I don't care whether it makes sense or not. I just want EA to stay away from T2.

If they do buy T2 I can't buy GTA IV, it's under my No-EA policy. :(

Man this hurts my heart. I hate what is in the future for 2k Sports.

I'm disappointed, but I think by hook or by crook, EA will get there eventually. The only question is will that be enough or will they look to swallow other companies (Ubisoft springs to mind) as well

Damn, when the shark is hungry....it can fiddlefuck around all day - but it WILL eat what it wants.

2008 drama, this is getting interesting.

"You killed my company!"
"No, T2. I AM YOUR COMPANY!"
"Thats not true¨NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Please make this dream go away.

Hahaha. awesome picture selection.

I thought it was pretty apparent that they were thinking about this when they announced the deal to convince Take-Two's shareholders.

The shareholders might be ok with the takeover now, but when EA butchers all of the brands they will think differently.

EA. stop trying to buy everyone off and use that money to make better games.

@Mr Fortitude: I doubt shareholders have much interest in the games. They're more interested in the money that comes from them.

Damn you EA... DAMN YOU!

I know its totally off topic, and I apologize, but....

That picture got me thinking....when are we getting Star Wars on Blu-Ray?

EA please just stop, its one thing to ruin your own IP's but why are you so intent on spreading your mediocrity to other studios?

With the impending release of GTA, there's no reason to sell. GTAIV will make T2 tons of money and add value, and hopefully, if EA attempts any share-based buyout, they'll do the same thing Ubi threatened to do and sell to someone else outright... maybe even Ubi.

Everyone here, just, please, stop. Complaining is pointless. Just accept it. Jesus.

Those that can't do, buy.

I LOL'd at the pic (and at Joystiq's take on it too with the apt use of the "Firefly" quote).

@HurricaneDave: You mean the non-existing future of 2k Sports?

EA could take over T2 if they really wanted to. For now they are just being nice, but as soon as they want 2K sports, THEY'LL TAKE IT.

This would be a wet dream to see, and a gamer's nightmare to live with the results. A hostile takeover of the most successful gaming product series in the 20th century (Mario lovers please don't start) be forced to over. You'd never see Nintendo lose Mario, Sega lose Sonic or anything else of the matter. But that's exactly what we could see here, and honestly, I don't see EA being above trying this. With the pressure they are putting on TT it is becoming more and more likely that this will become a real attack. I even hinted at this yesterday in my comments and not the least bit surprised. Infact I assumed that TT's price boosting was them trying to raise their stock price to avoid being hostiled over.

Either way, we'll figure it out if TT starts White Knighting there stock to fight off the attack

The games might just be about to begin boys.

@baked ham: Yea, we should all just sing songs and eat lollipops. God FORBID we use the comments section of our favorite gaming blog to voice our opinion, yay or nay, on EA's actions concerning a company most commentors seem to feel strongly about.

I kind of wish I had bought more T2 stock last year. Even if EA doesnt succeed, its going to bring investor attention to the company, which is good for them and their stock holders.

i guess we have a love hate relationship when it comes to EA

Take 2 should start working with Ubisoft behind the scenes, they might not get as much money, but it would be a better deal for everyone all around except EA of course. I doubt Ubi would decimate T2 like EA most likely will. And at least there would still be some competition left in sports games out there.
Also I do not like the idea of EA having control over both Maxis and Firaxis, the last thing I want is the next civ game getting 'simed up'.

EA is going to destroy earth trying to buy TT. this reminds me of an episode of GI JOE where COBRA fails at whatever plot they were hatching as usual. but at the end, rather then retreating, (with that really odd run that the foot solders do; running with their knees to the side and whatnot) cobra commander decides screw it and detonates a bomb, leading to the earth being in jeopardy and "to be continued" to pop up......

wait...what were we talking about? oh yeah...

EA=COBRA.

COBRA=forceful takeover of the world;evil

@rlh445: OK. You may say what you like. I'm just trying to express the notion that just because you don't want it to happen doesn't mean it won't happen. So I'd recommend accepting that it could happen so that if it does happen, you can deal with it. I don't see it as such a big deal personally, but this is big business and they'll do what they'll do. Well, anyway, I complain about things myself, so I ain't perfect. I try to do it constructively, though, talking about what I'd like to see, rather than what I'd like not to see. Or talking about why something could be better, rather than why it's not good at all. Though I broke that rule myself by saying I'd like not to see complaining. Fine, complain away, as I complained about your complaining. We're all allowed to say what we want.

SO, at what point does this become a monopoly?

@Grind_Axis: with that policy, ur choice of games must be quite limited. i hate EA, but i gota buy games, so i dont care enuff about who the publisher is for me to not buy a game cuz of one.

i just dont want an annual GTA update just to milk the cash cow!

@Burguois: Thats what I was getting at, once all the franchises are crapped out for lesser quality the money wont be so abundant.

I'm thinking after huge sales of GTA4, they'll probably be sold at around 3.5-3.8 billion. Which makes me think, where in the hell is EA getting the money. They aren't selling titles like they used to, they just spent 2 billion on securing the NFL again. I'm at a loss.

EA's hostile ways is stifling industry creativity and evolution. EA's profit model is, "If we can make a sequel to game X and sell millions, why spend the money on developing riskier new IPs?". I'm hoping Indie gaming and motivated independent development houses can push gaming into the future.

