A few months ago, we had reported that Vivendi and Activision had inked a deal to merge and create Activision Blizzard. However, as it is with every other merger in any industry, this deal too had concerns about monopoly. But now it has emerged that the European Commission has approved merger of Vivendi and Activision.
The European commission observed that Activision Blizzard had enough competitors and countered the talks of Activision Blizzard being a monopoly by saying, “All categories of game software, the combined firm would continue to face several strong, effective competitors, such as Electronic Arts, and the game console manufacturers, such as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft.”
The merger of Vivendi and Activision will proceed and it is expected that Vivendi will own fifty-two percent of Activision Blizzard. The company is expected to generate nearly four billion dollars in annual revenue. Rene Penisson, who is the chairman of Vivendi will have the same position in the new company while Bobby Kotick will be the chief executive and president.