A new company in the gaming industry, Activision Blizzard, is expected to be formed by the merging of Vivendi Games and Activision in a massive $18.9 billion deal.

In a large deal within the game industry, it has been announced that an alliance is being formed between Vivendi Games and Activision. Before this deal these two game publishers were positioned as the second and third largest companies in the field, after Electronic Arts. The new company created by such a union would form the largest independent game publisher world-wide and will go by the name of Activision Blizzard.

This deal is expected to be closed in 2008. The arrangement between these two companies would involve Vivendi offering its Vivendi Games section plus an additional 1.7 billion dollars in order to obtain control of Activision Blizzard at a stake of approximately 52%.

The new company created by this merger will be traded on the New York Nasdaq market as ATVI.

This deal involving billions of dollars will bring together the popular franchises of "Guitar Hero" and "World of Warcraft". Activision Blizzard is expected to produce a strong force in the online gaming sector which will turn into serious competition for Electronic Arts in the interactive entertainment industry. Experts in the world of video games appear to believe that the "World of Warcraft" franchise could be the game that makes the difference in the gaming 'war'. As in most marketing situations, one can hope that such competition should prove to be beneficial for the customer.

The present CEO of Activision, Bobby Kotick is expected to lead the new company as its CEO, while the present CEO of Vivendi Games, Bruce Hack will take on the position of Vice Chairman and Chief Corporate Officer of Activision Blizzard.