E-mail:
Password:
GameSpot Video Games, PC, Wii, PlayStation 2, GameCube, PSP, DS, GBA, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Vivendi continues sales climb

France-based media company posts 7.9 percent overall revenue growth, with games group spiking nearly 50 percent for the first nine months of '07.
By Tom Magrino, GameSpot
Posted Nov 14, 2007 3:45 pm PT

As heavily laden as this year's release lineup may be, all the hot new releases can't keep Vivendi and its massively multiplayer online game juggernaut down. The France-based media company announced revenue of $22 billion for the first nine months of 2007, a year-over-year climb of 7.9 percent. For the third quarter ended September 30, Vivendi tallied revenue of $7.9 billion, a 10.9 percent rise over the same period in 2006.

Though several of its businesses achieved double digit growth, once again the biggest climber was Vivendi Games backed by the massively popular MMOG World of Warcraft. Vivendi Games posted $1 billion in revenue through September, a 49.8 percent rise over last year. Blizzard Entertainment's online fantasy role-playing game was again credited as the largest contributor, with Vivendi calling out strong sales of Burning Crusade, the Chinese version of which was recently rolled out. Vivendi claims the game currently boasts more than 9.3 million subscribers.

While Vivendi Games is making the largest percentile gains, it still by far contributes the least to Vivendi's portfolio. SFR, Vivendi's French mobile phone company, posted $9.7 billion for the first nine months, a 2.3 percent climb over the first nine months of 2006. Vivendi's French premium television operation Canal+ Group and worldwide music outfit Universal Media Group brought in near-equal revenue of $4.73 billion and $4.78 billion, respectively. Vivendi's Moroccan telecommunication company Maroc Telecom also posted significant gains of $2.6 billion, an increase of 17.1 percent year-over-year.

Sign up now to post a comment on this story!

26 Comments

First to Last Latest
Realmjumper

Nuclear launch of 10 million subscribers detected... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Holy mother of god. (duke nukem voice) It's unstoppable.

Seriously I never thought this MMO would reach close to 10 million. Looks like it can't be stopped, lol.

p.s.
haha at starcraft nuclear launch reference.

Posted Nov 16, 2007 4:32 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+1)
Dryker

Dude!? That's just insanity. Vivendi could smoke cigars wrapped in hundred dollar bills for breakfast.

Posted Nov 15, 2007 8:14 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+1)
BloodMist

Good for them.Can't wait for Starcraft 2!!!A Diablo 3 would also be nice, sure, after the very blah Hellgate:London.

Posted Nov 15, 2007 8:10 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+1)
blowtrees

Ballin.

Can we get some Diablo 3 though?

Posted Nov 15, 2007 3:54 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+1)
mrkame16

Billion Dollar Imdustry everyone's cakin it, except for Little engine that could (PS3) but didnt.

Posted Nov 15, 2007 6:39 am PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+1)
quincy0191

Blizzard FTW!

Posted Nov 14, 2007 10:36 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+0)
mashom

Defaulter lol, i dont think so.. mr Milliner..

Posted Nov 14, 2007 10:09 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+0)
sickside6

nice work vivendi

Posted Nov 14, 2007 10:05 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+0)
felshs

wow............22 billion, i wish i have a million dolllar

Posted Nov 14, 2007 9:56 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+2)
RaiKageRyu

It's only a matter of time before it hits 10 million.

Posted Nov 14, 2007 9:43 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+2)
metalliod

Vivendi has risen to the top of the notch after their success of the WOW series.

Posted Nov 14, 2007 8:55 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+2)
googliagen

Vivendi games division might be posting a net loss without WoW but Vivendi is in no lack of money I can assure you.

Blizzard needed cash, Vivendi needed a solid gaming studio
Blizzard rocks game development, Vivendi has money coming out its ears

The match worked well for them

Posted Nov 14, 2007 7:05 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+3)
coochie_kuta

i remember right before wc3 was released they were in a billion dollar debt. and i remember them nearly selling their games division. i bet they are glad they didnt. still cant say i care for them tho.

