We want Activision, Blizzard says.

Contrary to popular opinion, it was actually Blizzard's idea to merge with Activision, and not the other way around. Most people seem to think that Vivendi (Blizzard's parent company) and Activision made a deal, and Blizzard had to go with it. Apparently though, while Vivendi did come up with the idea of a merger to someone, Blizzard is the one who said it had to be Activision.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational, Sams said he was confident the merger would benefit both parties - adding that the hugely successful developer was "on board" from the very beginning.

"What people don't realise is that Blizzard is absolutely, positively supportive of doing this," he said. "I think maybe people believe that Activision and Vivendi got together and sat in a room, and thought it would be great, and then informed us.

"But the fact of the matter is that we felt doing something like this was a positive and important thing to have happen, and we were part of all those meetings. We were sitting with Bobby [Kotick, Activision boss] and those folks when we talked about what the structure would be like," Sams explained.

"The Vivendi people were there, but the reality is that in Vivendi Games, Blizzard is the crown jewel, so we needed to be on board and believe in it. And honestly, when [Vivendi] said to us they were thinking about exploring the possibility of something like this, we said that if we were going to do something like that, it should be with Activision - those words came from our mouth."

In the interview, Sims also gives a lot more information, particularly on Diablo 3. Don't miss it.

You can see the full interview on gamesindustry.biz