Blizzard Versus Glider: A Pyrrhic Victory?

It's Official - Achievements Coming To World Of Warcraft

While most companies were driving themselves crazy at E3 this week, Blizzard quietly confirmed rumors from early last month, officially announcing achievements for World of Warcraft, coming with the next expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Achievements are broken up into several categories - PVP, Dungeon and Raid, Quests, Professions, Events, World Exploration, Reputations, and the more whimsical General category, which includes an achievement for getting a shave and a haircut using WotLK's new barbershop feature.

Some achievements will carry rewards such as tabards, pets, and other prizes, and Blizzard promises more with each new content update. Players will be able to compare their achievements with others both in-game and via the Armory.

My girlfriend just got her first character to 70 this week, and asked me what she could do now. If she can be patient it looks like Blizzard has an answer forthcoming.

Wrath of the Lich King Achievements [World of Warcraft]

You can't smoosh multiple companies together (don't forget Sierra!) and expect everyone to keep their jobs. Not going to happen. There's always areas - whether it be the mailroom, the tea room or the boardroom - where you'll only need one person where previously there were two or three. And it's no different with the Activision/Blizzard merger, with ActiBlizz CFO Thomas Tippl telling MCV "with every merger, there is overlap and redundancy, and so the same will be true here. Of course we’re going to go to our customers with one face. We don’t need two sales forces". Those facing the axe shouldn't get too down on themselves. Tippl promises they'll be treated "respectfully", then reminds them that at the rate this industry is growing, they may well find themselves needed, and back on the payroll, in no time.

Activision Blizzard to suffer job cuts [MCV]

Before Activision Blizzard, A $650 Million Q1

Activision's no longer just Activision anymore; as of last week, it's Activision Blizzard from here on out. But over the last fiscal quarter while it was still just Activision, the company pulled in $650 million in revenues, topping its own estimation of $500 million. This first fiscal quarter of 2009 was the publisher's highest non-holiday quarter on record, said Activision Blizzard president and CEO Bobby Kotick.

Kotick also said he was looking forward to the possibilities ahead now that the combination with Vivendi is finalized.

Full announcement after the jump.

Activision Blizzard Opens Its Doors With A Stock Split

Activision Blizzard inaugurated itself with the announcement of a two-for-one stock split for investors, a sign that its outlook is rosy. When a company is doing rather well, it often splits its stock - doing so effectively doubles the number of shares that each investor holds.

This is usually a move companies make when their value is high relative to other companies in its sector — halving the share price means more investors may be willing to buy in, while existing investors won't have the value they hold diluted by the increased number of shares.

"This action reflects our strong financial position and our confidence in the opportunities for further growth," said Bobby Kotick, president and CEO of Activision Blizzard. "We believe the stock split will lead to wider ownership by making our stock accessible to a broader base of investors."

Full announcement after the jump.

Activision Blizzard, that's a big company right there. And, technically, it's a merger. But things could have been so, so different. Instead of a union, it could have been a buy-out, with Activision originally interested in straight-up purchasing the WoW creators. Says Activision boss Bobby "What, Me Worry?" Kotick:

We talked about the opportunity to buy Blizzard and they were adamant that they loved the [videogame] business and were committed to it. They didn't want to sell the business but would entertain other ideas. They were struggling on the console side and needed to diversify into other parts of the business and recognized how difficult that would be independently, which is how we ultimately settled on this structure.

Ah, the structure where Blizzard execs get fat new paychecks while Activision gets a piece of WoW's cash flow? Everybody wins!

Activision tried to buy Blizzard before merging with Vivendi Games [Variety]

Activision Under The Impression They Can Challenge iTunes

Activision Blizzard have around $3.5 billion in cash lying around after the merger between the two companies. Where's it going to go? Who knows. Some of it on fancy new office stationary, probably. Some on getting fair trade organic coffee sold at the company cafeteria. And some on this brave endeavour: Acti boss Bobby Kotick thinks that, between the franchise's popularity and Vivendi's ownership of Universal Music, Guitar Hero as a platform could someday become a music download service to rival iTunes. Sounds fairly ridiculous considering said service would be for a game using plastic instruments rather than one allowing you to buy music for your music player, but whatever. It's your $3.5 billion, Bobby.

