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Blizzard and Activision Merging

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Shamana:

--- Quote from: Kid van Pervert on 03 Dec 2007, 00:07 ---
--- Quote from: Johnny C on 02 Dec 2007, 23:21 ---Man. What good have Activision done for me lately?

--- End quote ---
I believe they put the last nail in the coffin of Troika.

Don't know if that means much to you.

--- End quote ---

You say it like it's a good thing. Troika was notoriously bad when it came to how they released their games, but all three were memorable. Heck, for all its flaws, Bloodlines is one of the most awesome games I've played so far.

ackblom12:
I don't think Kid meant that in a positive light.

Also, if 15% is true, I kinda wonder if that's enough for certain monopoly watchdogs to step forward on the merger.

KvP:
I liked Bloodlines a lot, myself, but Troika needed to be euthanized. They were always big on concept and all their games had their strong points, but always fell short on execution, and the company itself was hemorrhaging cash because the founders didn't really know how to run a business. It takes awhile to realize how barren Bloodlines is, and the other two games' drawbacks often eclipse their strengths. The Escapist has a characteristically excellent article on the studio's history. A company like Troika was a dream destined to fail. I probably would have jumped ship had they released their spiritual successor to Fallout because I wouldn't bear to play another half-functional game that obviously could've been revolutionary. But I digress.

Given the state of the rest of the entertainment industry (Clear Channel, etc.) I'd be surprised if anyone called foul on Activision/Blizzard's 15% share of the market. It's not difficult to imagine that 2 regional conglomerates, one for Asia and one for the Americas / Europe, will make up the industry 10 years from now. The only company that doesn't seem to be in danger of getting assimilated is Nintendo.

Speaking of Troika, Leonard Boyarski (the guy responsible for Fallout's iconic visual design) migrated to Blizzard, so one imagines he's in a pretty position right now. Jason Anderson, on the other hand, recently returned to Interplay and is working on a game, which is confusing everybody.

Storm Rider:
Source here.

As far as merger approval goes, I wouldn't expect the ghost of American Anti-Trust to put up much of a fight, so I have serious doubts it'll have much trouble passing the FTC. Vivendi, however, is a French company, so presumably it will have to pass their equivalent body as well. I don't know the French government's attitude towards this sort of thing, so maybe it could get shot down on that side? Who can say?

By the way, the unannounced games that Activision revealed in the conference call were Call of Duty 5, Guitar Hero 4, an unnamed racing game from newly acquired Bizarre Creations, a new Tony Hawk game, multiple new Marvel games, some stuff based on Dreamworks, and a James Bond game. In other words, absolutely nothing surprising whatsoever. I feel almost as if EA and Activision have switched places at this point, and EA is now the one taking risks on new IP (speaking of which, some new screens for Deep Space were released) while Activision churns out as many sequels as they possibly can.

KvP:
Based on Dreamworks or associated with Dreamworks? I had heard Spielberg and co. were planning on getting their fingers into the gaming pie, but they've been tight-lipped about project specifics.

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