Uniting the tribes: ‘World of Call of DutyCraft…5′

The big news in the gaming world this weekend was the merger between Activision (Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, and a slew of licensed games) and the Vivendi Game Unit (which includes Blizzard Entertainment – Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo). From what I’ve read the name of the new amalgamation will be Activision Blizzard. I’m not sure how I feel about that name, seems pretty lame and I think it would have been better to just keep the names separate but there you go. Vivendi will have a 52% ownership of the 18 billion dollar venture which, they say, will be complete by mid-2008.

Why this is important to gamers is that this merger has the potential to overthrow EA as the leading game developer in the industry. Many people seem to loathe EA for treating their staff poorly (often times firing entire teams after a game is finished, not to mention the brutal work schedules) and for having a monopolistic grip on some areas of the market. One example of this is EA’s ownership of NFL game licensing which forced game developers like 2k Sports to close up shop on their football franchises. Other than that I doubt it makes a huge difference to the consumer. Of course the first reaction from fans of the respective companies’ games was one of concern – everyone just wants to make sure that their work stays consistent. In order to address these concerns Mike Morhaime (CEO of Blizzard Entertainment) did a little interview to tell everyone things would be alright. No need to panic. Business as usual – and so on.

The other result of the merger is the potential for follow-up titles for the games we already know and love. Already more or less confirmed on the Activision side of things are Call of Duty 5 and Guitar Hero IV. Big surprise there, seeing as how those are two of their most successful franchises. On the Vivendi (read Blizzard) side of things there are rumors of a new MMO to finally overtake World of Warcraft not to mention Starcraft 2. If you love sequels this merger is for you! Personally I think an MMO based on Call of Duty would be pretty epic, and hey, they’d kill two birds with one stone. =)