Blizzard Entertainment and Activision to Merge

Like many other industries around the world, the gaming software development industry is consolidating into fewer, and bigger, companies. In a move announced on Monday, major game development companies Blizzard Entertainment and Activision announced plans for a merger. Blizzard's parent company, Vivendi, will acquire Activision in a deal that would make it the largest gaming development company in the world. The combined entity, to be named "Activision Blizzard", will produce an estimated $3.8 billion in combined revenue for 2007 and will challenge the existing top dog of the industry, Electronic Arts.

Blizzard is best known for its RTS games in the PC industry, such as World of Warcraft and Starcraft. Activision has had a major presence in the console gaming industry with titles such as Guitar Hero, Call of Duty and Tony Hawk.

Vivendi paid $27.50 per share for Activision, which was a 24% premium based on the Friday close price of Activision. Shares of the new company's stock will be traded on the Nasdaq.

Source: Blizzard Press