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  1. #41
    Quote Originally Posted by Onikaroshi View Post
    I'm talking business wise, as blizzard they were owned by Davidson and Associates who sold them to Vivendi, who merged with Activision.
    But what makes you so sure they didn't have a say in the business side of things? There are articles and interviews out there where people from Blizzard say openly they accepted the deal, they wanted the deal, they had high hopes for the deal.
    Why argue that they were only saying this because they were forced to? Because it fits the narrative? Do you have any inside informations that they were against the deal, but Vivendi forced them to accept it?

  2. #42
    Blizzard wasn't ruined, period. They've had highs and lows just fine on their own.

    Some people are just drama llamas with very thick rose-tinted glasses. Many from playing Blizzard games as kids.

  3. #43
    Quote Originally Posted by Rageonit View Post
    But what makes you so sure they didn't have a say in the business side of things? There are articles and interviews out there where people from Blizzard say openly they accepted the deal, they wanted the deal, they had high hopes for the deal.
    Why argue that they were only saying this because they were forced to? Because it fits the narrative?
    Of course they're going to say publicly that they have high hopes and such, you really think the people who could speak for blizzard are going to say "we don't really want it but we don't have a choice", doesn't change the fact that Blizzard didn't have a choice.

    Also, it's not like activision was the devil at the time of the merger, they were a respected company known for more than just putting out this years CoD.

  4. #44
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    Quote Originally Posted by Daronokk View Post
    Your words would make sense were it not for the fact that Blizzard employees under Activision are getting underpaid. They are actually worse off due to the deal.
    The fact that employee’s were complaining that they didn’t get bigger raises still means there getting raises so they are making more then they would have been pre Activision.

  5. #45
    Quote Originally Posted by Onikaroshi View Post
    Of course they're going to say publicly that they have high hopes and such, you really think the people who could speak for blizzard are going to say "we don't really want it but we don't have a choice", doesn't change the fact that Blizzard didn't have a choice.
    Of course they are always going to say it, but I'm asking you: what makes you so sure they didn't say in sincerely at that time?

  6. #46
    Quote Originally Posted by Rageonit View Post
    Of course they are always going to say it, but I'm asking you: what makes you so sure they didn't say in sincerely at that time?
    They probably did, Activision was not the company it is now back then, they were still putting out more than this years CoD.

    Still does not change the fact that Blizzard. had. no. say.

  7. #47
    Quote Originally Posted by Onikaroshi View Post
    They probably did, Activision was not the company it is now back then, they were still putting out more than this years CoD.
    Yeah, they probably did. Because at that time, THEY (Blizzard and Vivendi) were in the position of power. It was Activision looking for opportunities to expand, because it was them doing badly at that time. So if the merger was going to happen, they had to have faith in it. Otherwise, why even do it? There's no reason to think that Morhaime didn't endorse the deal, as he says he did.

  8. #48
    Quote Originally Posted by Rageonit View Post
    Yeah, they probably did. Because at that time, THEY (Blizzard and Vivendi) were in the position of power. It was Activision looking for opportunities to expand, because it was them doing badly at that time. So if the merger was going to happen, they had to have faith in it. Otherwise, why even do it? There's no reason to think that Morhaime didn't endorse the deal, as he says he did.
    Vivendi games was struggling at the time, Blizzard was the only one succeeding and the only part of vivendi games left after the merger.
    Up through 2006, Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision, had been working to rebound the company from near-bankruptcy, and had established a number of new studios. However, Activision lacked anything in the MMO market. Kotick saw that World of Warcraft was bringing in over US$1.1 billion a year in subscription fees, and began approaching Vivendi's CEO Jean-Bernard Lévy about potential acquisition of their struggling Vivendi Games division, which included Blizzard Entertainment. Lévy was open to a merger, but would only allow it if he controlled the majority of the combined company, knowing the value of World of Warcraft to Kotick. Among those Kotick spoke to for advice included Blizzard's Morhaime, who told Kotick that they had begun establishing lucrative in-roads into the Chinese market. Kotick accepted Lévy's deal, with the deal approved by shareholders in December 2007. By July 2008, the merger was complete, with Vivendi Games effectively dissolved except for Blizzard, and the new company was named Activision Blizzard.
    The whole point in the thread was blaming mike, but even if mike "endorsed" the deal he still had no choice in it, and at the time it probably looked like a good deal, vivendi games was not doing well, Activision on the upswing.

    People look at it from TODAY'S version of activision, not what it was back in the day, before they ruined multiple games and became a CoD factory.

  9. #49
    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Burgundy View Post
    He was the one who made the deal with Activision, he was the captain of the ship, he alone is responsible for Blizzard's demise.


    Personally I don't have a lot of hope with Dreamhaven.
    As others have told you Blizzard was owned by Vivendi. Mike had no decision making power on the sale.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivendi

    And if you read on Blizzard's history you will learn Vivendi acquired them in 1995.



    Anyway, without going into great detail, you are wrong.

