!

* - obscure Hotspot / Gears of War reference

[Ninja Dodo]

More details...

Would be interesting if this brought about a change in attitude towards Sierra's adventure history, maybe freeing up the Gabriel Knight license so Jane Jensen could work on it again, but I'm not holding my breath. From what they're saying it sounds more like it's going to mean a bunch of Universal songs for Guitar Hero 4 and buckets of cash for everyone except the developers.

All this shares talk is reminding me of this.

Wait! I've got it... World of Gabriel Knight-Craft!

[RLacey]

I can't see a change in heart regarding the adventure games. This is the same Activision that owns INFOCOM, remember...

[MasterLoo]

*sigh*
The gaming industry of today is like a car without no handbreak - it goes downhill, fast. Nothing vivendi has ever touched has ended up as something I have enjoyed. For every buy-out and merging of companies, the room for creativity and making games that are "different" or "unique" or "special" has grown really slim. Which is pretty sad for me, who prefer those games that are different from the mainstream. We don't need another GTA or GTA clone, we don't need another Halo... and for the sake of cupcakes, we don't need another Starwars game... what we need are more independent companies who are willing to stick their neck out to make something the world has never seen before.

[Ninja Dodo]

Like Brutal Legend? Vivendi Activision Blizzard is publishing that. Hopefully the change of management doesn't affect it.

Gamasutra posted some summarizing thoughts. Activision is on top and Blizzard gets to keep doing its thing.

[Ninja Dodo]

Originally Posted by Penny Arcade

In a conference call earlier this week about the Activision/Blizzard/Merger/thing, Activision CEO Robert Kotick dropped the quote from the first panel of the strip completely without irony. No doubt a phrase like that is "hot talk" for the financial set, but when they're speaking within earshot of the community, they might want to be more choosy.

Well, I was right the first time:

Oh dear.

[Sar]

Originally Posted by TangentBlack

That's huge. However, I am not sure that it will effect us gamers positively.

If you play adventure games I doubt it will. The last Vivendi adventure game was GK3. I do not believe they published one since then. It was the last game I purchased from them. Of course Vivendi did not really have much to do with GK3 other than inherit it from Sierra. Looking at their history of game releases I doubt GK3 would have ever seen the light of day if it was not for the stage of development it was at when they bought the rights. As for Activision who knows what their stance is in regard to adventure games. I suppose a look at their catalog would tell you.