Industry tongues were set wagging after one of Universal parent Vivendi’s crown jewels - video games giant Activision Blizzard - was last week sold by the French media conglomerate. But the company has since told Music Week that UMG will remain at “the centre” of its future plans.

Activision was effectively bought by its management team, alongside outside investors, for $8 billion. The news came soon after reports that Japanese telecoms group SoftBank had earlier this month made an ...