| Vivendi Games | |
|---|---|
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| Type | Subsidiary |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Headquarters | Paris, France |
| Industry | Video game industry |
| Products | Video games |
| Revenue | ▲$1. For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" The video game industry (formally referred to as Interactive entertainment) is the economic sector involved with the development, Marketing In Marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a Market that might satisfy a want or need A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. In business revenue or revenues is Income that a company receives from its normal business activities usually from the sale of goods and services 018 billion USD (2007) |
| Employees | 3,400 |
| Parent | Vivendi SA |
Vivendi Games (formerly known as Vivendi Universal Games) is a global French developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A holding company is a company that owns part all or a majority of other companies' outstanding Stock. VIVENDI is a software package for care management and staff organisation published by the German software company CONNEXT and introduced in 1995 This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Vivendi Games is a 100% subsidiary of Vivendi SA. VIVENDI is a software package for care management and staff organisation published by the German software company CONNEXT and introduced in 1995 Headed by Bruce Hack, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California and employs over 3,400 people at 4 separate development divisions.
Vivendi Games owns the rights to such popular franchises as Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo and World of Warcraft as well as others like Empire Earth, Leisure Suit Larry, Ground Control and Tribes. The Warcraft universe is a Fictional universe in which a series of games and books published by Blizzard Entertainment are set StarCraft is a Military science fiction Real-time strategy Video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. Diablo is a Dark fantasy -themed Action role-playing game developed by Blizzard North and released by Blizzard Entertainment World of Warcraft (commonly acronymed as WoW) is a Massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG The Empire Earth series is a franchise of Real-time strategy Computer games developed by Stainless Steel Studios and Mad Doc Software Leisure Suit Larry is the title character of a series of adult Adventure games written by Al Lowe and published by Sierra On-Line For the biological concept see Tribe (biology. For the social concept see Tribe.
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History
The history of Vivendi Games begins in February 1996, when CUC International, a large mail order and subscription company, offered to acquire entertainment software developer Sierra On-Line. CUC (Comp-U-Card International Inc, a huge membership-based consumer services conglomerate with travel shopping auto dining home improvement and financial services offered to more Sierra Entertainment Inc is a Worldwide American Video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Headquarted in Bellevue, Washington, Sierra was the leading developer and publisher of computer games and was famous for its adventure game series such as King's Quest, Gabriel Knight, Space Quest, and Leisure Suit Larry. King's Quest is an Adventure game series made by the American Computer game company Sierra Entertainment Space Quest is a series of six Science fiction Computer games that follow the adventures of a hapless Janitor named Roger Wilco as he campaigns Leisure Suit Larry is the title character of a series of adult Adventure games written by Al Lowe and published by Sierra On-Line Sierra was a public company, which employed roughly 1,000 employees at 12 different acquired studios. CUC offered to absorb Sierra's stock shares at a price roughly 90% higher than what Sierra was trading, and on July 24th 1996, Sierra became a wholly owned subsidiary of CUC.
At the same time, CUC also approached Davidson & Associates, a leading publisher and distributor of educational software, with an offer of a similar stock swap. Davidson & Associates is an Educational software company best known for the Blaster series including Math Blaster and Reading Blaster Headquarted in Torrance, California, Davidson was famous for its Math Blaster series, and also for Warcraft and Diablo. The Blaster Learning System was originally created by Davidson, but is now owned by Knowledge Adventure. The Warcraft universe is a Fictional universe in which a series of games and books published by Blizzard Entertainment are set While mainly a game publisher, Davidson also had a major in-house developer in the form of Blizzard Entertainment, which Davidson had acquired in 1994, and employed over 800 employees as of February 1996. Blizzard Entertainment is an American Video game developer and publisher headquartered in Irvine California. Davidson was also a public company, founded and headed by Bob Davidson, who acted as CEO, and also by Jan Davidson, who acted as President.
