t appears that even though Blizzard is making money, their parent company Vivendi isn't... i guess some of their other investiments are dragging down their entire portfolio ~ My question is, do you think this will affect "Project Titan", their next MMORPG? Or other Blizzard titles, and the WoW movie? Or do they pull the money they need for that else where?

I<<HERES THE ARTICLE!>>I

?What do you think?

Vivendi has always pretty much just given Blizzard a blank check to do whatever they want.

So long as Blizzard is making money, I doubt Vivendi will do anything to interrupt their cash cow developer.

Originally posted by AticusWelles

Vivendi has always pretty much just given Blizzard a blank check to do whatever they want.

 

So long as Blizzard is making money, I doubt Vivendi will do anything to interrupt their cash cow developer.

Blizzard has goals, does it not?

What if D3, Mist of Pand fail to make the goals?

I only say this, because i bet they expect a HUGE, riduclous turn out for D3, MoP ~ And there is ALLOT of competition for both titles right now...

Take TERA online for instance, that is a ARPG, and MMORPG together, which to me.. i havn't purchased D3 becuase i'm having fun in TERA, why do i need (2) Hack, and Slack MMOARPGS? Besides TERA is in 3D, and gorgeous.. D3 is 2.5D and played out gothic graphical styles.. why should i go buy D3? I will at some point but not in the next fiscal quater. 

As long as you are making money... what if the sales don't make up production costs.. then what.. i'm not saying it will happen.. but it could.

Originally posted by Divion

t appears that even though Blizzard is making money, their parent company Vivendi isn't... i guess some of their other investiments are dragging down their entire portfolio ~ My question is, do you think this will affect "Project Titan", their next MMORPG? Or other Blizzard titles, and the WoW movie? Or do they pull the money they need for that else where?

 

I<<HERES THE ARTICLE!>>I

?What do you think?

Well, if you have choices in where to invest your money, you tend to put in into those investments which return the most money first.  Does that answer your question?

 Pretty sure  they have already made there goal with Diablo3.Mists is pretty much a given regardless when you got 10 million subs if even 5m of those buy the expansion thats still alot of money and more than it is costing them to develop it.Now if  Activision/Virendi start to lose more money imo all you would see is them having blizzard pump out a few more pets,mounts for WoW cash shop and/or something for Diablo3.They won't cut back on anything Blizzard does simply due to the fact the amount of cash they haul into them on a monthly basis.

   There is still no mmogs coming out that is really gonna hurt WoW long term.I am sure alot will buy GW2 but since it is B2P people will pick it up and soon as MOP expansion comes out they will purchase it and more than likely keep there WoW sub active the entire time anyway.

Originally posted by waynejr2

Originally posted by Divion

t appears that even though Blizzard is making money, their parent company Vivendi isn't... i guess some of their other investiments are dragging down their entire portfolio ~ My question is, do you think this will affect "Project Titan", their next MMORPG? Or other Blizzard titles, and the WoW movie? Or do they pull the money they need for that else where?

 

I<<HERES THE ARTICLE!>>I

?What do you think?

Well, if you have choices in where to invest your money, you tend to put in into those investments which return the most money first.  Does that answer your question?

What if you can't afford to ~ Becuase your money is going into restructuring?

Blizzard titles take forever, some a decade to finish.. what if they say :

"Ok, delay Project Titan til next year when our shares are up, to release more invested capital, while we use our current capital reserves to address our failing sectores".

The article, and others state Vivendi is investing tons into French Telecom SFR, and their Music Production companies.. i just wonder if due to the dynamics of MMORPGS/MOGS if they figure video games can afford to be delayed with out too much blow back

Originally posted by Divion

 

What if you can't afford to ~ Becuase your money is going into restructuring?

Blizzard titles take forever, some a decade to finish.. what if they say :

"Ok, delay Project Titan til next year when our shares are up, to release more invested capital, while we use our current capital reserves to address our failing sectores".

 

The article, and others state Vivendi is investing tons into French Telecom SFR, and their Music Production companies.. i just wonder if due to the dynamics of MMORPGS/MOGS if they figure video games can afford to be delayed with out too much blow back

If Vivendi has reason to think that those video games will make them a lot of money, then delaying their release is less desireable.

