EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two - Kotaku Comments

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

GregoriRasputin — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 08:20:19 MDT

Well hostile takeover could be a great thing like earlier posts have shown they buy the pc but they dont buy the game developer and theres bad rumors with ea's treatment of its workers/excessive hours crappy work place and so on if they do buy take two and it seems they will if were lucky the so called TALENT of taketwo will leave and create a new studio if ea treats them like trash game developers usually have a passion for developing games unlike stock holders that dont and in so ea has proven to us that theyre technique of buying anything that poses a threat spreads the talents of the defunct companys into smaller studios that in turn are FORCED to release good games or go broke so ppl relax and chill gta4 and all those titles arent the only ones theyl be a new game that will whoop gta4 if ea screws it up .***btw u never know ea could reform and get theyre act together and if that happens it will be a glowing star in a modern world plagued with stupidity and greed*** Those that live by the sword get shot by those who don't.

GregoriRasputin

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

StartRunning — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:59:10 MST

Isn't there anyone that actually LIKES EA?
I mean, I don't, I was just curious..

StartRunning

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

joelface — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 23:15:28 MST

EA.... PLEASE DIE.

joelface

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Strangelove — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 21:32:46 MST

This isn't the company you're looking for ... You want to buy Ubisoft ...

Strangelove

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Boudabras — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 21:14:02 MST

Looks like someone wants to be the number 1 third party publisher again.

Boudabras

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Altima NEO — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:03:16 MST

I really hope they dont get Take Two.

Who are these investors anyway and why do they push for EA? Urgh!

Altima NEO

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

krunkjuice — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:12:01 MST

Wow, EA just keeps pushing me farther and farther away.

krunkjuice

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Dekabreak — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:10:12 MST

OK THE AT-AT PIC IS WIN

Dekabreak

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Arrngrim — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:06:15 MST

As long as EA stays well clear of my beloved Atlus, I could care less about their crappy games, but stay away from my ARpeeGEE's man...

I agree with one of the higher posts, No EA games policy.

Arrngrim

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

NKato — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:26:22 MST

@bornonce: Personally, I think EA is shooting foot either way. If they follow through with the hostile takeover, I'm pretty sure they're going to see a big hole in their wallet.

Not to mention a huge, disparate lack of top talent from their recently-acquired properties.

It's going to be like EA's earlier days - the minute they touch something, it withers and dies.

So much for EA's image and reputation. They were starting to improve it too!

NKato

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Swarm19 — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:59:23 MST

MS wouldnt buy T2. Why even try, they are going to continue to be second to Sony every generation, exclusive GTA wouldnt change anything.

Swarm19

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Ehardergardens — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:53:52 MST

@Ghost_of_Sparta: Unfortunately that's not entirely true, the unwashed masses (non hardcore) will take mediocre and be happy. There's plenty of examples of mediocre games that sold insanely well.

Deer Hunter
Barbie
Sudoku
Madden
Pokemon

And plenty of amazing games that sell poorly. The art of balancing art and business.

EA is a very large company they do have some good games and they try to appeal to certain demographics, which would probably be considered shovelware by most people here (the vast amount of Movie tie games for instance).
To be hopefuly hopeful I'm hoping that EA's size and resources will allow them to fund wackier riskier stuff just because they have the cash cows to save them should they fail. i.e. if they play their cards right they can afford to be riskier than a small developer who must make or break.

MS and EA usually don't have this reputation though. They tend to be too damned conservative for my tastes as a gamer. But I won't boycott either needlessly.

Ehardergardens

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

bornonce — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:36:43 MST

They could take over the company NAME and IP's with a hostile takeover, but it is unlikely that they could take over the company's TALENT. EA's takeover would likely lead to a mass exodus of all of the very programmers that they so desperately seek. They would likely form their own independent studio, with all of the creative license they would likely not get with EA. Actually, maybe a hostile takeover by EA is not such a bad thing after all.

bornonce

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

testmunky — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:27:31 MST

@HobbaHobba: Fair enough. This particular case is the intentions of the takeover are less than good. My point was simply that not all hostile takeovers are bad and there is no reason to make them illegal.

testmunky

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Acute Gamer — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:14:28 MST

Fuckers

Acute Gamer

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Anemone — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:47:16 MST

John Riccitiello's only regret... is that he has... boneitus!

Anemone

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

acez2087 — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:43:32 MST

This is seriously becoming ridiculous. If EA continues on its quest to rule the "galaxy", then developers/publishers alike will soon start to see what kinds of imperialistic bastards EA truly are.

acez2087

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

HobbaHobba — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:35:56 MST

@testmunky:

Cuz the underlying notion is to remove "competition" to achieve monopoly by force. It's not necessarily the hostile takeover itself that is questioned.

