Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has releaveled that it was he and his Board – not Vivendi – that kicked off the proceedings that led to last year’s $19 billion Activision-Blizzard ‘merger’.

French entertainment giant Vivendi currently holds a 52 per cent stake in Activision – which is expected to increase in the wake of the European Commission’s decision to green light the deal.

When asked by Conde Nast’s Portfolio magazine how the deal came about, Kotick replied:

“We made an offer [for Blizzard]. It was more than we’d ever offered for anything—billions, almost equal to our own market value. And Vivendi said, ‘We’d really like not just to sell you the business but actually to become your partner.’”

In the sameinterview, Kotick added that World Of Warcraft “is not the kind of thing that something else would come along and displace”.