Vivendi launched its new Internet music, ringtone and videogame provider Zaoza today. The service costs 3 euros a month and is expected to attract 500,000 subscribers by the end of the year. Vivendi owns the world’s largest record company, Universal 
Music. The company also controls France’s number two phone operator SFR and Macoc Telecom, and the pay-TV group Canal Plus.
“This is the only project Vivendi has started which is outside its traditional five areas of business,” Vivendi Chief Executive Jean-Bernard Levy told a news conference.
Games like World of Warcraft have helped Vivendi turn around its previously loss making games unit. There is speculation in the mobile gaming community that a mobile version of World of Warcraft is on the drawing board that allows players to switch between PC play and handset play in an integrated way.
Zaoza cost around 10 million euros to develop and launch. The site is expected to be available in Germany and other European countries but no date have been given.