Activision Blizzard Inc.’s declining share price over the past several months has some speculating the video-game company could be a takeover target.

Gerber Kawasaki Inc.’s Nick Licouris thinks Walt Disney Co. should be the buyer. The Santa Monica, California-based investor sees potential benefits between Activision’s growing esports business and Disney’s TV networks. He also sees an opportunity for Disney to leverage its film and TV characters.

“Ideally for an investor you want this to happen now,” Licouris said in an interview. Gerber Kawasaki owns roughly 90,000 shares of Activision, worth about $4.3 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Disney is in the firm’s top three holdings, with a 13F filing listing more than 152,000 shares valued at almost $22 million.

Disney’s history in the video-game business isn’t great. The company acquired game makers such as Playdom and Club Penguin, bought game studios and launched a gaming platform called Infinity. But after running up hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, the company shifted to letting companies like Electronic Arts Inc. make games based on its characters for a fee.

“We’ve just decided that the best place for us to be in that space is licensing and not publishing,” Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger said on an investor call in February.

Neither Disney nor Activision immediately responded to requests for comment. https://www.dualshockers.com/disney-activision-buyout-investor-theory/

It would be better if they didn't. It would bury copyrights for the Sierra Online games, like any future Gabriel Knight 4 or other sequels from happening.
Of course it looks like its most likely an obstacle because unlike Chris Jones finally getting the rights for the Tex Murphy games, the copyright owners of Gabriel Knight don't want to sell to Jane Jensen. Uh, your sitting on a game series you won't make money on since you do nothing with it, Let Jensen just buy it and finish her story.

I'm sure the other series if rewritten would be dumbed down and all happy fairy tales. Sorry Disney, but everything is not all sunshine and lollipops like in some of your happier fairy tale movies.

I could just see Disney trying to have Actvision release Sierra remakes, they would be moible games, and not well programmed ones.

Let me get this straight, somebody who owns shares in a company, comments that a mega corporation should buy out said company, out of the kindness of his heart?

Frankly, I hope Disney buys out the abortion that is Activision Blizzard, wouldn't that pretty much solve the Gordian Knot that is the NOLF licence?

Hmm, maybe. Undead Mickey would be cool. Seriously though, probably not the best idea.

Not really. Aside from several different companies owning several parts of the game (music is owned by one, characters another, name a third etc.) Though Warner Bros. most likely own most of it seeing as they own Monolith.

Fox Interactive (which is now known as Vivendi Games, which is owned by Activison/Blizzard) only published the 1st game on PC.

Sierra Entertainment (which is currently owned by Activison/Blizzard) published 2 & JACK.

So at most it might give them publishing rights, but still wouldn't really solve anything. As they couldn't publish it without the owners permission.

The investor is delusional, given Disney's famous disinterest in the world of video games. Ever wonder why so many games have so many other logos on them, like the awesome Disney Capcom games?

There could be more, we don't know.

When Night Dive tried it they got passed around between Fox, Warner and Activison all saying they might have some stake in the game. But none was willing to do anything.

So Night Dive attempted to move ahead anyway and got shut down by Warner. So it seems that the only major block is Warner. (As Disney own Fox already, and would own Activision.)

But of course that all rests on whether Disney would want to bring it back, as we could well be looking at another SiN story (where a company buys another which makes totally different league of content then they do.)

It also depends on whether its just those three involved, as no one really knows. As no paperwork was ever seen.