Life with PlayStation to tie-up with Folding@home
White Knight Chronicles "awakening soon"
Dead Space arriving in Europe earlier than expectedMost people are probably still stunned over the recent Activision and Vivendi merger, either in a positive or negative way. This deal has taken away the glory spot from Electronic Arts as the largest videogame publisher in the world. More than that however, is the fact that this deal could create a trend for future publishers to consider in the future.
"We believe the deal could have significant repercussions in the VG industry - forcing accelerated consolidation potentially with other publishers." Says Ben Feder, Take-Two CEO, "Videogame development is not getting any cheaper. It's a capital-intensive business, and I don't see that going away. That will drive some of the smaller competitors out [...] I do believe that consolidation ultimately is inevitable."
So what does this mean exactly? Well to summarize, the videogame industry is becoming substantially larger than it once was, bearing far more resemblance to the music and film industry, which are run predominately by large corporations. The gaming industry has historically been known for being comprised of smaller business, but due to growth of the years, these smaller companies face the only option of merging or being bought out for the simple fact that they cannot adapt.
This could become a trend that we will see in the years to come as before this merger, EA bought out the holding group that owns Pandemic and Bioware, which was just as equally large.
We will keep you updated on anything else that comes from the Activision and Vivendi merger.
Source: IGN
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cool
yup i believe it 2, since 20mill isnt easy money and if company like EA creating so many sh** games have done good fo the few games they made, smaller groups in bigger companies can live safe by the reputation of their owners
Why doesn't EA just merge with Ubi,it already holds some substantial shares in it.
just keep Infinity Ward in charge of the Cod series
I see this trend continuing. Let's just hope it doesn't create any more EAs. We don't need anymore lazy half-done games. Other than that, the future is looking good.
I'd like to see Rockstar merge with someone big and produce more games.... Not with EA!
yes boi now take that EA
psn id: gingo.... activisionand vivendi are both good companies imo and this is a good merging but anything that overtakes EA has to be good
I don't see this stopping whatsoever, with game developement increasing and artistic freedom on games being mixed in with others, its not surprising at all. Konami-Capcom in the future?
Oligopoly of 3rd Publishers is the future, think EA, Activision/Blizzard, Ubisoft owning everything, with new studios starting up then getting bought out to work under one of the big companys unmbrella.
Games are to expensive nowadys for small independent devs or pubisher to make any serious money without help of the big guy behind them
let's just hope that that Activision Blizzard celebrates the merge with a Diablo 3...
:P
@ Uncool: Oh man, for the love of gaming please don't jinx that.
The only ps3 Activision game (CoD4) is much better than my ps3 EA game (TW 08). Go Activision!
Well I for one am scared on this whole topic. Games like Call of Duty and Guitar Hero (my two most potent addictions I might add,) take much longer than a year to design, build, test and ship so this could be a detriment to quality. I am sure hoping not. Well for now, let us enjoy what is still some of the best gaming to be found.,, On all systems.
I cannot believe more people aren’t concerned/scared as to what this trend of mergers means for the industry. More independent companies translates to more diversity and innovation. Having 3 or 4 mega corporations controlling everything is bad for the industry and ultimately us. We are going to get less of the (risky) truly original games and more of the (safe) same old rehashed garbage. I think we are looking at the beginnings of a dark time for the game industry.
@ deldwen
yeah ive been thinking the same thing as well but your right the industry is becoming so massive that it's going to be hard to get your game developed unless you have the mulah to produce it. As for me I have a ton of ideas for gaming namely ones for rpg and fps but difficult to see if my game became a reality with the industry growing so big.
@Phantasm - sorry but I never let a possibility escape me. XD If this happens I am laughing.
Well, I guess anything is almost possible these days! Imagine a joint venture between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray...well, actually there was already a past opportunity for that! Years ago the possibility of Sega and also Sony joining with Nintendo didn't happen!?! Car companies aren't much different either though.