Ultimately a company (Blizzard) which has a proven track reconrd of success generally gets a hands off approach from its parent company. This is particularly true in situations (sucha s with BLizzard) where said owned company is one of the (if not the only) few successful operations in the parent company's portfolio.

Originally posted by Ashen_X

Originally posted by Divion

 

What if you can't afford to ~ Becuase your money is going into restructuring?

Blizzard titles take forever, some a decade to finish.. what if they say :

"Ok, delay Project Titan til next year when our shares are up, to release more invested capital, while we use our current capital reserves to address our failing sectores".

 

The article, and others state Vivendi is investing tons into French Telecom SFR, and their Music Production companies.. i just wonder if due to the dynamics of MMORPGS/MOGS if they figure video games can afford to be delayed with out too much blow back

If Vivendi has reason to think that those video games will make them a lot of money, then delaying their release is less desireable.

 

Ultimately a company (Blizzard) which has a proven track reconrd of success generally gets a hands off approach from its parent company. This is particularly true in situations (sucha s with BLizzard) where said owned company is one of the (if not the only) few successful operations in the parent company's portfolio.

But this is what i'm saying

I'm not disagreeing, but for the sake of attractive fiscal reports...

Blizzard has 2 titles launching in 2012 ~ D3, Mists of Pand ~ Despite these releases Vivendi is expected the net ~15% annual loss for 2012 due to failing sectors, thats a HUGE loss, which will drive shareholders away, and may already be doing so.

In order to appease, and keep investors, Vivendi may approach it like this

"We don't expect another Blizzard Release within the next 2 years (Unless Starcraft 2 expansion?) So, because we do not expect any major increase outside perpetuated revnue from current Blizzard titles, we will cut funding to Blizzard, and re-direct those funds to the failing sectors to improve, and restructure the failing sectors, by doing so cutting the loss, and making up for it in 2013"

That would stop investors from bailing out..

Its what i would do

Cut funding because Blizzard is being sucessful, but in spite of it.

It might, but it is not impossible that Activision will actually put more money into it instead of less as a result.

Activision want a new Wow more now then ever. Cutting money from the game that might save them from the crise makes little sense unless they know something we don´t know.

Originally posted by Loke666

It might, but it is not impossible that Activision will actually put more money into it instead of less as a result.

Activision want a new Wow more now then ever. Cutting money from the game that might save them from the crise makes little sense unless they know something we don´t know.

I'm just thinking after subscriptions, and a reduced box sales, the major profit Blizzard makes comes from releases, and even though Blizzard has 2 releases, the company expects an overall loss for 2012, i'm not aware of any new title for next year...

so to me, i'd put my money into the best investiments are far as the big picture, if i put xxx amount into blizzard, i'll make a profit, sure.. but no new releases is no explosion of profit, while if i put xxxx into my failing sectors, and fix them into a profitable model, then i reduce my overall loss, and allow my profitable sectors to be an overall profit, whilst waiting to reinvest into Blizzard after i get my problem childern straighten out.

The way i see it, it doesn't matter how much money Blizzard is making if i have other companies that are lose more then Blizzard makes, Blizzard isn't going to make any NEW income any time soon since no new major releases outside D3/MoP so why not fix those problem childern, and only maintain overhead with Blizzard? It's what the money says is the smart choice..

Remember they work on reports for investors, not future plans, as plans get scrapped, so it's about what was done, not what will be done, ergo if nothing will be done thats reportable to investors for the foreseeable fiscal term, why waste money on something that doesn't help right now, and won't help til later.

Originally posted by Divion

Originally posted by AticusWelles

Vivendi has always pretty much just given Blizzard a blank check to do whatever they want.

 

So long as Blizzard is making money, I doubt Vivendi will do anything to interrupt their cash cow developer.

Blizzard has goals, does it not?

 

What if D3, Mist of Pand fail to make the goals?

 

I only say this, because i bet they expect a HUGE, riduclous turn out for D3, MoP ~ And there is ALLOT of competition for both titles right now...

 

Take TERA online for instance, that is a ARPG, and MMORPG together, which to me.. i havn't purchased D3 becuase i'm having fun in TERA, why do i need (2) Hack, and Slack MMOARPGS? Besides TERA is in 3D, and gorgeous.. D3 is 2.5D and played out gothic graphical styles.. why should i go buy D3? I will at some point but not in the next fiscal quater. 

As long as you are making money... what if the sales don't make up production costs.. then what.. i'm not saying it will happen.. but it could.

