Vivendi cashes in post-Blizzard merger

whats with this all this nonsense about "go blizzard". Blizzard is only one part of Vivendi games division, and this article is about Vivendi's performance as a whole, not Blizzard's. Also, open beta for any blizzard game at this point would be counter productive. more gamers would use the opportunity to play it as a game and not test it for flaws,and tell their friends how buggy it is, and since most of the gaming population is full of unthinking and unintelligent cases, the game will just end up suffering bad press through word of mouth rather than good marketing or bug fixing. ( before someone argues the point 'beta stage' by its definition means the software/game will be buggy...)

Go Blizzard, a great company, known for 3 great series such as Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo.

I am playing on the Beta. What is my understanding is that the beta is 1-2 months behind the internal alpha. The patches come weekly and things are looking good despite a large amount of the post level 80 content that is missing (or just not enabled to beta yet). They have recently allowed character copies of PvP geared premades sporting level 80 arena gear (S5?). Also, blizz has announced that the 3.0 content patch will go live sometime Sept-Oct. I think a pre-Christmas release of WotLK is on track.

Haha public beta for WotLK would be freaking crazy, might as well be the actual release.

I think people are losing sight on the difference of Devs and publishers.

Not bad but ya Blizzard needs to do some open beta's on Diablo3 and Starcraft2 :)

yay blizzard for owning all the other compianies. but if they do delay the realease wotlk i hope they open up a public beta atleast i mean geez

It seems though at least EA has a new attitude as far as letting the devs do their job and staying out of it. They pretty much left Mythic alone on WarHammer, and let Mythic take back their original name of Mythic Entertainment instead of EA Mythic. That is a good thing, but mergers and buyouts are always a bad thing for the rest of us.

They're strong but they're following EA's path. And quasi-monopolies NO GOOD. dammit.

i think im gonna buy WOTLK the first day it comes out even though i dont even have BC and im just a lvl 8 newb..lol

These scumbags are worse than EA.

They are definitely not going to delay on wrath of the lich king's release... I have a feeling it is going to beat TBC's release sales easily. It's just the cash boost they're looking for to wrap up '08

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To hell with WoW and Vivendi.

bet they are gonna rush the release of the lich king

sooner or later the whole gaming industry is just going to become one big monopoly since everyone is buying out everyone else. I miss old school gaming, and whatever happened to Wing Commander, Mech Warrior. Anyway, I think if vivendi is smart, they will keep everyone in blizzard in the company and let them do their own thing to bail them out of the debt.

The end of EA would be a dramatic historical event in gaming industry because so many franchises would just die. I can just imagine "Today EA has filed for bunkrupcy meaning the following games & franchises are officially cancelled. Sports NBA game series MLB game series NHL game series Madden series Fifa series Racing Nascar game series Burnout Series Need for speed series Action Medal of Honor series Command and Conquer series Godfather series Battlefield series"

Sounds like a war. But that's fine. Wars usually introduce new and very useful technology. So hopefully we'll see a bunch of good games come out of this, instead of lazy developers.

One day it will just be EA vs Activision... all other publishers will either be acquaired or out of business. I miss all the old-school companies like Origin, Bullfrog, Acclaim, GT interactive, etc :(

Don't worry blizzard is there

I agree. I fail to see the win for the customers here. Only making the fat cats more money and squeezing the blood out of any diversity in the market place. We have seen EA's handy work at driving their money machine all over the market, now these guys. Brilliant. Its like that scene in the Idiocracy movie "I like money" "Wow I like money too, we have a lot in common". I guess our only option for gaming evolution/revolution in development is direct to download demo's like the old days when ID first started.

I dunno, without Blizzard (well as of many recent years just WOW) does Vivendi really honestly have a quality games division? isnt this why in spiteo f raking in all the profit (again, from WOW) that they are constantly incurring losses?

It's not going to be too pleasant when it's down to two companies battling it out.