Posted Nov 14, 2007 6:23 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+0)
uklegendkiller

Well said TeamR

I'm not one bit surprised by this at all Vivendi have published some of the best games in the last few years & in my veiw one of the best publishers in the industry and it wont be long before they over take EA as the number 1.

Posted Nov 14, 2007 6:23 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+2)
TeamR

@ctg867 - You obviously have no idea how big Vivendi is. Vivendi is a media conglomerate. That means they a HUUGE entity that owns ALOT of other companies. Do some research. They part own NBC and all those assets, Universal Music, and a mobile phone company that, as this article says, posted 9.7 billion for the first nine months. And thats just a sample of what Vivendi owns. They are one of the largest companies on the planet

Posted Nov 14, 2007 6:06 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+4)
ctg867

I swear, without WOW, Vivendi would be so bankrupt.

Posted Nov 14, 2007 5:58 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (-6)
Chrome54

dead_god86, as a matter of fact, no, inactive accounts are not taken into account with these tallies. You are correct on the subscribers bit though, but there are still 9.3 million active subscriptions. I also imagine, given the abundance of character slots in World of Warcraft (10 per server, which is lots), a far smaller percentile of players have multiple World of Warcraft accounts than many other MMOs.

Posted Nov 14, 2007 4:57 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+1)
dchan01

Blizzard needs independence badly.

Posted Nov 14, 2007 4:28 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+1)
dead_god86

When it says 9.3 Million subscribers, i find that amazing, i only started playing Wow 18 months ago, adn it ws 4 mil then, also, you should take into account that this means, 9.3 million existing accounts, some people have multiple accounts, other's have quit the game and no longer pay for their account, however it still exists. Now i dont know if they actually take all of this into account, and ignore non-active accounts or not, but it dosnt' matter coz i'm sure of that 9.3 mil, i'm sure a S#!tload of ppl do play

Posted Nov 14, 2007 4:24 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+0)
teirdome

WoW is a worldwide phenomenon. I really wish I had bought VU stock all those years ago because after playing the Beta, I could easily see it becoming this.

Posted Nov 14, 2007 4:15 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+2)
DJ_Steady

wow... i never thought it would have so many users. That's great It's the way to make big bucks..

Posted Nov 14, 2007 4:14 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+0)
Land-0-Funk

9.3 million subscribers!..blown away by that

Posted Nov 14, 2007 4:10 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+0)
SCboy79S

Vivendi doesn't deserve Blizzard...

Posted Nov 14, 2007 4:10 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (-1)
DonutTrooper

Shiny, shiny moneys. At least they have their claws on WoW they'll be pretty secure. And as long as it keeps up, it will mean the need for a company to make an MMO that can actually break into WoW's profits, not just say they will.

Posted Nov 14, 2007 4:10 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+1)
lordroy24

Jesus Blizzard. You know what, they shouldn't even call it Vivendi, it should just be Blizzard....period. lol

Posted Nov 14, 2007 4:09 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+0)
MasterChief725

Well...as long as WOW is out there, vivendi will make money

Posted Nov 14, 2007 4:06 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (-1)
advertisement

Latest Entertainment Headlines

Latest TV headlines from
Cartoon Network draws on comics for movies
Cartoon Network developing movies based on the comic-book series Firebreather, The Vanishers, and Mice Templar.

Story Tags

News Features

Featured Stories

E3 2008: SCEA unveils $399 80GB PS3, God of War III

Sony's press conference sees SCEA president Jack Tretton reveal Resistance for PSP and MAG, an all-new massive action game from Zipper Interactive; PS3 video store launching tonight; full video inside.
Posted Jul 15, 2008 11:31 am PT

Newsmakers

E3 2008: Video Q&A: Carmack on 'one-game' id-EA deal

Legendary Doom founder, id lead designer Tim Willits, and EA Partners GM David DeMartini talk to GameSpot about how Electronic Arts became Rage's publisher.
Posted Jul 14, 2008 10:47 pm PT

Related Companies