Kotaku
We've already heard EA's story recounting why they're interested in acquiring Take-Two, but analyst Michael Pachter gives the real scoop. And unlike many have claimed, Take-Two's appeal has very little to do with GTAIV, which he calls "gravy." It's all about the sports.
For EA, sports is enough to pay for the whole [$2 billion] thing. If you get rid of sports competition, you suddenly add Take Two's $200 million per year in sports revenue and EA doesn't compete on price anymore.Wait...this is sounding a lot like a monopoly, isn't it Mr. Pachter?
Currently [EA and Take Two] compete in pro basketball, college basketball and hockey. So by taking out all of that, EA has a monopoly in sports. If these guys have a monopoly, they're not going to cut pricing on sports games as quickly. We've been seeing sports games come down [in price] before Christmas the last couple of years. That'll never happen again.And once again, we've been reminded why monopolies are bad...and why we haven't played sports titles in 10+ years.
Pachter: Sports Drives T2 Deal for EA; GTA is "Gravy" [GamePolitics]
Comments
I hate EA Madden may never be good again
Zoiks...!
I really don't see this happening. I honestly don't WANT the buyout to happen, but I don't see where EA will be able to take away something a company has worked so hard for over the last 5 years.
Id agree with pachter on this one.GTA would be a nice little bonus for EA but getting rid of your rival sports games in one fell swoop...thats huge.
Suddenly, Pachter is making a whooooole lotta sense...
Someone get Milton Bradley on the horn...
Well no shit. And gravity works downwards!
EA is building a hotel on Park Place right about now.
It's hard for the little guys to play in the "sports arena" so to speak. Companies like EA have money they can throw around to pick up the key licenses, leaving the small players to fight for table scraps. I can't even think of the number of sports brands in gaming that have gone bye, bye or been killed off by the competition.
I look at it this way:
Take Two owns 2K.
Ken Levine works at 2K Boston.
EA owns the rights to System Shock.
If this happens, Ken Levine can make System Shock 3!
This is, of course, a perfect world scenario.
Well maybe the football games will get more than 15 generic comments for after each play...maybe.
and this isn't the illegal kind of monopoly either, smart!
This is exactly what I thought yesterday. 2K sports is EA Sports only competitor. If they buy them out the only sports franchises left to compete against would be Winning Eleven.
Well, there's always MLB Power Pros and it's disproportionately large-headed cuteness.
Right now EA executives are twirling their moustaches saying "cackledeedee".
Someone call the SEC!
Fuck you EA. Leave my NBA 2K alone!
My favorite sports games came from Take 2. NBA 2K6 is one of my favorite games of all time.
Of course they want the sports. Its their only competition. Come on EA, how about you beat them the old fashioned way and, I dunno, try to innovate once in a while. I guess they couldn't get an exclusive NBA or NHL contract like they have for pretty much every other sport and figured might as well just buy the competition instead. Man I hate EA.
Meh. If they do buy out their competition, others will just replace them. I'm sure Ubi or Activision would be perfectly happy to dig into the sports game pie.
There's people out there could care less about sports titles, but they're a popular and profitable genre. 2K Sports has been dominant in this department lately (Madden & NBA Live blew this year), so its not surprising EA is on edge with their competition.
In short, if EA had acquired Take Two and their 2K Sports branch, pretty much video game sports fans would have to be force-fed the same old shit that EA shovels out each year for twice the price.
System Shock 3 is not worth it.
@CyN1caL: I'd rather have sport game alternatives to EA's crap than a System Shock sequel.
I don't understand how I missed the fact that this was really about the 2K sports assets when all these posts came up about the takeover bid yesterday, it seems so blindlingly obvious in retrospect.
I was like "so what" when I thought it was about GTA, but EA better keep their mitts off of NBA2K, they've ruined Live and its all us poor video basketball fans have left...
*sobs quietly*
:P
Bad bad bad.... we will have to pay more money for games that are regular and lack depth, innovation or gameplay...
@chucklebuck: Not to mention its gameplay that's actually more realistic than any of the "realistic" baseball games on the market.
It's not just adding the money the 2K franchises would make to EA's coffers - it's also essentially not having to pay for exclusive licenses anymore unless a new serious competitor shows up.
After all, why negotiate with the NBA and NHL for an exclusive license when you're going to be the only game in town anyway?
It's stories like these that make me oh so glad I hate sports games. Enjoy your monopolies.
