I have a feeling that EA will get T2 no matter what. If 26 a share is not enough of an incentive then perhaps they will go higher.
T2 has a solid list of IP's

I think there is a reason EA is pressuring now. They know that once GTA 4 shipps their price might jump by 50% of its current value and that might put it out of their range.

Well, it looks like we're on the turning point...or at least it seems so, even if Take-Two will resist the buyout EA will find other ways to offer proposals and stuff, unless Take-Two doesn't merge with someone else and put a "stop" to all the drama.

Looks like they won't be left by themselves anytime soon.

If EA somehow ends up taking them over, I will never touch anything they put out ever again. I know that alone won't do much to change anything but if others do as well, then maybe we can send a message telling them that the gaming community won't stand for it.

There is no way in hell I am going to buy games that are mearly yearly updates that are churned out over and over. Crap like region locking online play because of "lag issues" is also intolerable. How bout setting up some fucking servers. Oh wait, that might cost them money to provide a quality gaming experience to their costomers. We can't have that!

microsoft should just buy EA. I'm sick of having choices.

The EA and Valve team-up didn't turn out too bad.. are people over-reacting?

fuck this shit.

IF ANYONE FROM TAKE TWO IS READING THIS..

please. just wait til GTA4 comes out. you'll have all the money you ever wanted. then you can dump all your shares to wherever the fuck you want, i don't care.

don't let EA monopolize and diffuse the industry.

a walk down memory lane: my first ever game crash was on an EA release. It was some god awful road rash clone called "Skitch'n"

everything just.. stopped.. and it blew my 10 year old mind.

@Mr.SithNinja: Melodramatic much?

It'd be stupid of the shareholder to sell now, surely once GTA IV hits the shares will shoot up sky high and then the big bucks can be made.

@the wheel: If EA takes over T2 before GTA4 comes out and they slap their label on it, I simply won't buy it. I don't care if it turns out to be the greatest game ever made, I won't give EA another dime. They are swinging around their massive bags of cash at the stockholders to get them to jump ship so they can take credit for the success of GTA4 and drive their own stock prices up. EA has gone too far.

Peter Moore wants to use that GTA IV tattoo again

The board wants to wait for the GTA price bump so that they can dictate the terms. I think thats actually smart business.

Damn... EA is a persistent piece of shit aren't they? They just don't want Take-Two to make their decision after the release of GTAIV. They're like a psychopath ex-girlfriend, if they can't have you, then nobody else can and they won't get piece of mind until your dead or in this case, EAten.

@wicko: If you own the PC or 360 version it was fine because Valve handled the ports. EA did the PS3 port and it fucking sucks by comparison. Coincidence? Doubtful....

@First_I_Win_The_Internet: That is the best thing I have seen in any of these T2 and EA posts. lol

If i buy 5 copies of gta4 promise not to merge with EA? =\ Man i hope they can hold on for abit longer.

Come on, where are all the other larger companies who could easily afford TT? Sony, Activision, Ubisoft?
Dare I even say...sigh...Microsoft?

Fact of the matter is...Take 2 has a history of misconduct within the organization, culminating in the ouster of 5 out of 6 board members last year.

If EA were to take over this company, financially I'm sure they would do just fine. But creatively...there is no doubt that the major party to get screwed will be the consumer. At the end of the day, it's about profits for EA, not games. Which is great if you're a shareholder, bad if you're a gamer.

Same thing has been happening at Disney for the last 20 years. When your company goes public, the soul and nature of the beast changes. It's all about pleasing the investors, not the customers.

at least if ea buys them, all platforms will see release of their titles. if sony or mirosoft bought them they would be exclusive, so im all set with that.

I think those of you who are expecting a big GTA IV stock bump are probably going to be disappointed. It's not like investors are going to wake up on April 29th and say, "What? GTA IV is a hit? I guess we'd better run out and buy some TTWO!"

The fact of the matter is, GTA IV expected sales are already factored in to the stock price to a large degree. And if you've got analysts already expecting the game to sell 9 million copies, then game would have to beat those expectations if you want to see a significant stock jump. (And, conversely, if the game falls short of the 9 million people are expecting it to sell, you can expect to see the stock tank.)

One more thing...another party of note in all this is ZelnickMedia. They came in to restructure the company, and then Strauss Zelnick, former CEO of BMG and current chairman of the Take-Two board, increases compensation in case of takeover?

Read the following:

Take-Two's board extended its contract with Zelnick's management firm, ZelnickMedia, and tripled the fee it paid the firm to $2.5 million a year.

And the following:

On his first day as the chairman of Take-Two, Zelnick addressed all employees and promised to sustain the creative process that has helped the company create the blockbuster Grand Theft Auto series. Moving forward, the goal, says Zelnick, is to ensure Take-Two becomes the most efficient and most creative of all game companies in the market.

Thoughts?

I'd hope that T2's shareholders were smart enough or at least in the know enough to realize that EA is trying to get them before GTAIV drops and that holding out is in their best interest as investors as it will certainly be a huge success and raise the value of T2 shares significantly higher than $26. My fear is that the majority of T2's shareholders have no fucking clue.

@Mr.SithNinja: What does that have to do with one publisher buying another. EA ported it because Valve couldn't. Manpower, and possibly not knowing the hardware (seeing as how they have no other IP on any system).

It's common knowledge that EA will be putting a stop to the 2K sports line, so they won't be porting any of that... everything else will be made by the developers that are (currently) owned by Take 2.

does this mean they will put real cars in gta4?

awesum, cnt wait!

