EA Makes A Bid For Take Two: Soon You'll Be Able To Shoot John Madden In GTA

from the who-will-make-a-video-game-about-a-consolidating-market? dept

Mon, Feb 25th 2008 4:01am — Mike Masnick

It really was only a matter of time after the announced ActiBlizsion merger that someone was going to make a bid for Take Two Interactive, makers of the super popular (if controversial) Grand Theft Auto series of video games. Given Activision and Blizzard are focusing on their own merger, it probably makes sense that industry leader EA has stepped up to make the Take Two bid. EA apparently tried to get Take Two's board to agree to a deal, but when it turned EA's offer down (at a rather large premium), EA decided to go directly to the shareholders in a hostile bid. Take Two claims that the current offer undervalues the company (despite being a 64% premium on the stock price) because it expects the company's stock to rise after it releases the next edition of GTA in the spring. Of course, aren't stock prices supposed to reflect that kind of thing already?

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Filed Under: consolidation, video games
Companies: ea, take two

18 Comments

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n/a, 25 Feb 2008 @ 4:54am

EA buying up yet another game company. They're almost as bad as PopCap Games who keep buying up the small puzzle-game makers so they have the market dominated.
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Killer_Tofu (profile), 25 Feb 2008 @ 5:07am

Video Game making companies
I am going to go out on a limb here and say that video game companies need to not merge if they have any sort of decent name for themselves.
Have a hunch it will highly make the gaming market very bland.
Thank gawd that video game startups are easier than other fields.
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Haywood, 25 Feb 2008 @ 5:11am

That would be the end of GTA
EA has a talent for running perfectly good games into the ground. Somehow, they have the idea that action games need a little forced strategy built in. They have ruined Need for Speed, Nascar and most the rest of their own stable, now they want to branch out, and ruin others creations. Worst of all they abandon any previous version as soon as a new one comes out, still no modern video support (which would have been a fairly easy task) for hot pursuit.
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Chronno S. Trigger, 25 Feb 2008 @ 5:24am

Re: That would be the end of GTA
I was just about to take bets on GTA coming back after GTAIV. I was even thinking that they were rushing this to stop GTAIV all together.
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Hellsvilla, 25 Feb 2008 @ 5:28am

New Slogan for EA
EA Games: Where good games go to die.
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syN-acK, 25 Feb 2008 @ 5:58am

Fire the board
I'm guessing there's more to the story, but if I was a stockholder and my board gave up a 64% premium offer because of a hope on an upcoming game, I'd be voting on new board members.
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Overcast, 25 Feb 2008 @ 5:59am

Yuck, GTA will never be the same. I guess it should make Jack Thompson happy at least.
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Sniperdoc (profile), 25 Feb 2008 @ 6:41am

Ditto to all the comments...
I have to agree. Given that AO rated games will not be sold at larger retailers such as Best Buy or Circuit City, will mean that Take Two's upcoming range of games will be reduced to "kiddie" status.

You know... I have no beef with EA other than their ability to work their developers and staff into the ground with almost 80 hour work weeks, removing the developers creativity and vision with their own "view" of how the games should be developed, and their skill to make enjoyable titles disappear. Other than that... they're pretty keen. :-/
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Feb 2008 @ 6:45am

They better provide some pretty big guns if people want to shoot John Madden.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Feb 2008 @ 8:00am

Every game dev company should just merge with Valve. Because Valve rule. And EA are annoying.
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Sniperdoc (profile), 25 Feb 2008 @ 8:35am

Ummm...
EA is not really a developer. They are a mostly a publisher. All they do is marketing and print the CDs... :)

They're like Ubisoft...

I think the only games they really "develop" are the sports series.

But, how they will impact the "acquired" developers is in their marketing strategy and how a particular game "style" or "topic" will affect EA's reputation and stocks. That's where the big issue lies. They now have the power to say that they won't publish a particular game because of its public abrasiveness for example.

You wouldn't see a game like Postal 2 coming from EA or Ubisoft. Stocks rule the world my friends and big businesses just want more money. They're not in it for the "fun" of it. It's the money.
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Wolferz (profile), 25 Feb 2008 @ 9:00am

!!!!
Noooo! Please god no!

Seriously didn't EA announce plans to stop doing this cause they realized they were destroying every company they "assimilated?"

Would some one please put EA down already.
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wayne, 25 Feb 2008 @ 9:09am

Re: That would be the end of GTA
ROFL nascar was and never will be good in the first place...
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duane, 25 Feb 2008 @ 9:24am

Valve pwns
I agree with Anonymous Coward, Valve rules. I just wish TF2 was little faster!
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Ian Ward-Bolton, 25 Feb 2008 @ 9:44am

It's anti-competitive
They are slowly approaching monopoly status, buying up their competition and running them into the ground, so they need to put less effort into each game. I believe Competition Law exists to stop this kind of thing ...
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Rick, 25 Feb 2008 @ 10:24am

Re: Ditto to all the comments...
I wish GTA would get the AO rating. It is aimed at adults only isn't it?

Well that might not be true but it would still sell huge numbers even with that AO rating. You could then turn to its critics and say "what do you want, it has the highest rating possible." Maybe other publishers would take a chance at AO games.
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Haywood, 25 Feb 2008 @ 10:52am

Re: Re: That would be the end of GTA
"ROFL nascar >Never?
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KIller_Tofu (profile), 25 Feb 2008 @ 12:06pm

Re #6 syn-ack
First, neat name.
Second, I am going to say that is what is wrong with a great many companies and the public today.
Way way too focused on the here and now, with zero long term goals.
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