September 23rd, 2008 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »
Our call for tips clearly worked well. Looking at the combined information, it is crystal clear that Vivendi Games Mobile is winding down its business and sacks most of the staff.
The termination of Vivendi Games Mobile is, as expected, a direct result of the Activision acquisition earlier. Despite winding down, Paul Maglione seems to be pushing hard to get the last titles on the street. This way, Paul Maglione protects his recurring bonus according to insiders. What happens with Paul after Vivendi Games Mobile closes down is not clear yet. Rumors say that Paul is trying to get a new position within the new Activision-Blizzard company.
A big part of the Vivendi Games Mobile staff get sacked. For the French part, there is an exit plan in which employees receive one years salary. American employees are less lucky as they receive nothing. A big part of the employees is already actively searching for a new job.
So what does this mean for the future of Crash Bandicoot, Spyro and other Vivendi heroes? They are expected to take the same route that Activision IP took for many years already. This means the licenses will be able to be acquired by other publishers. In the past years, Glu and Hands-On acquired several licenses. According to PocketGamer, some brands have already received offers from several publishers.
This story received an update here.