Let's say if EA is taking over Take Two because it's so corrupt and messed up that it rips off all its consumers and investors (like Enron did), then yeah, hostile takeover is a good thing.

But this case, my friend, is not.

HobbaHobba

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Tei — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:23:59 MST

About EA.

I have BF1942. And I loved his mods, Desert Combat, Galactic Conquest, great fun.

Then, somehow, EA released one after another "mod" for BF. Thats "mods" where backward incompatible. You can't play Desert Combat with Battlefield Vietnam. And the enhancements on these new versions of the engine, never get his way to Battlefield 1942.

That way, my 50€ on Battlefield 1942 dried and died.

After the release of Battlefield 2, I was angry. I played the game for a few weeks with the CD's of my brother. I loved the game. But I have not buy it.
Yea, the game deserver to pay 50€. Is that fun. But your money will die again, as EA will release another pointless game, that will drie the servers, and make the mods incompatible again.

EA released Battlefield 2142. I like it, is ...fun, maybe BF2 is a better game (more realist copters, better balance?, realism over fantasy). I have played it again, with my brother CD. Again, I love it. But I will not buy it, because I dont want to buy a CD for a game, and see how to servers empty, and the planned mods for this game canceled, just because EA has released another mod with not backward compatibility.

What I have buy, is all Valve games. Like TF2, HL2EP2, Portal, etc.. I don't really like TF2 much (I like copters), but I know that my money is safe in TF2, in 3 years, I will still be able to play machs of TF2, and have doble plus good fun.

What is WRONG with EA?

These guys are obsesed to sell "game box". Once you have buy his game, you are shit, and you are wasting his precious servers bandwith. And you or the service will be "removed" as soon as posible. EA don't really understand stuff like the Valve Steam games network, the Microsoft Live network. EA hate customers. EA only want to sell games, don't want to provide a service. And as a result, hurt games that need a service (multiplayer games).

The problem here is that IS CUSTOMERS THAT ARE IMPORTANT, is customers that will buy the new versions. You think you can lie agains, and that customers are dumb, and will fall in the trap again. But not, people get angry, and do senseless stuff, like not-buying a game that love, because hate to be lied and lure to a trap.

postdata
sorry the rant in english, EA make me angry. I am looking forward for Tiberium.

Tei

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

PownerOfNewbs — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:55:52 MST

This is the best screenshot I've ever seen....

PownerOfNewbs

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

K-Squad! (Badass Edition) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:35:02 MST

@KM91:
Saying you don't like GTA is the same as declaring your affiliation with the communist party 0.0 Just thought you should know.

K-Squad! (Badass Edition)

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

MikeRG — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:34:52 MST

Epic pic, fuck EA

MikeRG

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

KM91 — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:26:49 MST

I particularly don't care for the GTA or Manhunt series so this doesn't really matter much to me and Manhunt 2 made a crappy for a crappy Wii game.

However, this does apply to me if they start heading towards Ubisoft. Then I will have a big problem.

KM91

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

testmunky — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:51:33 MST

@HurricaneDave: First, where in the world are you getting 3.5-3.8 billion from? There's no way GTA can add that much value to the stock.

Second, EA will probably use some combination of cash and debt to finance this.

@HobbaHobba: Why should hostile takeovers be illegale, because you don't the company doing it? There's nothing inherently wrong with a hostile takeover.

testmunky

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

y2julio — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:46:55 MST

@Ghost_of_Sparta: So all the sucky EA games is not enough to justify us bitching about EA wanting to buy T2? I seriously thought it was.

y2julio

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Tuxy79 — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:36:45 MST

LOL @ pic

Tuxy79

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

HobbaHobba — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:29:03 MST

Fuck this shit. This is a case that government should be actively pursue instead of investigating on some steroid-user baseball players. Their priorities are way messed up.

I'm appalled that our current business policies allow this shit to happen. Hostile takeover like this should be illegal.

HobbaHobba

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

CaptainMurphy — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:23:26 MST

Focus all fire on the shield generator!

CaptainMurphy

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Ghost_of_Sparta — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:18:34 MST

All this hate and wrath toward EA yet none of it has been justified. And for what? Cause they want to expand their business and make more money? Welcome to every company ever. I look at Crysis and wonder what you guys are saying when you complain about EA making bad games and iterations every year. Ofcourse they do with Madden, Its a sports game and a cash cow! Ubisoft does the same thing with their Tom Clancy games and no one seems to mind then. I just think it's easy to cry foul for what EA is doing, but what about ActivivendiZARD? Or Microsoft buying rare all those years back.

