Why cant Blizzard leave Activision ?

[nnelson54]

The cash shop, Warcraft 3 Reforged and overall game release dates (and resulting problems due to tight deadlines) are all proven Activision's fault.

It's difficult to make a great game with your hands tied behind your back.

Blizzard operates completely independently from Activision.

The cash shop was a thing before Activision had even entered into the equation(you could argue it goes even further back if you consider people buying up hundreds of TCG packs hoping to get the spectral mount as a real money mount) and it was Vivendi Games(who unlike Activision actually DID own Blizzard, long before WoW was released) that implemented it.

The decision to release Warcraft III Reforged in an unfinished state because they had already accepted preorders and promised a release date was entirely the decision of Blizzard, as was the decision to outsource the art assets to Lemon Sky Studios.

This idea that Blizzard is some infallible company and everything bad that has happened in the last 13 years is somehow Activision's fault is ridiculous. Even Kotick has largely left Blizzard alone in his position as CEO of Activision-Blizzard, because his main goal in merging was to piggyback on Blizzard's success in the Chinese market to sell Activision games there.

[MrLachyG]

The cash shop, Warcraft 3 Reforged and overall game release dates (and resulting problems due to tight deadlines) are all proven Activision's fault.

It's difficult to make a great game with your hands tied behind your back.

if the cash shop and great games are mutually exclusive, then why do people keep saying that FF14 is a great game...

[tromage2]

Think we see Activision rather pull the plug on blizzard soon.
Only WoW keeps it up since blizzard produce almost no games anymore the last few years.

Blizzard became very lazy and now that WoW is in a downfall I wonder if blizzard has any future at all.

[Pann]

No they don't. Activision and Blizzard are two separate companies under one holding company roof, Activision-Blizzard. People need to stop with "Activision owns Blizzard" because it is completely false.

No, they really aren't. Activision purchased Blizzard and Vivendi Games from Vivendi, the company was then renamed Activision Blizzard and even if what you said was true it would be nothing more than semantics as Blizzard could still not leave Activision Blizzard because it is owned by them.

[Dhrizzle]

Activision Blizzard is Activision - they renamed the company when they bought Blizzard.

Activision never bought Blizzard. They wanted to but Blizzard's owners (Vivendi SA) didn't want to sell. Instead they made a counter offer where, after some corporate jiggery-pokery, Activision was merged into their existing gaming division (Vivendi Games,) and the whole thing was renamed Activision-Blizzard with two subsidiaries - Blizzard which is Blizzard and Activision which is all of the old Activision stuff with the few bits of other Vivendi stuff.

[rrayy]

Activision Blizzard is Activision - they renamed the company when they bought Blizzard.

NO it is not. Activision-Blizzard is a holding company created from the merger. That holding company controls both Activision and Blizzard. Acftivision and Blizzard are two completely separate companies and operate independently of each other within that holdin company. That is why both Activision and Blizzard both hae their own CEO's while Bobby Kotick is the CEO of Activision-Blizzard.

[uuuhname]

if Blizz didn't sell out to Activision they would have sold out to any number of equally terrible awful AAA publishers. hell I can think of at least a couple of them that would milk Blizz for a few games and then take them out back to be shot.

[rrayy]

Activision never bought Blizzard. They wanted to but Blizzard's owners (Vivendi SA) didn't want to sell. Instead they made a counter offer where, after some corporate jiggery-pokery, Activision was merged into their existing gaming division (Vivendi Games,) and the whole thing was renamed Activision-Blizzard with two subsidiaries - Blizzard which is Blizzard and Activision which is all of the old Activision stuff with the few bits of other Vivendi stuff.

Thank you. A holding company was created with the name Activision-Blizzard and Bobby Kotick was named CEO.

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if Blizz didn't sell out to Activision they would have sold out to any number of equally terrible awful AAA publishers. hell I can think of at least a couple of them that would milk Blizz for a few games and then take them out back to be shot.

Thery didn't seel out to anyone. They merged with Activision and created a holding company with both Blizzard and Activision as subsidiaries.

[Pann]

Activision never bought Blizzard. They wanted to but Blizzard's owners (Vivendi SA) didn't want to sell. Instead they made a counter offer where, after some corporate jiggery-pokery, Activision was merged into their existing gaming division (Vivendi Games,) and the whole thing was renamed Activision-Blizzard with two subsidiaries - Blizzard which is Blizzard and Activision which is all of the old Activision stuff with the few bits of other Vivendi stuff.

Yes, they did. They purchased Vivendi Games and Blizzard from Vivendi which were merged into ATVI and the company was then renamed. At no point was Activision merged into Vivendi Games it remained its own separate legal entity with its own publicly traded shares.

[nnelson54]

No, they really aren't. Activision purchased Blizzard and Vivendi Games from Vivendi, the company was then renamed Activision Blizzard and even if what you said was true it would be nothing more than semantics as Blizzard could still not leave Activision Blizzard because it is owned by them.