@wicko: If you're implying that EA own Valve, you're sorely (and mercifully) mistaken.

EA acquiring Take Two will be nothing short of a catastrophy for the games industry.

@TheChosen: Yes, because that's SO important to make the game enjoyable. 8-)

@Gray665: Actually its highly unlikely that GTA would send the T2 stock higher than $26. The only reason the stock is near that is because of the buyout offer from EA.

I'm pretty sure you guys do not want MS to buy TT. Do you really want all of TT's IP to be exclusive Xbox games? I don't even have a PS3, but I'm pretty sure of the rest of you would prefer EA buying TT over MS.

I wonder what would be considered a "poisoned pill" in this case? Lot's of Hot Cofee in all the uypcoming games?

@Tenth: You are right about Valve. Valve pawned it off on EA because Gabe Newell (co-founder of Valve) HATES the PS3 because he can't figure out the architecture. He has been quoted as saying: "I think the PS3 is a waste of everybody's time. Investing in the Cell, investing in the SPE gives you no long-term benefits. There's nothing there that you're going to apply to anything else. You're not going to gain anything except a hatred of the architecture they've created."

EA's port of Madden 08 to the PS3 is an example of EA's guys being clueless to how to dev on it as well. How can Infinity Ward release COD4 on both platforms and have them be arguably identical while EA, with their vast resources and manpower, fail to mirror their own games on both systems? Answer: EA = Fail. Infinity Ward = Win.

@KingSnorky: Also, take a look at Take Two's stock price around the release of vice city, there's no jump around the release date, and it slowly hits a new low in the following months. It does better after the release of San Andreas, and does eventually climb about 25%, but that's six months after the fact. And six months after that, it's reached a level significantly below it's pre-san andreas level. So if anything, it would make more sense for EA to wait a year before trying to buy them out.

My guess, they're doing this now so that they get to remain top dog publisher after the activision-vivendi merger goes through.

Man, this whole thing just seems so underhanded.

I wonder who they'll go after next. At least they can't touch my favorites.

@KingSnorky: Truth. The current price of Take Two's stock is already factoring in the perceivable success of GTA IV and the possibility of an EA buyout.

@syrantking: Please don't mention "touching your favorites." This is a family blog.

So Spore being allowed to take forever, Army of Two being pushed back, NHL 08 being amazing, Madden 08 being the best version in years, no one at Bioware crying over the acquisition, EA openly admitting their past mistakes with buying companies at GDC... that hasn't convinced anyone to give them a chance?

Wouldn't the ownership of TT just give EA even more ammo to release their own console. Al the sports games and the GTA franchise only playable on the EA console! Get it while you can folks.

Shouldn't Microsoft and Sony worry about that?

@Talraen: Nope. The principle alone is enough grounds to oppose this. EA don't need Take Two and Take Two don't need EA. All this will do is reduce competition and give more power to a company that is already a monstrosity. Their words of change are hollow given the fact that they're even attempting a hostile takeover.

In short, FUCK EA!

@Talraen:

No. An industry in which EA and Ubisoft are the only two 3rd party game publishers is not something ANYONE other than people with a lot of money invested in those 2 companies should want. Ever. There is no way it can be good for innovation, not to mention competition. Without 2k Sports EA can innovate even less than they already do. I don't care how much they are saying they changed, they haven't. If they had, they wouldn't need to be buying up all these companies and getting exclusive sports licensing deals.

Not to be critical - and I have read it in above posts as well - but success of GTA4 will likely have little effect on the price of the stock. At least not some RADICAL change.

@wicko: Your wording says it all.. "team-up." It was merely a publishing and distribution agreement that Valve entered with EA.
EA doesn't own Valve.. doesn't absorb it's IPs and doesn't dictate development duties, budgets or designs.

Huge difference.

Take no action? "HA" They seemingly have been doing everything to NOT be bought out, is something in it self.

They are struggling, when Ea puts on pressure, it is hard to avoid the temptation of the darkside. But they want to wait GTA4 to come out. It's there goldmine, it is there stock booster. Perhaps even double their stock price.

TT, hang in there. for your own sanity, hang in there.

@Tenth:
"It's common knowledge that EA will be putting a stop to the 2K sports line, so they won't be porting any of that... everything else will be made by the developers that are (currently) owned by Take 2."

Well thats mighty optimistic of you to think.. and it may be mostly true for the next iteration.. but unlikely overall. EA will shuffle development duties as they see fit.. and many of the talented people behind T2 titles will jump ship shortly after the buyout anyways.

I don't know what it is that makes people view EA with rose tinted glasses but they have shown time and time again that they are not fit developers and a growing destructive force in the industry. Just because you like a few of their titles doesn't mean they as a whole are good.

Fellow stockholders, hold onto your valuable riches!

I know I'm in the minority here, and I know I say this at the risk of you call flaming the fuck out of me, but I truly believe it, so I says it anyway: Take-Two must be bought, their executives and board must be done away with.

@Gray665: Geez. 2? I think you're forgeting some 3rd party publishers in there. Activision and THQ for starters.

EA really needs to be careful. If they buy up Take-Two and wind up sanitizing the hell out of GTA4, no one will buy it.

Oh and D.I.A.F. EA.

@baked ham: As long as they are are not replaced with EA execs I am fine with them being bought out. ANYBODY but EA!!! I would love to Activision in the mix.

@axiomatic: Not only that all of the cool, funny in game bill boards wil be replaced with real ads. I can see it now... GTA '09 brought to you by Burger King!!