World of Warcraft opens new horizons for Vivendi
Author: From:http://www.buyfastgold.com/wow/
Vivendi's video games branch, once a loss-making business the French media group could not sell, now makes among the biggest margins in the industry thanks to one game -- World of Warcraft.
The game has lured more than 10 million gamers -- roughly the population of Belgium -- since its launch in 2004, and Vivendi Games Chairman Rene Penisson said it had created a new market for the company and the industry as a whole.
"I think there is a very, very big market that is opening up out there," Penisson told Reuters on Friday in an interview on the fringes of Vivendi's annual results presentation.
"It is changing the way people play video games."
Smaller French rival Infogrames, which controls Atari in the United States, earlier this month predicted online games would be the industry's growth engine and make up a quarter of all games in three years.
World of Warcraft is an online role playing game in which people make friends and enemies in a cyberworld of druids, goblins and fairies -- and sometimes find soul mates in real life.
Vivendi Games said the take-up of its new expansion pack "The Burning Crusade" had defied expectations last year and it hoped the second pack, "Wrath of the Lich King", to be launched in the second half of 2008, would be as successful.
Between 2003 and 2007, Vivendi Games doubled its sales to more than 1 billion euros ($1.52 billion) and turned an underlying operating loss of about 200 million euros into a profit of 181 million euros.
"World of Warcraft has been the key element that has transformed Vivendi Games," Penisson said.
Had Vivendi Games not pulled out such a best-seller, it would have never won the favours of Activision, the company behind games such as "Guitar Hero" with which it tied the knot in December in an $18 billion deal, Penisson said.
Vivendi Games will own between 52 percent and 68 percent of the combined business called Activision Blizzard, depending on the result of the share tender.
It expects the deal to close by June. For 2009, Vivendi Games on Friday forecast combined revenues of $4.3 billion, operating income of $1.1 billion, margins of more than 25 percent and earnings per share of more than $1.20.
Penisson will become head of the new business.#
"The combination of the two companies creates a truly exceptional group in terms of product portfolio and potential for development," he said.
Penisson declined to speculate on whether consolidation in the industry was now over. (Editing by Quentin Bryar)
The game has lured more than 10 million gamers -- roughly the population of Belgium -- since its launch in 2004, and Vivendi Games Chairman Rene Penisson said it had created a new market for the company and the industry as a whole.
"I think there is a very, very big market that is opening up out there," Penisson told Reuters on Friday in an interview on the fringes of Vivendi's annual results presentation.
"It is changing the way people play video games."
Smaller French rival Infogrames, which controls Atari in the United States, earlier this month predicted online games would be the industry's growth engine and make up a quarter of all games in three years.
World of Warcraft is an online role playing game in which people make friends and enemies in a cyberworld of druids, goblins and fairies -- and sometimes find soul mates in real life.
Vivendi Games said the take-up of its new expansion pack "The Burning Crusade" had defied expectations last year and it hoped the second pack, "Wrath of the Lich King", to be launched in the second half of 2008, would be as successful.
Between 2003 and 2007, Vivendi Games doubled its sales to more than 1 billion euros ($1.52 billion) and turned an underlying operating loss of about 200 million euros into a profit of 181 million euros.
"World of Warcraft has been the key element that has transformed Vivendi Games," Penisson said.
Had Vivendi Games not pulled out such a best-seller, it would have never won the favours of Activision, the company behind games such as "Guitar Hero" with which it tied the knot in December in an $18 billion deal, Penisson said.
Vivendi Games will own between 52 percent and 68 percent of the combined business called Activision Blizzard, depending on the result of the share tender.
It expects the deal to close by June. For 2009, Vivendi Games on Friday forecast combined revenues of $4.3 billion, operating income of $1.1 billion, margins of more than 25 percent and earnings per share of more than $1.20.
Penisson will become head of the new business.#
"The combination of the two companies creates a truly exceptional group in terms of product portfolio and potential for development," he said.
Penisson declined to speculate on whether consolidation in the industry was now over. (Editing by Quentin Bryar)
return list: World of Warcraft EU
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