I have a question: if corporations are people, is what Vivendi doing grand theft or negligent homicide?
Sad part is that even if Actiblizz goes down it is not very likely that Kotick will suffer at all. He doesn't seem the type to pull a Iwata and take a 50% pay cut to help his company out.fix-the-spade said:No, they're trying to load up Actiblizz with their other companies' debts, because nobody will lend those other failing companies capital to invest.Dr.Awkward said:hmmm... I'm wondering if Vivendi's goal is to get all this cash, buy themselves off of Activision Blizzard, and strike out on their own?
They're hoping that Activision Blizzard will continue the upward trend the two companies have had in the last decade, they are literally betting the company on it. Despite evidence the last couple of years that both Activision and Blizzard are plateauing out and may start going back down soon, they're still the best Vivendi has got and thanks to the previous contract they have little in the way of existing debt. If Actiblizz goes south Vivendi can declare it bankrupt, effectively wiping the debt and giving them some hugely profitable IPs/studios to sell at gigantic prices.
The very last thing Vivendi wants is to lose control of Actiblizz, even in exchange for $5billion as Vivendi will burn through that in no time at all with the way it's other companies are bleeding money. Actiblizz makes profit, Vivendi need that no matter how much the other shareholders offer for a buyout.
It's a weird situation where Kotick is the 'good' guy, then again Actiblizz getting saddled with an impossible situation then taken apart would be delicious irony given the way Activision have behaved with their studios under Kotick's rule.
You do know skylanders makes a buttload of money right?Doomsdaylee said:Well, let's set fire to the acti-bliz ship now. They destroyed two great franchises (WoW and Spyro), time for them to go down with the franchises.
Good riddance to them.
Unless they can actually pull their collective head out of their ass, shoot the guy who made Skylanders, and get back to making WoW playable.
its more of a buy now, wait a few years, sell for double deal. except the problem is, in multiple aucions they failed to sell acti-blizzard. noone wanted to buy.King Kazma said:I'd like to know who buys stocks without having them pay a dividend. If you're investing for the long term, thats what you want. But I don't know when this deal was made, nor how long the terms were on no dividends without independents approval.
except that multiple attmpts to sell thme off failed - noone wanted to buy them. if they sink they sink to the bottom, there is no escape raftso n board.direkiller said:They wont die, at worst they get sold off and someone else picks up the wowfair checks.
extortion. legal extortion.Ace O said:I have a question: if corporations are people, is what Vivendi doing grand theft or negligent homicide?
i agreee. as much as i dont want the folks loosing thier jobs, i think wow falling apart woudl be healthy for a MMO genre, especially as we woudl get rid of mosnt of "fail wow clones" at least.SILENTrampancy said:I actually see something great that can happen here.
If Vivendi guts Activision, then two of the biggest franchises in gaming history will completely tank, a boatload of skill workers will need new work and consumer loyalty will cease to exist for said franchises.
This means that, while it would be horrible for those losing their jobs, it would create a creative eden for new IPs and franchises to take root.
CoD and WoW have had a fair stranglehold on their genres, with nothing able to compete on an equal level. This could prove to be the opportunity for Indie devs to take a sizable chunk of the market away from AAA publishers and IPs.
It could also go horrible wrong and put said IPs in the hands of the likes of EA or Ubisoft, and this would be a force multiplier for the issues already present in the gaming industry.
I still want Activision to burn.
Erm... you do know that WoW right now is objectively the best it's ever been? I hate to rain on the parade of nostalgia-blinded people who swear that "it was better back in the day," but what specifically got worse? The far superior raid content, including stallions of great design including Ulduar, Blackwing Descent, and Throne of Four Winds that nothing in vanilla or BC could even get close to touching (according to the world's best raiding guilds, even)? The vastly more convenient changes to everything from earlier/cheaper mount acquisition making leveling less of a pain in the dick to removal of pointless skill tier training to hearthstone cooldown reduction? The class viability being ~three times as good as it ever was in BC? The incredible amount of quality solo content, including improved questing in new zones (tracked by coherent story arcs and not total quest numbers) and a solo-boss-fighting arena? The entire monk class being waaaaaaaay more balanced than DKs were on release? I mean really, what got "worse?"Doomsdaylee said:Well, let's set fire to the acti-bliz ship now. They destroyed two great franchises (WoW and Spyro),...
gaff gaff gaff
... and get back to making WoW playable.
Yes no one wants to buy blizzard when it's at full price, they cost too much.Strazdas said:except that multiple attmpts to sell thme off failed - noone wanted to buy them. if they sink they sink to the bottom, there is no escape raftso n board.direkiller said:They wont die, at worst they get sold off and someone else picks up the wowfair checks.
Cpacha: more coffe.
damn you, i dont drink coffe!