After acquiring these companies, CUC quickly integrated these two new divisions into the main CUC organization by announcing in September 1996 the creation of CUC Software, a holding company which would consolidate the finance, distribution, manufacturing, accounting, sales, R&D and overall management of CUC's software companies.
Soon after its creation, CUC Software acquired in January 1997 Knowledge Adventure, a leading developer of educational software, famous for its JumpStart series of child oriented programs. Knowledge Adventure Inc is a maker of Educational software including the Adiboo and JumpStart series of grade-based and subject-based titles such CUC also acquired Gryphon Software, another educational software company. Davidson & Associates and Gryphon were then absorbed into Knowledge Adventure, and Blizzard Entertainment was made a separate division of CUC Software. Blizzard Entertainment is an American Video game developer and publisher headquartered in Irvine California. In 1997, CUC Software also acquired Berkeley Systems, a California-based developer famous for its You Don't Know Jack series, and integrated Berkeley Systems into Sierra On-Line. Berkeley Systems was a San Francisco Bay Area Software company cofounded in 1987 by Wes Boyd and Joan You Don't Know Jack (commonly abbreviated YDKJ) is a series of computer games developed by Jellyvision and Berkeley Systems
CUC then merged with a hotel, real-estate, and car-rental franchiser called HFS Corporation to form Cendant in 1997. Cendant Corporation was a New York -based provider of business and consumer services primarily within the real estate and travel In 1998 it became apparent that CUC had engaged in accounting fraud for years before the merger; Cendant's stock lost 80% of its value over the next six months in the ensuing widely discussed accounting scandal. The company sold its consumer software operations, which included Sierra On-line and Blizzard, to French publisher Havas in 1998, the same year Havas was purchased by Vivendi, which formed Vivendi Universal Games. Havas ( is the second largest advertising group in France and is a "Global advertising and communications services group" and the sixth-largest global advertising and communications VIVENDI is a software package for care management and staff organisation published by the German software company CONNEXT and introduced in 1995
In 2004, Vivendi Games sold one of its divisions, Knowledge Adventure to a group of private investors. Knowledge Adventure Inc is a maker of Educational software including the Adiboo and JumpStart series of grade-based and subject-based titles such In 2005 Vivendi's revenues made 641 million euros with earnings from operations equaling to 41 million euros. In 2006 Vivendi Games created a new mobile division Vivendi Games Mobile, which was promised to begin publishing and distributing games in 2006 through mobile carriers and portals.
In December 2007 it was announced that Vivendi Games would merge with games developer Activision, forming Activision Blizzard. Activision Inc is an American Video game developer and publisher. Activision Blizzard Inc ( is a Franco - American Video game developer and publisher, partially owned by Conglomerate Vivendi [1]
Divisions
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment is a world-renowned development studio best known for creating World of Warcraft, Diablo, StarCraft, and Warcraft. Blizzard Entertainment is an American Video game developer and publisher headquartered in Irvine California. World of Warcraft (commonly acronymed as WoW) is a Massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG Diablo is a Dark fantasy -themed Action role-playing game developed by Blizzard North and released by Blizzard Entertainment StarCraft is a Military science fiction Real-time strategy Video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The Warcraft universe is a Fictional universe in which a series of games and books published by Blizzard Entertainment are set World of Warcraft, the world’s most popular game in the MMORPG category, has currently over 10 million subscribers. [1]
The Blizzard headquarters is located in Irvine, California.
Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment creates and publishes software for consoles, handheld gaming devices and personal computers. Sierra Entertainment Inc is a Worldwide American Video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Sierra Entertainment features a portfolio of titles based on original intellectual property and popular licenses from industry-leading content partners, including F.E.A.R., Scarface, and Ice Age. FEAR First Encounter Assault Recon is a Survival horror First-person shooter developed by Monolith Productions and published by Scarface The World Is Yours is a Video game developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Vivendi Universal Games.
