MICROSOFT TO BUY VIVENDI?

[Jerichohol]

Fevered speculation points to a shock swoop by Bill Gates's company, with an announcement imminent

12:44 If insider speculation is to be believed, Microsoft has bought US publisher Vivendi, with an announcement to that effect due soon. Take a deep breath and reflect on the implications of that, if true.

Half-Life 2, Warcraft, Counter-Strike, Crash, Spyro, Lord of the Rings... Vivendi has an enormous portfolio boasting some of the biggest titles on all formats, and it would be an ultra-smart move on Microsoft's part to snap them up. Such a buyout, of course, would come at a terrifically high price, making the 365 million acquisition of Rare look like peanuts. But if anyone has the necessary funds, it's Microsoft.

Article : www.computerandvideogames.com

Source : VE3d

Edited January 22, 2003 by Jerichohol

[thingsforjason]

so right now, it's more like a back page rumor...it'll be interesting to see what develops tho.

[Jerichohol]

yeah its a rumour at the moment but who knows if its true. Vivandi is in a lot of trouble and I read somewhere that they were trying to get rid of their game studios. Microsoft has the resources to do it. We could be seeing a lot more Xbox games if its true. I donno. Still a rumour........ :unsure:

[Fotix]

Buying Vivendi would mean owning one of the major record labels, Universal Studios Hollywood, and others wouldn't it? I don't know... if true, Microsoft might as well purchase Sony and some oil companies as well.

http://www.vivendiuniversal.com/

EDIT: Nevermind, I guess only the game publishing division.

[nonick]

oh my god!!! noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

damn! now they gonna import all the games to xbox only and pc scene is totally screwed. i REALLY hope this is wrong news. :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

[DerkPY]

I thought there were laws to try and stop companies such as Microsoft becoming larger to allow for competition.

[kairon]

This is feckin bull! I can't believe how Microsoft just gets away with buying up all the competition, as if Rare wasn't a big enough loss for nintendo, donkey kong, and star fox, gone :( and those games were always thought of as nintendo characters too.

[Yorrike]

Um, Starfox and Donkey Kong are Nintendo characters. Nintendo retains the rights to them, as they were just licensed to Rare. Banjo and Conker go to MS though.

On MS buying Vivendi (and, most importantly, Blizzard), I hope it doesn't go through before Starcraft: Ghost is released. I'm looking forward to playing that on my GameCube.

Let's just hope this purchase leaves Blizzard to their own devices and MS doesn't try pulling their weight around and forcing release dates out of them. 'Cause that'd suck.

[jago6498]

**cough**MONOPOLY**cough**

[kairon]

Um, Starfox and Donkey Kong are Nintendo characters. Nintendo retains the rights to them, as they were just licensed to Rare. Banjo and Conker go to MS though.

Yeah but Rare always did a good job with the license, i'm curious to know what kind of a job Nintendo would do. It's a shame about Banjo and Conker though.

[jago6498]

Yeah but Rare always did a good job with the license, i'm curious to know what kind of a job Nintendo would do. It's a shame about Banjo and Conker though.

Star Fox Armada (the new GCN version - I dig that title btw...the word armada has a nice ring to it.) is being done jointly between Namco and Nintendo. Namco (along with Nintendo) are known for making high quality games, so I doubt we will be disappointed.

[Arch]

Yeah but Rare always did a good job with the license, i'm curious to know what kind of a job Nintendo would do. It's a shame about Banjo and Conker though.

Rare is the only company which can currently develop Banjo, Conker, and Perfect Dark games, just to name a few of their titles. The quote you posted

And don't say it's a shame because X-Box and Microsoft suck, that is rediculous, especialy as they have next to no say in the development process.

Now to the thread topic :)

I think this is all bullpoop. I don't think MS could ever purchase Vivendi, ever. It's not breaking any laws though since they are technically a seperate company, am I correct in that?

It would be a shame if Blizzard was made to develop for a certain platform, however there might be a better chance for a Warcraft/Diablo movie.

Ohh (and maybe this is a topic for a new thread but), anyone have any idea's what Blizzard North has been up to since the release of the Diablo II expansion?? I'm surprised there has been little speculation on this so far. There was a movie rights post on the Blizzard main page over the title "Diablo" about a year ago, perhaps they're making a move to the big screen soon?? :yes:

[Kasandoro]

There's also a lot of information that none of you know...

I work for a company called US Filter, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vivendi Environmental (a branch of Vivendi Entertainment). We process used oil, used oil filters, used antifreeze, and contaminated water. I'm forced to question what Microsoft would do with that....

:rolleyes:

[Jazza]

Isn't it only the games arm of Vivendi that was for sale. If MS were to buy them, I'd expect it to the just that part. Although I'm sure Bill would love his own music & movie company as well ;)

[velocity3k]

Um, Starfox and Donkey Kong are Nintendo characters. Nintendo retains the rights to them, as they were just licensed to Rare. Banjo and Conker go to MS though.

