Vivendi Games Mobile 'possibly' up for sale

After weeks of speculation. new games publishing powerhouse Activision-Blizzard has confirmed it will sell off unwanted studios and projects it acquired following its merger with Vivendi games.

It has been confirmed to ME that this is likely to include its wireless division Vivendi Games Mobile, though its day-to-day operations are to carry on as usual for the foreseeable future.

In a statement detailing its company-wide restructuring, Activision-Blizzard said: "The company also is evaluating options regarding two non-strategic business units Vivendi Games Mobile and Sierra Online... including the possibility of divesting these business units."

Elsewhere in Activision-Blizzard, North American studios High Moon and Radical are to be ‘realigned’ – which presumably means merged into other Activision-Blizzard teams or downsized.

Meanwhile, the publisher added it was “exploring options… including divestiture” for European studios Massive (based in Sweden, developer of World in Conflict) and Swordfish (based in Birmingham and Manchester, UK developer of the upcoming 50 Cent game).

At the same time, Activision-Blizzard confirmed what Vivendi-started projects it would and wouldn’t be keeping (presumably with a knock-on effect for any mobile spin-offs). Big kids franchises Crash and Spyro will be kept, as will the videogame rights to movie franchise Ice Age plus new IP Prototype.

However, that leaves in the cold a number of other key, high-profile games Vivendi label Sierra was originally planning to publish. These include Ghostbusters, new rock music adventure IP Brutal Legend, plus rights to the Bourne/Robert Ludlum estate and the 50 Cent games.

Publishing rights for these games are also up for sale - Ghostbusters for one was presumed nearly finish given its upcoming October release date.