Vivendi Games Sees Revenues Jump 29.6 Percent

Officials from French media, music and telecom conglomerate Vivendi have released details of the company’s second quarter earnings, which saw Blizzard’s World of Warcraft once again prove itself as one of the media giant’s most important assets. Revenues for the company as a whole rose by 4.8 percent from €4.62 billion ($5.87bn) last year to a new total of €4.84 billion ($6.15bn). Sales in the six months to June 30th rose by 5.3 percent to €9.61 billion ($12.22bn), from €9.13 billion ($11.61bn) a year earlier. Specific results for the Vivendi Games division saw revenues of €162 million ($206m), up 29.6 percent on the previous year. The titles responsible for the increase though, according to Vivendi, were almost exclusively older games such as World of Warcraft, Ice Age 2, 50 Cent: Bulletproof and Crash Tag Team Racing - though the first of these titles seems to be one of the largest contributors. For the whole first half of the division’s financial year, revenues were up 24.4 percent over the previous year to €296 million ($376m). This success was attributed to the same group of titles, with Blizzard’s World of Warcraft proving to be the primary driver thanks to its continued worldwide success.