Vivendi, parent company of Activision Blizzard, (ish) recently stated intentions to perhaps sell its 60% share in Activision to generate cash. While this may be relatively old news dating back to the 6th, new rumors are coming in.
As a quick backdrop to how Vivendi first came into ownership of the company, in 2008 Blizzard Entertainment merged with Activision to form Activision Blizzard. Vivendi, parent company of Blizzard, became the major shareholder in the newly merged company at 60%.
At a net worth of around $10 billion there's not many companies that could afford Activision Blizzard, but Time Warner (who also has their own rather successful video games division) and Microsoft are rumoured to have been contacted. Yes, one of the rumored companies wanting sniffing out a takeover is none other than Xbox 360 manufacturer Microsoft.
While this is all speculation, if Microsoft did buy out Vivendi then that would instantly make Call of Duty an Xbox exclusive (or perhaps an Xbox 360 exclusive which eventually appears on PC a year later) as well as giving them full control of lucrative franchises such as World of Warcraft, which has a steady 10 million subscribers and a new expansion coming out soon, Skylanders, and Diablo. (Ironically, games made by Blizzard are currently available on OSX as well.) Having the latest Call of Duty as an exclusive title when you're launching a new console might sound very appetizing indeed.
Call of Duty becoming an Xbox 360 exclusive however would definitely make EA's multi-platform Battlefield franchise the better selling of the two franchises, which would thereafter have a captive audience over the PS3 market as one of the only AAA FPS shooters out there.
These are again just rumors however. Officially, none of the rumored suspects are confirming or denying any kind of deal, with Microsoft and Time Warner refusing to comment, though Vivendi has stated that 'every option is on the table'.
What do you think will happen? Leave your comments below, but try to avoid console waring.
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