How Vivendi Games Was Saved By World of Warcraft

The unit of videogames of the Vivendi, that already it was a deficitary business for the French group of media, enjoys currently of one of the biggest edges of profit of the industry thanks to a game: World of Warcraft.

The world of warcraft game congregated more than 10 million users since its launching in 2004 and the president of the Vivendi games, Rene Penisson, says that she created a new market for the company and the industry as a whole. ‘I believe that a great market is opening’, said Penisson to the Reuters, in interview after the presentation of annual results of the group. ‘it is changing the way as the people play videogames.’

The French rival of the Vivendi, Infogrames, that controls the Atari in the United States, affirmed this month that the games online will be the engine of growth of the industry and will compose one room of all the games of the industry in three years. World of Warcraft is a game in which the users makes friends and enemies in a virtual world formed by druids, goblins and fairies, and some times find its soul-twin in the real life. Passed year, the package of expansion ‘The Burning Crusade’ surpassed expectations of sales and the Vivendi waited that the same happens with the package for the game, ‘Wrath of the Lich King’, that it will be launched in the semester of this year.

Between 2003 and 2007, the Vivendi Games doubled its invoicing for more than 1 billion of euros (1,52 billions of dollar) and transformed an operational damage of about 200 million euros into a profit of 181 million. ‘world of warcraft has been the essential element that it transformed the Vivendi Games’, said Penisson. If the Vivendi Games did not have a so popular title, the company never would have obtained the affection of the Activision, the producer behind the successes as ‘Guitar Hero’ and which the French group closed a partnership of 18 billion dollar in December of the passed year, Penisson said. The Vivendi Games will have between 52 68 percent of the agreed company Activision Blizzard, depending on the result of offers of action.

For 2009, the Vivendi Games foresaw invoicing agreed of 4,3 billion dollar, operational profit of 1,1 billion of dollar.

Penisson will be the director of the new company. ‘the combination of the two company creates a bonanza group in terms of portfolio of products and development potential’, said it.