Activision to launch rival to iTunes [Yahoo]

Activision Lock Blizzard, Infinity Ward Bosses To Long-Term Deals

Activision Blizzard Merger Finalized

When yesterday over 92 percent Activision shareholders gave their thumbs-up to the company's pending merger with Vivendi, it was pretty much a done deal, and today Activision Blizzard is official.

Board chairman Rene Penisson said he's "delighted that the merger is completed," and that the new company is "determined to 'think big!'"

The merger was first announced in December of 2007. Through it, Blizzard and Sierra parent Vivendi becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Activision, scoring 295.3 new shares of Activision stock. It'll also buy 62.9 million new shares for a total of $1.7 billion - the result is that Vivendi owns a stake of about 52 percent in its new parent company.

Announcement follows the jump.

We Won't Be Seeing Brütal Legend At E3 :(

Sunday night's pre-E3 Kotaku party is going to be a booze-fueled, feel-good adventure. None of that, however, will dull the pain of Brütal Legend's absence at E3, an absence confirmed by MTV Multiplayer today. Double Fine Productions frontman Tim Schafer confirmed the bad news earlier today and I'm just barely keeping it together.

Sure, we knew that Vivendi and Activision and their subsidiaries weren't doing the E3 thing proper, but Activision is at least holding a press conference. Chalk it up to denial. The good news, according to MTV, is that Mr. Schafer says we may hear more about it "soon after" E3. I'm ignoring Tim's "we hope" caveat.

We're also going to refer to the newly merged Activision Blizzard as Activision Blizzard Brütal Legend to show just how important we think the game is.

No ‘Brutal Legend’ At E3 [MTV Multiplayer]

Activision Blizzard Merger Official

Activision has officially received shareholder approval for its merger with Vivendi. The company said over 92 percent of its shareholders greenlighted the merger, and the transaction is expected to officially close tomorrow.

The merger was first announced in December of 2007, but has just now been finalized. Through it, Blizzard and Sierra parent Vivendi becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Activision, scoring 295.3 new shares of Activision stock. It'll also buy 62.9 million new shares for a total of $1.7 billion - the result is that Vivendi owns a stake of about 52 percent in its new parent company.

Santa Monica-based Activision's new name will officially be Activision Blizzard, a moniker change also approved by the shareholders today, but it'll continue to trade on the NASDAQ under its same symbol, ATVI.

Full details after the jump.

A smattering of new Diablo III art has popped up for you and me to look at it. So, go on, and look, look, look in the gallery right down there below. Enjoy!

Diablo III (PC) [IGN via videogaming247]

Yes, A Console Diablo III Is (Theoretically) Possible

Now that Blizzard has Activision, undisputed masters of *ahem* "getting the most out of a franchise", looking over their shoulders, would a console port of Diablo III really surprise you, were it to happen? OK, no, look. Calm down. I said were it to happen. Because while it's not confirmed, or even strongly hinted at, it may happen. May. Because Blizzard's Rob pardo has said that it's a "theoretical possibility", and that "of our major franchises, [it's] the one that's most console friendly, for sure". Pretty sure he's talking about the 360 and PS3, there. Can't see Mii support and friend codes really fitting with the whole gates to hell thing.

Console Diablo "theoretically possible" [Eurogamer]

Wrath Of The Lich King Beta Sign-Ups Open

Now's your chance, World of Warcraft players! The Wrath of the Lich King beta opt-in button under account management on the World of Warcraft web page is now eagerly awaiting your forceful mouse button click. Yes, just one click is all it takes to throw your name into the very large hat Blizzard will pick from to determine beta participants. No word on when the beta itself will start, but I doubt they'd make the opt-in button live and get everyone excited if it wasn't happening anytime soon.

