dont think it really affect wow

maybe more players

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Vivendi games ... had a major in-house developer in the form of Blizzard Entertainment, which Davidson had acquired in 1994...

"In December 2007 it was announced that Vivendi Games would merge with Activision."

So explain how Activision are:
a) NEW
b) Overlords of Blizzard Entertainment

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I think it the short-term nothing will change. One year from now it will be hard to isolate and describe what has changed.

But over time, quality will go down. Blizzard will lose autonomy. They will become part of a machine.

Their games won't suck. Their games will still be some of the best in the industry. But they won't be the groundbreaking, life-altering, games of the past.

It is the beginning of the end, but it won't happen with a bang. It will happen slowly over time, with a whimper.

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I honestly think you won't see any huge change on the game, and to back it up by saying Blizzard or Vivendi aren't stupid, so they wouldn't allow Activision come in if it was a bad idea. Perfect example is Bungie/Bioware, people went INSANE over that, but it only increases Bungies power. I really see more oportunities for Blizzard.

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A DLC for Guitar Hero 3 featuring "Warcraft's Greatest Hits" is the only thing I foresee out of this.

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I hear they're adding "stupid fake guitar" as a new weapon skill.

tru fax

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Maybe the new devs will bring a fans approach to the game and finally get world pvp, leveling and raiding right. Cuz blizzard really sucks at it.

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Finally, I will be able to get Red Bull and Doritos from the food and drink vendors. Plus the advantage to hiding behind the Pontiac billboard in AV is totally uber.

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Inevitabley there will be movement at the top of the company as new bosses take control. Will Blizzard be able to maintain quality output? It really depends if the new masters decide to cash in on the companies good name, and its hard to see why they wouldn't. Expect to see more Blizzard games of steadily declining quality.

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Cant wait till the day that Activision is introduced to their new toy... Warden

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This may very well mean little to nothing in the long run. However, you can hardly blame anyone who knows anything about business in the U.S. for being cynical about the state of affiairs. Many of us have personally worked in a company where a similar shake-up occured, in the video game industry or otherwise. Often the meeting immediately after goes something like this.

"For those of you concerned about the upcoming merger and/or restructuring, we just wanted to let you all know that there's nothing to be concerned about, and nothing at all will change except for increased funding!"

"Um...sir?"

"Yes, Jenkins?"

"Are you cleaning out my desk?"

"Oh! Erm...no, not at all! I'm just erm...restructing your workspace to um...help utilize your productivity. I'm er...streamling your core competencies?"

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As with all mergers, first 6 months expect no changes at all. People getting a feel with for each other and the new company looking for reduncies such as consolidating HR and what not. New corporate policies will be developed disenfranchising people as no one openly welcomes change.

12 months in, expect to see a flight from quality as beating the number one video game distributor (EA) becomes the clear and undaunting message. Although WoW still continues to move forward subscriber base growth will trump quality. The top percent of hard core raiders start leaving the game feeling unchallenged by the new content. The less hardcore see the hardcore migrate away from the game and they become someone stymied at the prospects ahead of the them because it's just not as attractive based on what they see.

The content becomes less refined, the new company starts selling more expansions instead of building them into patches because of the "hey we own these players, they will pay for the content regardless" mentality comes about thereby using WoW as a catalyst to fund other far flung poorly thought out initatives. WoW subscriber base starts to slide, perhaps a shift in the pardigm changes after that, but never the less people are already investing in character development in other MMO's who are offering a richer expereince at this point and getting those subscribers back will be harder than it was to previously because they feel like the game they truly loved has just divorced them and taken everything (EULA applies here).

Acitivision is what they are purely a profit mongering gaming company to which they only aspire to produce low quality games hoping for the occasional hit and will over a period of time suck all that we love out of the staff at blizzard.

Surely we all complain about balance in game or frequent bugs that irk us to some degree or another. I still complain that my rogue is really only good for farming now since I dont believe it scaled well in TBC. But at the end of the day we complain because we care, we enjoy our game. I think we will see less complaining and more accounts cancelled as a result of this rather large change, regardless with what is said today by the big decision makers.

Mark my words, Activision is the start of the end for all of us who love World of Warcraft, as someone who's been in the corporate world for a very long time and subject to a fair share of mergers and acquisitions I guarantee you we're all just playing on borrowed time. I am very saddened by the developement and will be very very sad about having to walk away from all the time I invested in this hobby I call WoW. Enjoy the game while you can...

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java, I think your concerns are way overblown. Again, Viviendi bought Activision. This is the good company buying the IP of the morons. This is of course noting that Vivendi has been massively hands-off with Blizz and especially with WoW (How many people out there knew Viviendi owned Blizzard?).

I expect big shakeups - at Activision. I seriously doubt they're going to start bundling more less-full expansion packs just because they got some new IP and developers.

Beside, half of what you say happens would happen without this buy out. Will WoW one day be less then it is now? Sure. Does it matter or deserve a wall of text now? No.

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you guys all have a valid reason to be concerned, but really who would want to change such a good thing? i mean YES of course it's absolutely possible but this game has an installed userbase of 9million+, do you honestly think they are going to do anything to effect of ruining that group of people's interest in one of the videogame industry's hottest commodities?

like i said it is possible, but i REALLY doubt they would do anything so strong in the interest of sustained (and increased) revenue

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I tried to send a tip about this, but it was deftly ignored by one of your writers, who completely misunderstood my point.

Activision Blizzard is just a trade name, it won't appear on anything and for all intents and purposes management won't change. WoW Insider has been grossly misrepresenting it be it by ignorance or willful negligence.

There have existed interviews with Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaine for a number of days now, that have been ignored by the site as it continues to propagate misinformation. I highly recommend that users just read this site for news about World of Warcraft, the editors (and given the propensity for double-posting I use the term loosely) are woefully ill-equipped to report on anything not directly related to the game.

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