On MS buying Vivendi (and, most importantly, Blizzard), I hope it doesn't go through before Starcraft: Ghost is released. I'm looking forward to playing that on my GameCube.

Let's just hope this purchase leaves Blizzard to their own devices and MS doesn't try pulling their weight around and forcing release dates out of them. 'Cause that'd suck.

Microsoft certainly has the finances to buy Vivendi but that doesn't mean they will, hell Microsoft has enough money to buy most of the companies out there but they don't. Purchasing Vivendi would be a great asset to their console but these are only rumours and most likely this is not true, you never know though, remeber when someone originally speculated Microsoft purchasing Rare. Oh, i am afraid you won't be seeing Starcraft: Ghost on your GC or a PS2 for that matter, it is an Xbox Exclusive.

[macrosslover]

Microsoft has bought 2 game companies people. BOTH of them small, let's not forget that. get your head out your ass and come back to reality. in case you forget Rare only accounted for 1.5% of Nintendo's revenue in 2001. Nintendo let Microsoft buy Rare.

if they buy Vivendi Games and Starcraft ghost (of course) will only be on xbox then, well :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

it's not like Sony doesn't have the money to buy them, but you have no problem with the #1 company in the industry buying another game company do you?? it's only when an American company tries to buy them that it's a problem. EA has a good chance of buying them, and it would really knock out a serious competitor and make them even bigger, if not the only logical choice is Microsoft, cause i don't see Activision buying them.

but since Activision's sales were down 22% last month, they might be looking for something that is guaranteed money.

[Acezo]

...but you have no problem with the #1 company in the industry buying another game company do you?? it's only when an American company tries to buy them that it's a problem...

I couldn't have said it better myself. One "Microsoft" gets involved with anything, people automaticlly call it a monopoly, when we haven't seen ANYTHING in Microsoft's console activity that would count anywhere close to a monopoly.

2 Companies. Uh-oh, monopoly. Please, people. Sega, for example, has 9 independent developers. I don't see any monopoly.

Anyway, Vivendi is what Microsoft needs to get A LOT more of the killer Xbox-exclusive (console-only) games that they've been needing. I, for one, would like to see Vivendi's great games released for Xbox, as long as PC titles aren't affected. If so, let's hope MGS doesn't pass this up.

Edited January 22, 2003 by ViciousX

[Arch]

Microsoft has bought 2 game companies people. BOTH of them small, let's not forget that. get your head out your ass and come back to reality.  in case you forget Rare only accounted for 1.5% of Nintendo's revenue in 2001.  Nintendo let Microsoft buy Rare.

Let's look at the releases for 2001:

MICKEY?S SPEEDWAY USA (GBC) - NINTENDO

CONKER?S BAD FUR DAY (N64) - RARE

Yeah, maybe that's why sales were down for them?..

Also, I may be wrong here, but I believe Nintendo actualy sold Rare to Microsoft, atleast as far as stocks are conserned. I don't know much about the stock market though, so I don't know what exactly this entitles.

[macrosslover]

actually to my knowlege. Rare bought bock Nintendo's shares in the company (where did they get the money from?? lol) and then sold them to Microsoft.

[CloudEngineer]

Oh, i am afraid you won't be seeing Starcraft: Ghost on your GC or a PS2 for that matter, it is an Xbox Exclusive.

I'm afraid your wrong on that, its comming out on xbox, gc and ps2 ;)

Q: On what platforms will StarCraft: Ghost be available?

A: A: We are currently developing the game for PlayStation?2, Nintendo? GameCube?, and the Xbox? video game system from Microsoft. Further details regarding platform/country specifics will be released in the months ahead

And theres not going to be a pc or mac ve:yes: :yes:

Q: Will there be a PC and Mac version?

A: No. StarCraft: Ghost is only being developed for console systems

http://www.blizzard.com/ghost/faq.shtml

[CloudEngineer]

But if Microsoft does buy them yuo can bet it will be out only for xbox and PC maybe macs aswell

[jago6498]

...I sure hope they don't buy Vivendi. My 3D Animation teacher (Jay Hathaway) works for Blizzard (Warcraft 3 & Diablo 2 mainly), so I'll have to see if I can drag something out of him... :shifty: :shifty: :shifty:

[.KICK]

hmm, i read in xbox magazine that half-life 2 was gonna be xbox exclusive and this couple months back :shifty: :whistle: but surely it would come to pc :unsure:

[jago6498]

Whenever a game console company says a game will be "exclusive"...most of the time that usually doesn't include the PC. The PC market is not considered to be a direct competitor to the 3 game consoles since the target market is a little different.

[YtseJam]

If wonder if Blizzard will choose to part Vivandi in case of a MS buyout...

(Is that even possible to do? Will they even want to do such an act... Hrm. Sad day. :( )