It's things like these that justify my decision to stop playing console sports games. I'm having a damn good time with my RPGs and FPSs.
@Lixie: On the contrary Sony makes sports games as well. Then again, who would buy a sports title from Sony?
@HurricaneDave: Woa woa woa... culturally (if done rite), SS3 will prove to be a far more important achievement. You can play sports by your own. But I cant shoot mutated cyborgs... not yet, at least.
But I guess competition must exist!
I have nor will I ever buy any sports game for any console. That being said, this is going to spell the death of the GTA franchise with EA execs wanting to water things down, change them, and probably put Madden in the game.
So Pachter agrees w/Zelnick that the price is too low.
Like I have said the past few days, the sports division excluded, EA has done a good job in stepping in the right direction. I guess Moore fits right in that division...
man EA just sucks.
@DashTheHand: No, the fact that Take Two is a sinking ship without GTA is going to spell the death of the franchise. Hell even GTA can't save them, the fiscal issues for them are huge, why do you think MS paid em 50 million for DNC?
This whole shitstorm just proves to me that so many people wailing about this are clueless.
I look at it this way. IF this ends up happening (which it probably will,) I could live with EA taking over 2K sports if they actually choose to UTILIZE the positives that series brings to the table. The announcing in the 2K sports games is fantastic, as is the presentation, and the overall gameplay is usually very good. Especially with the NBA/NCAA games.
If EA Sports took over those things and chose to actually integrate them into the EA Sports games, then it's a good thing and I actually wouldn't have a problem with it. But if they just essentially dissolve 2K Sports and do nothing with all of that tech/knowledge that they gain from it, then that is just flat out wrong, evil, and pathetic in many ways. And I would have a hard time buying a sports game new ever again. I'd just buy on Ebay/used so EA Sports wouldn't see a penny of it.
We'll see what happens.....
I only own one sports game for my 360 - Madden 07, which, I'm ashamed to say, I paid $29.99 for at Blockbuster, used. Even before this merger, I planned to never buy another sports game again.
That said, I hope EA doesn't fuck with GTA and everything else that's non-sports and good about Take Two.
First thing i thought of the other day when i read about this. I mean, taking out the competition on sports game has to be worth a lot more than GTA4.
I wonder if the SEC would even let this happen. I'm not sure if they consider a monopoly in a market niche to be enough to qualify as sufficient to be considered a trust.
God, if I have to get my hockey fix from EA, I'm gonna stab someone...with an ice skate.
@Doomstalk: if the SEC has not stopped them by now, then will not stop this.
@Doomstalk: You honestly think the SEC cares? They don't as this does not have the effect on people as Ma Bell or any of the other 'REAL' monopolys had. It doesn't even have the effect on people that Microsoft has.
@CyN1caL: I'm actually pretty stoked to see if Starbreeze does SS3.. only because Bioshock seemed very much like system shock two already... I actually trust them to do this even if they don't have any input from Levine or the people who worked on 1 and 2, as starbreeze has miraculously made me buy and enjoy 2 games based on franchises I don't even like or care about.
I wouldn't be heart broken if Levine did SS3 bu i'd rather see Bioshock branch off on it's own and get Bioshock 2 and SS3...
@Gadgetron: ITT-People don't understand how the SEC works.
I don't play alot of sports games. Yet any Wiitard can tell you that, "Competition spawns innovation." I bet if you were to ask any person who acctualy makes a Madden game at EA, if they would like some other company competing for there dollars? they would say "yes". It is like running a race. You are gonna run faster and try harder if there are other people in the it.
In all seriousness, gamers and especially the gaming press need to stand up and say somethin even if it doesn't do any good. EA is gonig to single-handedly destroy the industry. Even if it isn't illegal technically, EA wants a monopoly. Funny because Richotiello says "competition is great".
I will nEVER purchase an EA product new again, ever. I haven't done so in over a year. Everyone else needs to follow suit.
Oh c'mon people...EA already HAS a monopoly...they already dominate MLB and NFL/College FB...they just signed a deal to dominate College Hoops...they're just formalizing what's already been happening: they are taking advantage of professional sports' anti-trust exemptions and simply extending them into the video game world for them at a tidy profit for serving as the pro-sports world's video game pointman.
EA. What a bunch of cocksuckers.
i can say only one thing. DUH
With that info, anti-trust regulation could prevent the purchase, I would think.