That's not how mergers work. Activision doesn't own Blizzard. Activision currently owns Activision Shanghai, Beenox, Demonware, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys for Bob, and Treyarch while Blizzard currently owns Vicarious Visions. This is all public information as required by law from Activision Blizzard being a publicly traded company. There isn't some shadowy dealings going on where Activision secretly runs everything.

[Shink]

if the cash shop and great games are mutually exclusive, then why do people keep saying that FF14 is a great game...

it's actually not, fanatics just drown out criticisms just like the fanatics did for blizzard, remember "Just quit the game bro"?

[rrayy]

No, they really aren't. Activision purchased Blizzard and Vivendi Games from Vivendi, the company was then renamed Activision Blizzard and even if what you said was true it would be nothing more than semantics as Blizzard could still not leave Activision Blizzard because it is owned by them.

Yes, they really are and mergers don't work that way. Activision didn't purchase anything. Activision Merged with Vivendi and a holding company was created called Activision-Blizzard. Activision-Blizzard then then bought Vivendi's stake in ATVI out. At no time has Activision ever owned Blizzard and both have been subsidiaries under the Activision-Blizzard holding company the entire time. No semantics. Activision does not own Blizzard. Never has.

[Pann]

NO it is not. Activision-Blizzard is a holding company created from the merger. That holding company controls both Activision and Blizzard. Acftivision and Blizzard are two completely separate companies and operate independently of each other within that holdin company. That is why both Activision and Blizzard both hae their own CEO's while Bobby Kotick is the CEO of Activision-Blizzard.

What was the Activision share ticker prior to the merger and what is it today? But let's say what you say is accurate, what happened to the Activision shares when they were supposed acquired by this holding company?

[rrayy]

That's not how mergers work. Activision doesn't own Blizzard. Activision currently owns Activision Shanghai, Beenox, Demonware, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys for Bob, and Treyarch while Blizzard currently owns Vicarious Visions. This is all public information as required by law from Activision Blizzard being a publicly traded company. There isn't some shadowy dealings going on where Activision secretly runs everything.

This. Activision and Blizzard are subsidiaries of Activision-Blizzard and both operate independently of each other.

[Pann]

This. Activision and Blizzard are subsidiaries of Activision-Blizzard and both operate independently of each other.

How they operate within the company is neither here nor there. It still does not change the fact that Blizzard are owned by ATVI.

[rrayy]

What was the Activision share ticker prior to the merger and what is it today? But let's say what you say is accurate, what happened to the Activision shares when they were supposed acquired by this holding company?

Now you move the goalposts. It has been explained to you how this merger works. ACtivisions shares were put into the new holding company. The holding company became the owner of both Blizzard and Activision. Activision ceased trading when the holding company was created because they and Blizzard both became subsidiaries to the new holding company.

Again, what I say is accurate and is publicly available information as required by law. Activision does not own Blizzard Period.

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How they operate within the company is neither here nor there. It still does not change the fact that Blizzard are owned by ATVI.

ATVI is NOT Activision. You claimed Activision owns Blizzard which is provably false. You are just twisting and spinning to avoid admitting you are wrong at this point.

[Dhrizzle]

Yes, they did. They purchased Vivendi Games and Blizzard from Vivendi which were merged into ATVI and the company was then renamed. At no point was Activision merged into Vivendi Games it remained its own separate legal entity with its own publicly traded shares.

But in the end the controlling share was owned by Vivendi SA.

[Xilurm]

Thank you. A holding company was created with the name Activision-Blizzard and Bobby Kotick was named CEO.

How does that change anything? That just proves that Blizz isn't doing whatever they want. Both Activision and Blizzard are owned by that holding company which is going to force them to make decision to maximise profits regardless if it's good for the players or not in the long run.

Seriously, how is that any different than what the OP is saying. The fact is, someone has their greedy claws in Blizzard. It doesn't matter if that someone is named "Activision" or "my neighbour's dog's poop". It's the exact same thing.

[rrayy]

But in the end the controlling share was owned by Vivendi SA.

He has already been proven wrong as Vivendi was never purchased nor was Blizzard.

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How does that change anything? That just proves that Blizz isn't doing whatever they want. Both Activision and Blizzard are owned by that holding company which is going to force them to make decision to maximise profits regardless if it's good for the players or not in the long run.

Seriously, how is that any different than what the OP is saying. The fact is, someone has their greedy claws in Blizzard. It doesn't matter if that someone is named "Activision" or "my neighbour's dog's poop". It's the exact same thing.

NO it is noto the exact same thing. Everyone is claiming Activision is in control of Blizzard. They are not. They are a separate company with their own CEO. The holding company is of people from Activision and Blizzard combined. Both companies still make their own decisions and make their own decisions on their own games. Activision-Blizzard does not make any game development decisions. As long as the game makes money, they are happy. IF they are not happy, they will change leaders, not make game development decisions.

[Asrialol]

People don't seem to realize is that blizzard is at fault for game almost entirely.

That's what happens when the marketing/sales people gets more power than the developers.