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Activision Blizzard Represents Huge Online Potential

  • Wired, Wednesday, December 5, 2007 10:48 AM

The Activision-Vivendi Games merger comes at an important time for video gaming, as the retail-based sector transitions to a Web distribution model. "What is historically a packaged-goods business is now an exploding market with online connectivity that gives those products a huge lifespan," says DFC Intelligence analyst David Cole.

World of Warcraft, Vivendi's subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game, gives the new Activision Blizzard's an important toehold in online gaming, positioning it more favorably for the future than rival Electronic Arts. The merger is designed "to take Activision's catalog online," which means we may soon see "Guitar Hero" commanding online subscriptions a la Blizzard's "Warcraft." This would also eliminate the cost of producing and distributing games for three different systems.

Activision CEO Robert Kotick explains that the potential of expanding into foreign markets--particularly Asia--provided more impetus for the merger.

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