Activision Blizzard 'streamlining' Vivendi

Jigsaw9798, Sierra was Vivendi's first major media take over in the U.S. in 1999. It was done through the company Havas, which was owned in full by Vivendi, and lead to the shutdown of many promising game studies and the cancelation of many games that fans were looking forward to. After that point, Sierra was really no longer Sierra, and the Mom and Pop homebrew game company that was started on a kitchen table became just another corporate asset.

RIP Sierra. Though if they sell Sierra, perhaps we'll see someone revive properties like Quest for Glory, Space Quest, and King's Quest. Under a different helmer, maybe that's not such a bad thing.

Wow that sucks. And of course they'll milk crash and spyro a little more, but all the IPs that actually have potential they'll cut. A warm, heartfelt hug to all the developers out there who are out of a job after this.

"It has begun...!"

Assault Heroes was cool. Bummer they are killing off the devs (maybe even the franchise).

@Dragon-Claw It's because those games aren't profitable, but for some reason half those crappy games are.

@SteveTwo Sierra has owned Sierra for a long, long time , so don't you mean Activison?

Yeah dunno why thy are considering closing Massive, selling it maybe, but GC and WiC are quality games closing down a good developer doesn't make sense with half the crappy games that get released out there.

Vivendi is an evil corporation that came here and killed Sierra, then wore its skin in a grotesque mockery while dancing around killing off promising projects. Streamline them to death I say, they deserve it. Karma wheel came around... Muhahahaha!

Double Fine (the guys who are doing Brutal Legend) are a private studio. Brutal Legend was going to be published by Sierra, which is currently owned by ActiBlizz. If that company decides that it won't be profitable, the guys at Double Fine wouldn't have that hard of a time finding a different studio. Brutal Legend is not going to be canceled.

This isn't a new concept for publishers and developers to cut fat and keep muscle. At the end, they exist to make money and a project that isn't profitable is up for the chopping block. No one wants to be known for releasing bad games.... no one. Is it sad that these subsidiaries may close.... yet, but at the end it will benefit both the company and its fans. No one wants another Jaws game.... Blizzard itself may be slow to release products, but when they do its usually high quality. I'd rather have a game that is fine tune than a game it will glitch... say.. Enter the Matrix...

to jigsaw and guitar hero

As long as Brutal Legend is ok. Hasn't Vivendi also been working on the sequal/remake with expansion to one of the most awesome games ever, Chronicles of Riddick Espace from Butcher Bay. I only read this articles because the first thought that popped into my head was hearing some news about Assault on Dark Athena.

The only reason Activision doesn't get as much criticism as EA is because of COD.

Everybody is gonna jump on them and say how much they suck for doing this, but they can't keep a developer around if they're gonna make crappy games or games that won't sell well. If Acti-Bliz want's to be the biggest third party publisher, they need to cut some loose ends. Unfortunately for the guys who are under Vivendi, they have a lot of loose ends. Let's just hope that if a game is canceled, the developers will at least be used for some other game, be absorbed into other Acti-Bliz studios, or be sold to somebody that will publish their games. Spyro, Crash, and Ice Age were obviously going to stay because of their mainstream appeal. With all the hype Prototype has, and with it being closer and closer to release, I didn't think that was being dropped. The Chronicles of Riddick sequel/remake/expansion thing is also in question. First sold well and was a great game. That might be refocused, but it'll stay. The first 50 Cent game sucked even though it sold a few million copies, that will definitely be staying around. Brutal Legend will probably be canceled though, even though it looked cool. I just doubt that it would sell at all. Next you have that game Wet. I have no idea what's gonna happen to that. Wouldn't be surprised if it's canceled. Then the Ghostbusters game which, over time, seems more and more like it's gonna suck, and without co-op who cares? Then you have World in Conflict, and since the PC version was awesome, that definitely won't be canceled. Oh and does anybody care about Leisure Suit Larry? Yea, I thought so. Moving onto former releases, they did the last Scarface game, and just like EA, I'm sure Acti-Bliz will be eager to get a piece of the GTA pie if they can with that. You also have the next F.E.A.R. game, which isn't really a sequel, just a game with the same name as the former. That sold respectably, I would expect that to be refocused for the sequel. Then there's the FlatOut games, I wouldn't be sad to see them go and I bet that they will. Timeshift was a dud, that's garbage bound. The SWAT games were fun, but I'm not sure if they were money makers. Though between this and World in Conflict, they could be set to take some of Ubi's money against Rainbow Six and EndWar if they do it right. This could also be a big opportunity for them to roll all the XBLA stuff into a conglomerate of downloadable titles, since they haven't really be been on that. With Bizzare, the guys who did Geometry Wars, and Sierra Online, they could make some serious money, especially if they put stuff on PSN as well. Also, they have some of Vivendi and it's subsidiaries Wii and DS stuff that they could put into the new Wee 1st brand Activision has set up.

earthecannibal Do you know whats the difference between EA and Blizzard and Valve? Blizzard and Valve look at what they are doing and ask, is this fun is this cool? will we be able to make a great game 'and' make a tonne of money. EA asks, will idiots buy this? yes? ok put it out. I cant believe your complaining when the quality they release is consistently high

Don't mess with Blizzard, that's all I ask.

What a surprise, a huge corporation cutting expenses and dead weight. As long as Brutal Legend still comes out, I say go for it.

I really don't see why they would close Massive.

Are you stupid ? It takes them long because they can afford to do it and put out a near flawless product when they do finish it.

Blizzard= slow ...by the time diablo 3, starcraft and wotlk come out i will be 186...and possibly dead. What takes them so long to make games? money? resources?...im going with cheap...its been almost 5 years since wows release..and they still only have one expansion out..no wonder why everyone looks the same in the game.

Closing Massive Ent?! What will happen to World in Conflict?!

Yes this is good that they are keeping Spyro the Dragon and Crash Bandicoot!!!!

I really hope they don't close Swordfish Studios. Cold Winter was an amazing game that deserves a sequel more than any other game I know.

Streamlining = a business term that means laying off tons of people and later wondering why the company is not producing as many and as high quality products. It is usually cheered on by Wall Street until they and the company figure out that, oh wait, hey, we don't have the talent to implement our new strategy because we laid a lof of them off.

The new EA is here, all heil the new king... bleh, if you though ea was crap, I bet blizz-tivision will beat them

Pleased prototype is still coming to us as it has been rumored that would be shut down also, it's surprising as when do activision introduce new big budget Ip's, never, COD every year, GH 5 a year and so on, IMO EA is doing a much better job with there games than activision, yet EA get all the stick and Activision get barely any.

Sooner or later theres going to be only a small number of game publishers. It will be like the 3 major consols companies.

Oh please don't close Massive

"Streamlining" meaning, "Take your IP and get rid of your employees."

Hopefully this means better games, and no one loses their jobs. Unfortunately, that is probably not the case...

I expected Sierra console's division to get shuttered. Since most of their games suck.

it's all about the business