What are you waiting for? Head over there and signup! Considering the number of WoW players located in the United States and Europe, you might want to stop by the gas station for some lottery tickets while your at it, just to experience more favorable odds.

Wrath of the Lich King Beta Opt-In Now Open [World of Warcraft via WorldofWar.net]

WoW Tyrael Pet In The Polygonial Flesh

Like me, many of you folks drooled over the mere idea of the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational exclusive Archangel Tyrael pet for World of Warcraft. Now we get to see the little guy who'll have players /telling the lucky recipients with "Were'd u get tht?" from now until the end of time. Blizzard just updated the WoW build on the public test realms, and the nice folks at MMO Champion rooted around in there until they came up with these images of the in-game model for the Diablo II (and presumably III) star.

I want one. Strike that, I need one. My soul cries out for it, but not so badly that I am willing to spend more than of $600 to snag one off of eBay. I'll just use the old model-swapping technique. Sure, no one else will see him and he'll make panda noises, but the screenshots will be fantastic.

Tyrael Mini Pet, Blizz Auth, Blue posts [MMO Champion - Thanks Jim!]

Judge Delivers World Of Warcraft-Inspired Decision

If I had to have a favorite judge, chief judge of the Delaware Court of Chancery William B. Chandler III would be the man. Chandler is famous for his deep understanding of the cases he rules on, from referencing 50 Cent to channeling Ray Charles for an opinion on a Coca-Cola case (baby-uh huh). Issuing a decision on the case of the Wayne County Employees' Retirement System seeking an injunction against the Activision-Blizzard merger, Chandler got all kinds of World of Warcraft philosophical.

In some ways, perhaps, the world of Mergers and Acquisitions is a massively multiplayer role playing game as well. Like in World of Warcraft and other games, the participants in the M&A field take on certain roles, interact in their own community, hone specialized skills, and even develop a unique, somewhat curious vernacular. One particular quest in the world of M&A is disclosure litigation. In the instance of disclosure litigation presently pending before this Court, the world of M&A meets the World of Warcraft.

All I can see is a man in a business suit with a yellow exclamation point over his head. Hit the jump for Judge Chandler's stunning conclusion.

Court Denies Injunction To Retirement Group In Acti-Blizz Merger

Shareholders are expected to approve Activision's pending merger with Vivendi with a vote on July 8th, and now one more obstacle has been cleared: the Delaware Court of Chancery has denied a request for a preliminary injunction on behalf of Wayne County Employees' Retirement System, who sued in April because it, as a group, opposed the merger.

The Wayne County group had claimed that it was getting short-ended in the deal, not gaining all the benefits from the combination that it could. The court will not allow the Wayne County group's lawsuit to impede the merger, which is highly likely to be approved across the board. Activision's full announcement follows the jump.

Yes, Diablo III is going to be much more vivid and vibrant than its predecessors, a fact that has some fans signing a petition against the shinier, happier art direction - now with over fifteen thousand signatures. Tracey John over at MTV Multiplayer spoke with Diablo III lead producer Keith Lee about the during the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris this past weekend, who defended the move towards a brighter, more colorful Diablo.

“One of the things that we considered when we were working on the visuals for ‘Diablo III’ is the fact that color is your friend. We feel that color actually helps to create a lot of highlights in the game so that there is contrast. A great analogy is like in ‘Lord of the Rings’ — not everything is dark. It allows you to see what a creepy dungeon can be like but if everything is dark it doesn’t allow you to have a lot of contrast.”

Lee also explains that they want players excited to enter and explore new areas, rather that simply provide the same dark environments over and over again.

Lee does admit that fan feedback is a major factor in how Blizzard develops titles. It'll be interesting to see what impact - if any - the petition has on the development of the game.

‘Diablo III’ Producer Justifies Controversial Art Direction: ‘Color Is Your Friend’ [MTV Multiplayer]