There's a Reuters story on CNN about the possibility that Vivendi might help fellow French company Ubisoft ward off any takeover attempt by Electronic Arts. Infogrames CEO Bruno Bonnel has also said he is willing to help keep Ubisoft out of U.S. hands, but Infogrames is so cash strapped analysts don't expect them to have any kind of influence on the proceedings.

French newspaper L'Agefi, citing a source close to the matter, said that Vivendi and Ubisoft had held preliminary talks on the issue. A merger between Vivendi Universal Games and Ubisoft would create the largest video games group in Europe, with sales of more than 1 billion euros ($1.33 billion), although it would still be dwarfed by Electronic Arts. [...] analysts said Vivendi would make a credible white knight and could pave the way to a bidding war. "If the Vivendi scenario takes place then this could speed up things and force Electronic Arts to declare its intentions," said analyst Jean-Michel Salvador at Fideuram Wargny.