  10. #50
    Quote Originally Posted by Sfidt View Post
    Except Blizzard was already part of Vivendi.
    It was Jean-Bernard Lévy who negotiated the deal with Kotick and the deal was accepted by shareholders vote.
    Either 2head or trolling.
    gonna have to go with 2head dont think op has the intelligence to pull of a troll.

  11. #51
    Quote Originally Posted by Onikaroshi View Post
    Vivendi games was struggling at the time, Blizzard was the only one succeeding and the only part of vivendi games left after the merger.
    Why didn't you bold the part that says Activision was rebounding from near-bankrupcy?
    You make it sound like Vivendi didn't have a choice but to accept the deal, because they were "struggling". While I would assume they didn't have to do anything and simply saw the deal as good for both them and Blizzard. In the article I've linked there are Morhaime's quotes saying that they went to Kotick and demanded guarantees of certain thnings - and it was supposedly Morhaime representing Vivendi! If Blizzard didn't have a say in the deal, why would Vivendi send Morhaime "to grill Kotick" (quoting the article) about their work ethics? It just makes no sence. If, in this article, Morhaime isn't making everything up, it sounds like Vivendi made him decide if the deal should go through, and if it's good for them.

  12. #52
    Quote Originally Posted by Rageonit View Post
    Why didn't you bold the part that says Activision was rebounding from near-bankrupcy?
    You make it sound like Vivendi didn't have a choice but to accept the deal, because they were "struggling". While I would assume they didn't have to do anything and simply saw the deal as good for both them and Blizzard. In the article I've linked there are Morhaime's quotes saying that they went to Kotick and demanded guarantees of certain thnings - and it was supposedly Morhaime representing Vivendi! If Blizzard didn't have a say in the deal, why would Vivendi send Morhaime "to grill Kotick" (quoting the article) about their work ethics? It just makes no sence. If, in this article, Morhaime isn't making everything up, it sounds like Vivendi made him decide if the deal should go through, and if it's good for them.
    Obviously if Activision is looking to spend a bunch merging (mergers aren't cheap) they weren't bankrupt anymore, you talk about me trying to fit the narrative, you are doing the same thing.

    It was a good merger back then regardless, no matter who headed it, and it worked out well for both companies for a number of years, but shareholders demanded more.

  13. #53
    Mike never owned majority in Blizzard I am not sure why people think he did. Plus people also make mistakes you can't hold shit over people forever, most people change and evolve as they get older.
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  14. #54
    Quote Originally Posted by Onikaroshi View Post
    you talk about me trying to fit the narrative, you are doing the same thing.
    Um, I'm only pointing you to a sentence of your own quote. I didn't post that, you did.

  15. #55
    Quote Originally Posted by Rageonit View Post
    Um, I'm only pointing you to a sentence of your own quote. I didn't post that, you did.
    Morhaime didn't make the deal, Levy did, and it was kotick who talked to mike, not levy telling mike to respond on their behalf.

    Levy only said "we'll do it if we still hold majority" which they did til 2013 when Activision bought them out and Vivendi got out of games (and the US) completely
    Last edited by Onikaroshi; 2020-09-30 at 03:10 PM.

  16. #56
    Quote Originally Posted by Onikaroshi View Post
    Morhaime didn't make the deal, Levy did, and it was kotick who talked to mike, not levy telling kotick to respond on their behalf.
    No, Morhaime didn't make the deal, because he had no power to. But it doesn't mean he didn't have a say in it. If the article isn't made up, Morhaime was the one responsible of judging if Activision merger is a good opportunity - and, again, if the article isn't made up, he decided it is. So the deal went through, everyone happy. But you can't know for sure what would happen if Morhaime reported to Vivendi that the deal is bad for them.

  17. #57
    Ignorance is bliss...

  18. #58
    Quote Originally Posted by Rageonit View Post
    No, Morhaime didn't make the deal, because he had no power to. But it doesn't mean he didn't have a say in it. If the article isn't made up, Morhaime was the one responsible of judging if Activision merger is a good opportunity - and, again, if the article isn't made up, he decided it is. So the deal went through, everyone happy. But you can't know for sure what would happen if Morhaime reported to Vivendi that the deal would be bad for them.
    And it was a good deal, Blizzard may have gone under with Vivendi games eventually honestly.

    But really, anyone who blames activision blizzard for blizzards failures is kind of being stupid anyway, it's not like activision is sitting there like "put Azerite gear in", someone in Blizzard thought of that and someone else approved it. Even if your boss is saying "make sure people play for x amount of time" you can do that without making your players run 1000 island expeditions, that's ALL on blizzard.

  19. #59
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sfidt View Post
    Except Blizzard was already part of Vivendi.
    It was Jean-Bernard Lévy who negotiated the deal with Kotick and the deal was accepted by shareholders vote.
    Either 2head or trolling.
    Thanks if true for the clarification.

    How do people know theae things? Was this brought up eomewhere or you heard it of a friend from friend?

    I am always amazed by people who make it so it was soo obvious.
    I for example am not so much invested in these things so I never read stuff like this anywhere.

  20. #60
    Quote Originally Posted by Onikaroshi View Post
    And it was a good deal, Blizzard may have gone under with Vivendi games eventually honestly.
    Or maybe they could buy themselves out, who knows?

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