Most people are probably still stunned over the recent Activision and Vivendi merger, either in a positive or negative way. This deal has taken away the glory spot from Electronic Arts as the largest videogame publisher in the world. More than that however, is the fact that this deal could create a trend for future publishers to consider in the future.
"We believe the deal could have significant repercussions in the VG industry – forcing accelerated consolidation potentially with other publishers." Says Ben Feder, Take-Two CEO, "Videogame development is not getting any cheaper. It’s a capital-intensive business, and I don’t see that going away. That will drive some of the smaller competitors out […] I do believe that consolidation ultimately is inevitable."
So what does this mean exactly? Well to summarize, the videogame industry is becoming substantially larger than it once was, bearing far more resemblance to the music and film industry, which are run predominately by large corporations. The gaming industry has historically been known for being comprised of smaller business, but due to growth of the years, these smaller companies face the only option of merging or being bought out for the simple fact that they cannot adapt.
This could become a trend that we will see in the years to come as before this merger, EA bought out the holding group that owns Pandemic and Bioware, which was just as equally large.
We will keep you updated on anything else that comes from the Activision and Vivendi merger.
Source: IGN