Why should I buy Terra? Just another Asian grinder.

Once upon a time (about 8 years ago) Vivendi was about to go bankrupt. Do you know what saved them? Blizzard released WoW.

Blizzard bring in around $200m a month, I'm sure some of that is redirected towards internal development.

Also keep in mind, whilst they may be owned, they are an independant company, the parent's business will not impact them, it only works one way.

Originally posted by Divion

Originally posted by Ashen_X

Originally posted by Divion

 

What if you can't afford to ~ Becuase your money is going into restructuring?

Blizzard titles take forever, some a decade to finish.. what if they say :

"Ok, delay Project Titan til next year when our shares are up, to release more invested capital, while we use our current capital reserves to address our failing sectores".

 

The article, and others state Vivendi is investing tons into French Telecom SFR, and their Music Production companies.. i just wonder if due to the dynamics of MMORPGS/MOGS if they figure video games can afford to be delayed with out too much blow back

If Vivendi has reason to think that those video games will make them a lot of money, then delaying their release is less desireable.

 

Ultimately a company (Blizzard) which has a proven track reconrd of success generally gets a hands off approach from its parent company. This is particularly true in situations (sucha s with BLizzard) where said owned company is one of the (if not the only) few successful operations in the parent company's portfolio.

But this is what i'm saying

 

I'm not disagreeing, but for the sake of attractive fiscal reports...

 

Blizzard has 2 titles launching in 2012 ~ D3, Mists of Pand ~ Despite these releases Vivendi is expected the net ~15% annual loss for 2012 due to failing sectors, thats a HUGE loss, which will drive shareholders away, and may already be doing so.

 

In order to appease, and keep investors, Vivendi may approach it like this

 

"We don't expect another Blizzard Release within the next 2 years (Unless Starcraft 2 expansion?) So, because we do not expect any major increase outside perpetuated revnue from current Blizzard titles, we will cut funding to Blizzard, and re-direct those funds to the failing sectors to improve, and restructure the failing sectors, by doing so cutting the loss, and making up for it in 2013"

 

That would stop investors from bailing out..

Its what i would do

 

Cut funding because Blizzard is being sucessful, but in spite of it.

To clarify, you would risk your primary source of income by cutting funding for it in order to shift resources to divisions that have demonstrated an inability to produce a profit ?

What do you think would be the impact of announcing a cutting of funding for the game on WoW's subscription numbers ? 

I think its likely to go the other way.  If other projects start losing too much money they may try to get Mike Morhaim to take a position that is higher up than just running Blizzard.

Originally posted by Ashen_X

Originally posted by Divion

Originally posted by Ashen_X

Originally posted by Divion

 

What if you can't afford to ~ Becuase your money is going into restructuring?

Blizzard titles take forever, some a decade to finish.. what if they say :

"Ok, delay Project Titan til next year when our shares are up, to release more invested capital, while we use our current capital reserves to address our failing sectores".

 

The article, and others state Vivendi is investing tons into French Telecom SFR, and their Music Production companies.. i just wonder if due to the dynamics of MMORPGS/MOGS if they figure video games can afford to be delayed with out too much blow back

If Vivendi has reason to think that those video games will make them a lot of money, then delaying their release is less desireable.

 

Ultimately a company (Blizzard) which has a proven track reconrd of success generally gets a hands off approach from its parent company. This is particularly true in situations (sucha s with BLizzard) where said owned company is one of the (if not the only) few successful operations in the parent company's portfolio.

But this is what i'm saying

 

I'm not disagreeing, but for the sake of attractive fiscal reports...

 

Blizzard has 2 titles launching in 2012 ~ D3, Mists of Pand ~ Despite these releases Vivendi is expected the net ~15% annual loss for 2012 due to failing sectors, thats a HUGE loss, which will drive shareholders away, and may already be doing so.

 

In order to appease, and keep investors, Vivendi may approach it like this

 

"We don't expect another Blizzard Release within the next 2 years (Unless Starcraft 2 expansion?) So, because we do not expect any major increase outside perpetuated revnue from current Blizzard titles, we will cut funding to Blizzard, and re-direct those funds to the failing sectors to improve, and restructure the failing sectors, by doing so cutting the loss, and making up for it in 2013"

 

That would stop investors from bailing out..