@Nesagwa:

Yeah, I've sitting on a little bit of TTWO stock right now. I've decided that I'll sell about half of it to recoup my initial investment if it falls below $26.00. After that, I'm just playing with the money I've earned. Yipeeee!

Whether EA buys them or not, this stock is going up. It's all a matter of waiting it out.

The gamer in me does want EA to stay away though. I agree that they'll just ruin the whole franchise.

Guys.

Is not about the building.
Is not about the desktop computers.
Is not about the dawn GTA game.
Is not about the licence, rules, branding and other crap.

Gamming is about people.

Let EA buy T2. If corrupt T2, the people will move elsewhere, and open other studios.

Is about people.
Let EA buy buildings, desktop computers, GTA and branding crap. Can't buy people.

So by the picture,we can infer that the take two talent will fire the ion cannon and retreat to another system.Great pic btw.
They are going to get Take two regardless,it's just a matter of time,but you always run the risk of losing talented people.

@tei: Well said. As long as EA don't buy the new studios...

This could be the best "pic to post" relation ever!

@Shiryu: Completely agree!

@invictus2006: More like a hate-hate relationship.

@baked ham: Aha! You rebutted yourself before I could respond! Your debating skills are more uber then mine..touche good sir.

If Microsoft can spare $45 bilion for yahoo, I bet they can spare a measly $2 billion for Take two as well and that ought to settle the console wars for sure...GTA XIII xbox 360 exclusive...Bioshock:Tales of Rapture coming exclusively to a 360 near you...wheras if E.A were to buy Take two we'd get something like-GTA XIII-PS2,PS3,XBOX 360,XBOX 720,WII,WII2,PSP,PSP2,PS4,DS,DS sq,GAMEBOY 3D,MOBILE

Hate to play devil's advocate to allll you EA haters but they have good games and they stood up for bioware against fox news and the ignorant media. They may be building a death star of publishers/developers but they make good games and have been coming out with more new IP's to all you complainers.

- Crysis, Dead Space, Army of Two

Not to mention proven commodities such as Burnout, Need for Speed, Command and Conquer, Madden,Sims(city), Battlefield, Fight Night, Black and White...

Bottom line guys, if the two consolidate and the games aren't good people won't buy them, so there will always be a motivation to make good games.

Love the picture lol

It is very unfortunate to see EA acting like the bully in 5th grade that is bigger than all of his classmates but much stupider, so he steals their lunch money to get that extra cookie at lunchtime. The art of gaming is one that is supposed to inspire creativity and competition amongst its developers. I am currently on the track to becoming a game developer myself, and to see this blatant disregard for any business ethics on EA's part makes me hope that when and if I finally make it big, I won't have to deal with a buyout such as this. In some instances buyouts make sense, but this is just preposterous. Rather than flexing their muscles with money and looking to buy out the competition (referring to the 2K sports series) EA should try to just make better sports games and not release the same lackluster, uninnovative game every year. The game industry would be severely hampered if this deal goes down, as EA is just not known for their upstanding dedication to quality and with them buying up anything they can get their hands on, it's only a matter of time till every game package will have that little EA stamped on it.

Didn't they learn in the 90s that hostile takeovers result in nothing more than the new subsidiary of EA falling apart or making it difficult to administer? Oh wait, all they care about for this specific takeover is to destroy the sports division of T2. I don't really play their sports games, but I'm concerned about two of top IPs in gaming in today's market: Bioshock and GTA. Not to mention promising new IPs Borderlands and L.A. Noire. This is obvious bad new for gamers, which EA doesn't care about. EA will happily destroy the gaming industry in the pursuit of money.

Oops I forgot P.C...damn that should ignite fan boy flame wars for sure

"favour"?

I did not know Mr. Plunkett was British.

@Buttah: They can't just make better games. EA doesn't make games. They make people make games for them. To actually make a game would be preposterous. They need to spend the money to buy someone who knows what they're doing. Ubisoft and Take2, those guys know games. If EA had to sit down and make a game we'd end up with more things like Command and Conquer: Renegade...

@MistahJGM:
you do realize EA has a stake in Ubisoft...

I'm still on the fence about this deal, i dont loathe EA like a lot of people do, but i question what this means for video games in general, EA has tried to diversify its video games (army of two, boogie bunnies etc) but they havent exactly lit the world on fire but what happens when they take over T2, will they tone down GTA? will we see Bioshock 4 by the time of the next gen consoles ...

people talking about ubisoft like they are god's gift to gaming. have you guys been sleeping the past two years? ubisoft is like ea's little brother. they shove unfinshed games out the door, and release yearly sequels.

not to mention, ea owns 19.9% of ubi. so wouldnt ea not mind of ubi bought take two? then ea could just buy up enough of ubi so that they own take two and ubi soft.

ea is going to get what they want, one way or another.

@28121986:

Very good point. If M$ owned Rockstar that might just win them the console war. You would think they would man up and buy them. W/e.

It's pretty obvious that Take-Two's rejection of the first offer was just a delay tactic in hopes of milking more money from them after GTA4 is released. Mr. Strauss Zelnick is clearly waiting for the stocks to sky rocket to get an even higher buyout from EA.

Whether EA bribes important shareholders for a hostile takeover, or they pay premium post-GTA4 release, EA will be buying yet another chunk of its own competition by gobbling up Take-Two.

I saw a movie just like this somewhere before. Same plot, different characters. Oh yeah, w