Los Angeles (CA) - Vivendi announced this weekend that it plans to buy a major stake in Activision, creating a big video game publishing empire.

Vivendi said it will purchase a controlling stake in Activision, which has published such blockbusters as Guitar Hero and Call of Duty.  Vivendi owns Blizzard, hich publishes the top online role-playing game World of Warcraft.

As part of the deal, Vivendi will buy a total of $9.8 billion in Activision stock.  This will create a new company called Activision Blizzard.  Next year it will purchase another $700 million worth of Activision stock, giving it about 68% ownership in the company if the offer goes through.

Vivendi CEO Jean-Bernard Levi was quoted by the Associated Press as saying the deal "will unlock the value of Blizzard."

The deal has been speculated before, as analysts say the major publishers need to merge to be able to more successfully compete with reigning company Electronic Arts.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2008.