Well that's great. And while you cash in, gamers all get screwed because in Activision's greed and lazy publishing they let go more then a handful of games that could turn out to be great. I absolutely hate this merger, and wish it never happened. As long as EA doesn't screw us all by taking over Take-Two, then they're my new favorite mega company. Otherwise, I guess I'm settling for.... wait a second, who the hell else is there? Activision bought Vivendi. If EA buys Take-Two they're both out of the picture. Jeez, at this point it's either the first parties or it's the Japanese publishers, and I don't think anybody but Sony is particularly fantastic out of those groups.

Blizzard is a money tree!

Good thing they have Blizzard to bail them out now.

key word: "cash-in" ...bastards

I still have 3 friends who play WoW, they could care less about WAR it seems. Looks like there's more than enough of those people to go around that Blizzard won't have to worry about losing a large amount of its subscriber base. Sure they'll lose some, but they have more than enough to support the game, and if WAR does some how manage to screw up, the WotLK expansion will draw the defectors back again.

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i am looking forward to WAR but i don't see my self on it to much when wrath comes out personally

This is an EPIC merger! EA now has some monopoly competition!!! WHA HA HA HA!!! :D P.S. I hate big companies, they don't seem to have the same heart as the little ones!

Enough of when WoW is coming out, when is Diablo III coming out is the real question

wow was not the first mmo, it was infact the mmo that brought mmo gaming to a mainstream....

What dozer said.

I agree to an extent, Virtua. There are a number of elements playing against it. First off, I suppose what you can call it is fanboyism although the word is far too potent and far too general For many WoW is their first and you can never forget your first. Also, it's easy to come out with the mistaken belief that WoW is the first MMO and that games like WAR are copying it (when in reality WoW took its best qualities from other MMO games like the Everquest Franchise and Star Wars online and that Warhammer Fantasy had that aesthetic and artistic design long before WoW). It won't be easy for them to admit that there might be something here in WAR when they've only had one experience which, as a whole, has been pretty pleasant. There are other misconceptions being perpetuated, too, which people need to get over for the betterment of this game. WAR is not a "hardcore" game. It is a game for "hardcore" and "casual" gamers alike to both enjoy. It is NOT a PvP game. It is an RvR game. The emphasis may be more on PvP but PvE also makes up a large part of RvR. There is plenty of PvE endgame content. Also, Dark Night, what you speak of isn't a strategy. They simply couldn't do it. Those classes were considered pretty bad by the designers and the testers and they just couldn't improve them by release which, by that time, had already been decided. But I don't see it as a major hinderance. They're striving for quality over quantity and I can get behind that.

Can't wait for WotLk.

Man, what are they gonna do when WoW finally kicks the bucket?

Wtf... theyre gonna delay it to Q1.. .Damn!

I think WOW is the first casual MMORPG. I know thats not easy to say with monthly fee but they do have a lot of them. I don't think WAR will get the casuals or the numbers at first, it will take time. WAR certaily has potential though.

The strategy of remove 4 classes in WAR is the worst strategy i have seen. 'Cause the people will wait for see it but when this classes arrive. The expansion of WoW will be here and the people will pass of WAR for play WoW.

With so many people leaving WAR:BETA already and reactivating their AOC accounts. AOC seems to be WOTLK's only competition, yet it doesn't even some close in players.

Pieter, remember that lvling 1-60 was the same as doing 61-70 in terms of time. One new area ... A VERY BIG area with massive zones remember its not ONE zone. Professions arent that important nor ever were, they are just an addition. There is a TON of new content for WotLK

Wow is Nice But its a Pit Expensive Wotlk Is nice But Not manny new things 1 more class 1 more Place 1 more Professional +10 lvl cap Wath will be the Nexst Expension Of Wow?

Gotta agree with Draaagoon (nice vowel usage, btw) and Huffle. Although other MMOs will draw some player interest away from WoW, it won't be enough to make a difference--at least, not this time.

I have to agree with Huffle on this one. Many people thought that AOC would draw many WOW subscribers but there is simply too many people playing WOW for AOC or WAR to make that much of a difference.

I dont think that WAR will pull to many ppl away from WOW, with the expansion hitting lot's will try both and many stay.

Thats so many people..

Lets see how that number of subscribers is after the release of WAR

its actually insane how many people play WoW. i seen a preview of the next expansion and to be honest its looking pretty good. and this is coming from someone who doesnt like WoW