In a remarkable demonstration of how incestuous the games industry really is, Activision Blizzard (two merged companies) is up for sale with Vivdeni (formerly Vivendi Universal, after acquiring Universal from Seagram, who makes booze) offering their chunk of Activision which later became Activision Blizzard, killing Sierra (who was acquired by Activision) somewhere in the process. Blizzard, of course, had formerly acquired Condor and Swingin’ Ape Studios, and was themselves acquired by Havas, who picked them up from Cendant who was a merger of CUC International and HFS Corporation, and that’s when Vivendi comes into the picture. Got all that? So now that Activision Blizzard is up for sale, you’d think a new company would jump into the melee, right? You’d be wrong. GameSpot has the story.
This is the kind of thing you have to know off the top of your head as a game journalist. The point is, Disney and Microsoft passed on the deal, which leaves either the God-Beast Electronic Arts or an offshore owner. Will World of Warcraft become a free-to-play Korean cash shop grinder?