Vivendi Universal Games

Vivendi Universal Games at a Glance

Vivendi Universal Games operated as a publisher from 2001 until 2006 under the parent companies Vivendi and Vivendi Universal. This American entity released 35 games on PlayPile, serving as the publisher for all of them while only developing two titles. Their catalog spans multiple decades within that short window, with every single one of their releases falling in the 2000s before they ceased activity. The company eventually merged into Activision Blizzard following corporate acquisitions. Their output focused heavily on the Adventure genre, which accounted for 14 of their 35 titles. They also published seven Puzzle games and six Platformers. Sports, Shooter, and Racing games rounded out a significant portion of their list with four releases each. The remaining titles included Racing, Arcade, Hack and slash/Beat 'em up, Point-and-click, and Quiz/Trivia games. In terms of reach, they targeted PC Microsoft Windows users the most with 18 games, followed by PlayStation 2 with 13 titles. Xbox saw 11 releases, while Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance each hosted six games. Smaller numbers appeared for PlayStation, Mac, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, and Xbox 360. The quality of their work shows a clear downward trend over time. Their average rating across 17 rated titles sits at 62.1 out of 100. The catalog includes one great game with a score above 80, but the majority of their work falls into the good or mixed categories. They had ten games rated between 60 and 79, five rated between 40 and 59, and one title scoring below 40. Their highest-rated release was Hunter: The Reckoning Wayward in 2003, which received an 80 out of 100. The Simpsons: Hit & Run followed with 74.8, and Predator: Concrete Jungle scored 72.2. Recent releases from 2006 and late 2005 show a sharp drop in reception. Eragon came out in November 2006 with a score of 49.4. Crash Boom Bang! received only 25.8 in July 2006. Scarface: Money. Power. Respect. arrived in October 2006 without a specific score listed. Earlier titles like Crash Tag Team Racing from 2005 performed better with a 64.4 rating, while Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus from September 2005 did not have a high score attached. Secret Agent Barbie from their first year scored 70.2, and Mashed: Drive to Survive reached 70.7 in 2004. The data suggests their early years held more promise than the end of their run.

Rating Distribution