EU approves Activision-Vivendi merger

According to this Reuters report, the European Commission has given the go-ahead for Activision and Vivendi to merge throughout this year. From the piece:

The complex deal will give Vivendi a 52 percent stake in a new industry giant called Activision Blizzard with annual revenue of $3.8 billion, rivaling that of Electronic Arts Inc (ERTS.O: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's biggest independent game publisher.

The Commission said for "all categories of game software, the combined firm would continue to face several strong, effective competitors, such as Electronic Arts, and the game console manufacturers, such as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft".

Activision is riding high on the success of games such as "Guitar Hero", "Call of Duty" and "Tony Hawk" but has lacked an offering in the online role-playing area, dominated by "World of Warcraft" from Vivendi's Blizzard Entertainment.