Big news doesn’t wait for the weekdays. Via Santa Monica and Paris, a press release was issued today to announce plans for the merger of American games publisher Activision (”Tony Hawk,” “Guitar Hero,” “Call of Duty” and holders of the James Bond and Spider-Man licenses) with Paris-headquartered Vivendi Games (The Blizzard-developed “World of Warcraft” as well as “Crash Bandicoot” and “Spyro“)The combined company would be called Activision Blizzard and is touted in the release as “the world’s largest pure-play online and console game publisher.” The companies peg the deal’s value at $18.9 billion, with Vivendi taking control of 52% of Activision stock and Activision chief Robert Kotick will serve as the merged company’s CEO. The deal is expected to be finalized in mid-2008.

What does this mean for gamers? Today’s announcement has primarily been relayed in strict financial terms. Without any obvious overlaps in the game franchises Activision and Vivendi publish and develop there are no clear signs of how this will affect what games the new company will produce. (In other words it’s not as if Activision has a “WoW” clone that will now be shut down or that Vivendi had a rival skateboarding series that would now be cut).

A couple of gamer-oriented things did trickle out today:

For “Guitar Hero” fans, it’s worth noting this statement from Kotick:

“This transaction also provides a unique relationship with Universal Music Group – the world’s largest music company – which will benefit Guitar Hero and further extend our sizable leadership position in music-based games.”

For “World of Warcraft” fans, there is already a substantial FAQ about the merger on Blizzard’s site, mostly projecting a sense that game development efforts are not going to change. Some highlights:

Q: How will this impact Blizzard’s games?
A: This will not impact Blizzard’s games. We remain committed to providing the same high-quality game content and support that we always have. Development on ["World of Warcraft" expansion] “Wrath of the Lich King” and “StarCraft II,” as well as on our unannounced games, is continuing as normal.

Q: Will there be any management changes at Blizzard as a result of this deal?
A: No, there won’t be any management changes at Blizzard as a result of the combination.

Q: Will Activision and Blizzard now share development teams?
A: No, both of our companies will continue to operate as they have previously with regard to game development.

A conference call scheduled for 8:30AM ET tomorrow may shed more light on how this will impact gamers.

One prospect I’m curious about is what this could mean for the Vivendi-published, Double Fine-developd “Brutal Legend.” The Tim Schafer 2008 title made a recent Game Informer cover and stars the Jack Black-voiced heavy metal roadie Eddie Riggs in a bloody battle against the forces of darkness. If ever there was a game made for some sort of demo or character cross-over with Activision’s “Guitar Hero,” I think “Brutal Legend” is it.