銆€銆€TEXT ONE

銆€銆€The bride and groom, a guitar-wielding rock vixen and a muscle-rippling dragon-slayer, make an odd couple—so it is hardly surprising that nobody expected their marriage. But on December 2nd the video-game companies behind “Guitar Hero” and “World of Warcraft”, Activision and Vivendi Games respectively, announced plans for an elaborate merger. Vivendi, a French media group, will pool its games unit, plus $1.7 billion in cash, with Activision; the combined entity will then offer to buy back shares from Activision shareholders, raising Vivendi's stake in the resulting firm to as much as 68%.

銆€銆€Activision's boss, Bobby Kotick, will remain at the helm of the new company, to be known as Activision Blizzard in recognition of Vivendi's main gaming asset: its subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment, the firm behind “World of Warcraft”, an online swords-and-sorcery game with 9.3m subscribers.The deal was unexpected, but makes excellent strategic sense, says Piers Harding-Rolls of Screen Digest, a consultancy. Activision has long coveted “World of Warcraft”, and Vivendi gets a bigger games division and Activision's talented management team to run it. As well as making sense for both parties, the $18.9 billion deal—the biggest ever in the video-games industry—says a lot about the trends now shaping the business.

銆€銆€The first is a push into new markets, especially online multiplayer games, which are particularly popular in Asia, and “casual” games that appeal to people who do not regard themselves as gamers. “World of Warcraft” is the world's most popular online subscription-based game and is hugely lucrative. Blizzard will have revenues of $1.1 billion this year and operating profits of $520m. “World of Warcraft” is really “a social network with many entertainment components,” says Mr Kotick.

銆€銆€Similarly, he argues, “Guitar Hero” and other games that use new kinds of controller, rather than the usual buttons and joysticks, are broadening the appeal of gaming by emphasising its social aspects, since they are easy to pick up and can be played with friends. Social gaming, says Mr Kotick, is “the most powerful trend” building new audiences for the industry. He is clearly excited at the prospect of using Blizzard's expertise to launch an online version of “Guitar Hero” for Asian markets. Online music games such as “Audition Online”, which started in South Korea, are “massive in Asia,” says Mr Harding-Rolls.

銆€銆€A second trend is media groups' increasing interest in gaming. Vivendi owns Universal Music, one of the “big four” record labels. As the record industry's sales decline, it makes sense to move into gaming, a younger, faster-growing medium with plenty of cross-marketing opportunities. (Activision might raid Universal's back catalogue for material for its music games, for example, which might in turn boost music sales.) Other media groups are going the same way. Last year Viacom, an American media giant, acquired Harmonix, the company that originally created “Guitar Hero”. It has been promoting its new game, “Rock Band”, using its MTV music channel. Viacom has also created online virtual worlds that tie in with several of its television programmes, such as “Laguna Beach” and “Pimp My Ride”. Disney bought Club Penguin, a virtual world for children, in August. And Time Warner is involved in gaming via its Warner Bros Home Entertainment division, which publishes its own titles and last month bought TT Games, the British firm behind the “Lego Star Wars” games.

銆€銆€1. The merger of these two companies are out of expection because_____

銆€銆€[A] they aim to design marriage games which sound really weird.

銆€銆€[B] it is difficult for big companies of two different nations to end up in successful cooperation.

銆€銆€[C] their games are by no means similar to each other in terms of their styles.

銆€銆€[D] it would be illegal for them to buy back the shares.

銆€銆€2. Why Piers Harding-Rolls thinks this marriage has strategic sense?

銆€銆€[A] Activision has been longing to cooperate with “World of Warcraft”.

銆€銆€[B] Vivendi could get bigger portion and better management resources from Activision.

銆€銆€[C] This deal is beneficial to both sides for they can combine their talents to make various games.

銆€銆€[D] This deal make them become decisive factor of this industry’s trend in the future.

銆€銆€3. The word “lucrative” (Line 3, Paragraph 3) most probably means_____

銆€銆€[A] profitable.

銆€銆€[B] luxurious.

銆€銆€[C] entertaining.

銆€銆€[D] populous.

銆€銆€4. The first trend shaping the industry is _____

銆€銆€[A] pushing people online to develop their own games.

銆€銆€[B] building new audiences for the new network of games.

銆€銆€[C] promoting games with new kinds of controller.

銆€銆€[D] expanding the reign of traditional games and creating new market.

銆€銆€5.From the two trends we can infer that_____

銆€銆€[A] this merger is a great success because it goes along with both trends.

銆€銆€[B] this deal can strengthen both parties to surpass the other media giants.

銆€銆€[C] this allied group is powerful enough to shape the industry’s trends.

銆€銆€[D] it is indeed of strategic sense to have initiate and carry out the merger.