In an effort to compete with Electronic Arts strangle hold on the video game industry as far as franchises go, Vivendi SA kicked out $9.8 billion to buy a controlling stake in Activision, Inc.

The purchase makes the company, which will be called Activision Blizzard once the transactions complete, the world’s largest maker of video games.

Vivendi SA, is French media conglomerate which also owns part of General Electric, NBC Universal, Universal Music Group, which includes Interscope, Geffen, Island Def Jam, Motown, Bad Boy and Cash Money records.

Vivideni’s video game division is it’s smallest but boasts it has seen success in game franchises with “Crash Bandicot,” “Spyro” and “World of Warcraft.” Activision brings a history of gaming success to the table with titles like Tony Hawk and Call of Duty.

The new Activision Blizzard, valued at 18.9 billion dollars, instantly makes it a huge competitor to EA and it’s successful franchises including “Madden”, “NBA Live” and “The Sims.”

Even with the big news of a merger, rumors are still circulating around the industry about a possible breakup of the large conglomerate and some even speculate that EA will soon add to it’s overall already huge business by acquiring Ubisoft, the maker of the games “Driver” (2003) and just about any anything Tom Clancy.

Vevendi Games began in 1996 when the CUC International acquired Sierra On-Line, the maker of classic children’s game “Math Blaster” and “You Don’t Know Jack”

Reuters and the Associated Press also contributed to this story.

• Mike McCray