That’s right. The announcement rang out this morning (on GameTab at least) that Activision (the people behind Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk) and Blizzard (the people behind Starcraft and World of Warcraft) have gotten into bed with one another. Vivendi Games, Blizzard’s parent company, bought the majority shares in Activision. They have fused together to create the awesome juggernaut of Activision Blizzard.

If this concerns you, don’t worry. The companies will still operate fairly independently. Activison Blizzard is not a brand that will be seen on any published piece of software. In reality, Vivendi only purchased Activision to pad their pockets while Blizzard takes 2x years to develop and release a single game (where x approaches infinity).

Or, maybe they’re lying about the merger. In a few years, we could see Zeratul rocking out to ‘Smoke on the Water’ by Deep Purple in Guitar Hero IV: Legends of ‘Toss. Oh, and let’s not forget that World of Warcraft will now feature kickflips and ollies to summon the undead hordes of the Lich King. Oh yeah, and grinding will take on a whole new meaning.