Mike Morhaime on the Activision Blizzard merger
by Mike Schramm 
Dec 3rd 2007 at 3:00PM
Incgamers.com got to sit down with Blizzard President and CEO Mike Morhaime to chat about the big news this weekend that Blizzard is merging with Activision. He basically echoes Blizzard's FAQ on the issue, and says that nothing at all will change-- "if I do my job properly," he says, "then players won't notice any difference."The deal came about with Vivendi's full consent and interest-- Activision is apparently aiming to be the number one game publisher, and bringing Blizzard both under their wing and up into their name will help them do that. Morhaime calls it a "merger of equals," and says that while there's a chance Blizzard might look into Activision's experience if they choose to make a game up their alley (i.e., a console game, but don't get excited, Morhaime's speaking hypothetically), generally, the two companies will just keep doing what they're doing.
Morhaime also laughs when Incgamers asks how this will affect development of Diablo III, but laugh is all he does-- nice try! Otherwise, Morhaime holds that the merger will have no affect on Blizzard's games or development-- other than the name change, he says, it's business as usual.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items, Interviews
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Hollywood Ron Dec 3rd 2007 3:13PM
I really don't think Activision will mess this up, considering how much of a money machine Blizzard is right now.
Todd Dec 3rd 2007 3:21PM
I think "Activision Blizzard" is retarded. If anything, this should be "Blizzard Activision."
Hmm, maybe "Blizzard plus Activision" ;)
Fivestones Dec 3rd 2007 3:37PM
Makes me nervous, I remember when EA Sports bought out Air Warrior MMPG....
Naix Dec 3rd 2007 3:57PM
I hope they don't make waves in Blizzard.
Candina@WH Dec 3rd 2007 4:12PM
Actually, it might be a case of the 'tail' wagging the dog. Blizz generates about 120 Million USD (9 mill suscribers * 14 USD) a MONTH. Halo III won't generate 1 Billion USD in sales this year. WoW will generate over 1.4 Billion USD in subscription revenue.
One game.
If I were an activision employee, I'd be worried about how Blizz is going to change my job. :-)
Liel Dec 3rd 2007 4:25PM
@Candina
Seriously do some research on business models and how business's work.
It is not 9 million times 14 a month more than half of that 9 million comes from Asian players on Asian servers who use time cards not subscription so the Asian market fluctuates all over the place. They mainly play in internet cafes, Americans are used to subscription models which generate steady revenue regardless of play.
And most importantly the asian market generates probably less due to difference in currency values.
Still alot of money but its not as simple as the fourth grade model you presented.
Mort Dec 3rd 2007 4:40PM
Agreed, even if you just claimed that all users were US, using subscriptions, no gamecards, you still have to account for those of us on more than month to month, so part of that 9 mill is paying less than the other part, so on so forth.
In all reality though, I would love to see an economics professor break it all down into the nitty gritty of it all. See what comes from where goes to whom and snorts what off of some night elf's posterior.
Eli Dec 4th 2007 9:31AM
"if I do my job properly," Making oneself publicly accountable is the mark of a good leader.
Kuhtarl Dec 3rd 2007 5:15PM
Blazztavision!
p51baby Dec 3rd 2007 5:36PM
After skimming through some other news, I came upon some articles saying The9 (China's WoW distributor) stocks have fallen $2 since the announcement of the merger. Some analysis have said the reason for this is because EA owned a sizable portion of shares so it will be interesting what repercussions this deal will have for their Asian market which is half the revenue for WoW subscriptions.
Gamerz22 Dec 4th 2007 3:41AM
I say "okay" to the merger, but keep the Blizzard name. Come on, two names together? I just gives a bad taste. It's like Squaresoft and Square Enix... Though at least that sounds better than "Activision Blizzard". I mean that name sounds liek a Blizzard clone, and not actually Blizzard.
Scruffy Dec 3rd 2007 6:25PM
I ran into a bug late last night and had to ticket a GM. Didn't get any help though the ticket was 'escalated'.
When asked if there was anything else he/she could help with, I asked what they thought of the merger.
The GM is looking forward to "World of Guitarcraft".
Timodi Dec 3rd 2007 7:03PM
Now just get some Blizzard remixes into the next Guitar Hero/Whatever Hero or as GH3 DLC and this deal will be worth it for me.