Its what i would do

 

Cut funding because Blizzard is being sucessful, but in spite of it.

To clarify, you would risk your primary source of income by cutting funding for it in order to shift resources to divisions that have demonstrated an inability to produce a profit ?

 

What do you think would be the impact of announcing a cutting of funding for the game on WoW's subscription numbers ? 

I think your missing how Blizzard runs.

I didn't say cut -overhead- budgeting, i said cut -development- budgeting on new projects.

Right now the bulk of Blizzard's income is via perpetual models, WoW Subscribitions, and box sales of titles already released.

Development capital does not produce income UNTIL the developed title ships, ergo halt production on developing any new titles until after you unscrew your screwed up telecom sectors that are bleeding out the profit that Activision Blizzard is earning you, right now they are keeping their heads above water because of their perpetual models, not because of new releases, the income from those is not produced til the product ships, understand? Until then it's just an investiment capital dump, and projects under development do not help fiscal reports, ergo do not instill investor confidence, meaning a 2-front capital loss, both in failed sectors, and frozen investments.

The only sector Vivendi has that can safily freeze development budgets (NOT OVERHEAD BUDGETS) is Blizzard, they pay the overhead to keep their current titles running, and producing income, while delaying their title development til a better fiscal report is produce freeing up more capital for dev. budgeting, understand?

Current titles, and releases would be uneffected by that, and in turn money would be redirected to failing sectors for restructuring, once you staunt the capital bleed that is causing your losses, you rebound, and invest back into your big dogs.

If not you risk enterting a downward spirll

Also , i just read Vivendi is considering to split their company, and make Activision Blizzard, and their Musical Universal Productions a seperate Media Entertainment company, perhaps so they can produce 2 fiscal reports, 1 of Vivendi showing losses due to failing sectors, while the other shows profitable gains to increase investor ventures. 

WoW is enormously profitable.  It is highly probable that Titan will be a very good investment.  Vivendi is not going to endanger that by cutting funding to Blizzard for anything short of liquidation bankruptcy.  And even if that happened, Blizzard would get snapped up by other investors who would make sure that they had all the funding they need.

The only ways Blizzard gets funding for Titan cuts is if either they think it isn't working out and redirect money elsewhere, or humanity gets hit with some awful cataclysm that makes "oh, and Titan funding got cut, too" into a silly afterthought.

What you're describing is just the nature of tech companies.  Development sucks in all your money until it ships the final product.  I think the investors, the board, the high level managers and presidents all know this, and so don't care.  If you halt development you could also kill the project.  The developers themselves begin working on something else, the original ideas get lost, etc. etc.  In fact, halting development is just another term for killing the project...  Like "shelving" in the movie business. 

As others have said, if one company is making all the money, then they get to keep what they are doing.  And usually they even get extra money for expansion.  The companies that are bleeding money will get less money until they become profitable again, or their problems are fixed.  Like what GE did in the early 80s, just fire half the employees in the entire company, and suddenly you're profitable again ahaha!  (looks good on accounting reports too). 

Whatever fears you have about Blizzard, be assured that if Blizzard goes under, it's because they did it to themselves, not because Vivendi mismanaged it.  And this wouldn't be the first time they developed one game and neglected the others.  Remember when WoW was being developed through vanilla to BC to WotLK, SC and Diablo might as well have not existed.  And back further when Diablo II and SC was being made, warcraft was neglected.  Only now, in the giant piles of money from WoW, are we seeing other games being made at the same time.

Originally posted by AticusWelles

Vivendi has always pretty much just given Blizzard a blank check to do whatever they want.

 

So long as Blizzard is making money, I doubt Vivendi will do anything to interrupt their cash cow developer.

There is no cow level

Originally posted by graggok

Originally posted by AticusWelles

Vivendi has always pretty much just given Blizzard a blank check to do whatever they want.

 

So long as Blizzard is making money, I doubt Vivendi will do anything to interrupt their cash cow developer.

There is no cow level

yea, but a pony level!

Activision Blizzard is a sub-division of Vivendi.

So, outside of Vivendi going bankrupt what they do has little effect on Activision Blizzard.

Activision Blizzard runs pretty much autonomously from Vivendi.

Also, Activision and Blizzard are both sub-divisions of Activision Blizzard so Activision and Blizzard pretty much run autonomously from each other.

In closing, Vivendi losing some money has no impact on Project Titan.