Corporate Mergers - Activision and Blizzard merge
 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071203/...ndi_activision

There's something familiar about this article to the rash of corporate mergers earlier in the decade. All of the talk is about profitability and the wealth of the company. Nobody wants to address what this means for the consumers.

We know, though, that when the world becomes less diversified, our options shrink and thus our world starts to look less like the vision in our head and more like the vision in some rich bastard's head.

As individuals, is there a way to fight against the conglomerates? With 80% of all media (TV, Movies, Books, Magazines, Radio) being owned by 6 major corporations, it's impossible to open your eyes without looking at a product that was graciously provided to you by these powers. These powers who all work together, mind you, in the spirit of cooperation, not competition.

Unless we grow our own food and cotton, and hire our nieces and nephews to sing and dance for us, nearly 80% of each dollar we spend makes its way into the pockets of these major corporations. (Which brings up an interesting question: do the Amish use USD when making transactions?)

It isn't like what I've just written hasn't been written before, but I want to draw attention to the focus of these business mergers. They merge in the interest of profitability and market share, not customer satisfaction.

Yes, there's actually a pretty simple way: Don't give them your money. Believe it or not there is an incredible amount of good living out there that isn't attached to a multinational corporation. I can think of a million things I'd rather do than play the schlock put out by Activision and Blizzard. Like, say, playing a real fucking guitar. It's beyond me why any Blizzard products are so popular. They're simple button-mashing-fests to me. I can click faster than you! Playing a Blizzard game is the kind of work machines should be doing.

Most of the corporate music and movies make me feel ill without even knowing where they came from. I listen to music almost exclusively from independent labels, not because it's from independent labels but because it's GOOD, and, well, I don't really watch movies, but when I do I'll buy classic used laserdiscs or go see an indie film. The major labels are already dying out. They're going to start merging because they HAVE to. The only way they will make money is back-catalogue licensing. That's why they're so desperate to avoid copyright reform, and they're panicking at the prospect of modern artists' termination rights becoming available in a few years. If copyright reform happens, they're out of business. This is the new age of entertainment, nobody controls distribution anymore, let the best art win.

This was a mistake. Blizzard should have stayed on it's own.

I thought ActiVision folded years ago, or am I missing something?

Guitar Hero? Doom? Call of Duty? True Crime? Star Wars Jedi Knight?

They're still around, but as a publisher moreso than a developer.

Just like SEGA.

You fail hardcore at making game(s), so you decide to let someone ELSE develop them, and you just market and sell them.

And I guess I don't subscribe to the whole "woe-is-me", anti-cosumerism anti-corporation mentality. I thought it was cool that they merged.

Then again, I work for one of the largest software companies in the world.

I say bring on our corporate overlords.

My problem is that Blizzard is this perfect developer. WoW alone is this magnificent accomplishment and will go down in video game history, but to also have Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, and Lost Vikings? That's a dynasty. Don't get me wrong, Activision is something. Mechwarrior was beyond perfect, but they lost that a long time ago.

I swear, if they fuck up Starcraft 2, I'm going to crack some skulls.

Right there with ya. Seriously.

This isn't nearly as bad as the Squaresoft-Enix merger (More like buyout). Now Square has infected a lot of Enix/Tri-Ace created games with mediocrity. But I digress...

Am I going to have to play warcraft on a Psaltery or a Lute now?

:lol: Had to be asked...

Blizzard was previously owned by industry favorite Vivendi, whose reputation in the industry is really no better than that of Activision, if not worse.

They maintained a great deal of autonomy and continued to produce a great product then. I see no reason why they won't continue to do so now.

Frostbyte, I'll give you a dollar if you change your avatar to a frostwyrm from WC...

But still, Activision did do a good job to maintain Call of Duty. Sonic games suck now, but that was inevitable.

Tired of seeing the maddening visage of an elder god, will? I'll work on it.

From WoW main page.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/index.xml

Seems like things may stay the same. Hopefully anyway.