Operating out of Los Angeles, California, Sierra employs over 700 people in development and has four wholly owned studios providing creative talents and development capabilities across multiple gaming genres: High Moon Studios, Radical Entertainment, Swordfish Studios and Massive Entertainment. High Moon Studios (formerly Sammy Studios) part of Sierra Entertainment, is an American video game developer that started out as Sammy Studios Radical Entertainment is a Video game developer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Swordfish Studios, a division of Sierra Entertainment, is a Birmingham, ( UK) based Software development company founded by Rage executive director Massive Entertainment is a Swedish Video game company based in Malmö, Sweden.
Sierra Online
Sierra Online, a newly created division, focuses on developing and publishing high quality short and mid-session casual online games for PC, Xbox Live Arcade and a range of other platforms. For the company formerly known as Sierra On-Line see Sierra Entertainment. A personal computer ( PC) is any Computer whose original sales price size and capabilities make it useful for individuals and which is intended to be operated Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA is an online service operated by Microsoft that is used to digitally distribute video games to Xbox and Xbox 360 owners
Sierra Online’s titles include Assault Heroes, an award-winning game for Xbox Live Arcade, and the upcoming FreeStyle Street Basketball, an online PC game from leading Korean developer JC Entertainment, Inc.
The division is also developing a variety of other Xbox Live Arcade and PC online games targeting the mass market.
Vivendi Games Mobile
Vivendi Games Mobile, a newly formed division, creates and publishes games for the worldwide mobile market. The division publishes games based on original intellectual property, popular entertainment licenses and classic Sierra Entertainment intellectual property games which are distributed by more than 90 operators and dozens of Web portals in more than 60 countries.
Vivendi Games Mobile has launched a number of award-winning titles, including SWAT Force which was named “Best Wireless Game of the Year” by Spike TV in December 2006.
Executive management
René Pénisson, Chairman, Vivendi Games
Bruce Hack, CEO, Vivendi Games
Pascal Brochier, President, Global Retail
Cindy Cook, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer
Terri Durham, Executive Vice President, Business Development and Global General Counsel
Jean-François Grollemund, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Mark Halacy, Executive Vice President, Global Human Resources
Divisional management
Michael Morhaime, President, Blizzard Entertainment
Martin Tremblay, President Worldwide Studios, Sierra Entertainment
Al Simone, Senior Vice President, Global Marketing Sierra Entertainment
Ed Zobrist. Cindy Cook (born in Sudbury, Ontario) is a Canadian children's entertainer Mike Morhaime is the president and a co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, a Video game developer located in Irvine California and currently owned Blizzard Entertainment is an American Video game developer and publisher headquartered in Irvine California. Sierra Entertainment Inc is a Worldwide American Video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Sierra Entertainment Inc is a Worldwide American Video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta President, Sierra Online
Paul Maglione, President, Vivendi Games Mobile
See also
References
- ^ Activision, Vivendi (2007-12-02). VIVENDI is a software package for care management and staff organisation published by the German software company CONNEXT and introduced in 1995 This is a list of Assets owned by Vivendi. Television and film 20% of NBC Universal which includes Activision Inc is an American Video game developer and publisher. VIVENDI is a software package for care management and staff organisation published by the German software company CONNEXT and introduced in 1995 Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1409 - The University of Leipzig opens 1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire "VIVENDI AND ACTIVISION TO CREATE ACTIVISION BLIZZARD – World’s Largest, Most Profitable Pure-Play Video Game Publisher". Press release. A news release, media release, press release or press statement is a written or recorded Communication directed at members of the News Retrieved on 2007-12-02. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1409 - The University of Leipzig opens 1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire
External links
- Vivendi.com - Official site of Vivendi
- VUgames.com - Official site of Vivendi games, redirects to Sierra Entertainment official site. Sierra Entertainment Inc is a Worldwide American Video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta
- Vivendi games at Vivendi.com — Vivendi Games page at vivendi.com.
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