Activision and Vivendi yesterday shocked the game industry by announcing that they’ve entered into an agreement that will see Vivendi Games – Blizzard’s current parent company – combine with Activision, resulting in the creation of the “world's largest, most profitable” videogame publisher, called Activision Blizzard.

The deal is worth $18.9 billion and combines some of the top franchises in the game industry, from Activision’s Guitar Hero and Call of Duty, to Blizzard’s wildly popular World of Warcraft. Blizzard Entertainment has updated its official website with more details on the merger, basically clarifying that there will be no changes in the way the company operates. The merger is expected to be complete sometime in the middle of next year, when Activision Blizzard will reportedly overtake Electronic Arts as the biggest third-party publisher in the world.