Vivendi SA, Blizzard’s parent company, is reporting a drop of 3 percent in net profit for the first half of the 2009. The overall profit dropped from 1.22 billion Euros to 1.19 billion Euros from last year. The economic downturn has hurt most entertainment companies including gaming companies. However, Vivendi weathered the economic downturn better than most entertainment companies.

The center piece of Vivendi Activision Blizzard has been the main contributor to the overall success of the Vivendi’s profitable run. String of successful games like Call of Duty, Guitar Hero and the cash cow World of Warcraft has contributed to better than expected outlook. However, the delay of StarCraft 2 has put some damper on the overall outlook. StarCraft 2, the sequel to the hugely popular StarCraft was expected to be released this year. However, Blizzard has delayed the release to the first half of next year in order to get the game at the satisfactory level.