The business is changing. We're getting bigger, games are more expensive and time consuming to make, exclusives are a thing of the past and in order for companies to keep pace they have to make moves. Yell at EA all you want but the more titles like Crysis, C&C, and Burnout I get the more I don't have a problem with this.

Ghost_of_Sparta

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Sparx — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:08:31 MST

Like I said a few days ago, EA wants to acquire the 2k sports so they can slack off even more and create more lackluster games. Good thing I really dont buy those

What I'm more concerned about is how they'll kill other franchises. Let's face it, GTA will be dead with EA behind it and I'm sure others will suffer its wrath as well

Sparx

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

B1S1 — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:55:53 MST

EA is the school yard bully of the gaming world. Both to other developers and to the gamers. There's only one way to deal with a bully...

Punch'em in the mouth (so to speak).

B1S1

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Rendon — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:36:48 MST

I, for one, will be voting against the sale and against the pay raise.

Why would we sell the company for below market price?

Rendon

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

brandonf — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:30:21 MST

As EA celebrates wildly most of the major talent at Take Two quietly slips out the back door to start up their own company, all over again.

MS makes a bid for Yahoo for 44billion and gets shot down. EA wouldn't cost half that amount, I don't know what MS is waiting for. That would be the ultimate fatality to PS3. I think EA consists of so many different components and largely already has an MS like corporate culture that few would abandon ship if it happened (Specially if MS learned anything from Bungies departure and stayed more hands off).

brandonf

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

y2julio — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:28:39 MST

EA had gone up a notch in my book with the way they handled the Faux News/Mass Effect thing. They just went down two notches in my book.

y2julio

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Nightshift Nurse: Mile High Colonic — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:27:31 MST

Seems like an awful lot of time and trouble to acquire a franchise that is perilously close to jumping the shark.

On the other hand, "jump the shark" is probably a bullet point on EA's mission statement so maybe it's a non-issue for them.

Nightshift Nurse: Mile High Colonic

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

skrame ☆ — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:21:08 MST

SO, at what point does this become a monopoly?

@J-LI-L-i-LI-S: When all of the other developers and publishers disappear. Right now there are a ton of them.

Even on the sports side it is not really a monopoly. It is an exclusive agreement with the NFL (football) and another somewhat exclusive agreement with MLB (baseball; not EA yet).

It may crush the competition in the sports genre, but it is not illegal. It's no different than Ubisoft or Activision having an exclusive contract to make SpongeBob SquarePants games. People can still make football and baseball games; they just don't have the rights to the current player rosters. I know I don't mind playing 2K5 football with the old rosters, but a lot of people want the latest.

skrame ☆

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Nayl — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:19:56 MST

@WEGGLES90: I agree completely. Fuck off and die EA.

Nayl

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

francoamerica — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:14:52 MST

@tei: do you have any recolection of a company called Rare, I didn't think so.

francoamerica

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

WEGGLES90 — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:10:46 MST

Yo! EA! How 'bout you just fuck off and die, eh?
Your games are crummy sequel after sequel.
You can't port a game from 2004 to run on the powerful PS3.
You buy up great studios/companies, to just kill them off. (Westwood, RIP :'( )

Go away.

WEGGLES90

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

dgonchild — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:03:09 MST

EA should really stop trying to monopolize. The only thing that will come out of this if it happens is that sports games are going to get even worse than they are now, and good 2K franchises will loose their flare. I really hope T2 manages to escape EA's grasp. And if they dont see themselves escaping them, they should just sell themselves to someone else, like Sony or MS. I just dont want 2K games' quality to be ruined by EA.

dgonchild

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Walker — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:01:39 MST

@JohnRabbit: As did i. The picture was comment worthy on its own!

Walker

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

JohnRabbit — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:57:24 MST

I just wanted to say that I LOL'ed so hard at the pic for this article that I had to leave my desk(at work) for a minute.

JohnRabbit

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

jf04gli — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:55:35 MST

I saw a movie just like this somewhere before. Same plot, different characters. Oh yeah, when it was called Micro-hoo.

jf04gli

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Arttemis — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:55:03 MST

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.

Arttemis

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Muisee — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:50:19 MST

@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.

Muisee

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

sitsalot — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:49:47 MST

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.

sitsalot

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

meltyman — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:32:36 MST

@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 ...

meltyman

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

withaneight — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:32:13 MST

@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...

withaneight

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

SSJPabs — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:31:12 MST

"favour"?

I did not know Mr. Plunkett was British.

SSJPabs

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

28121986 — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:30:26 MST

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

28121986

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

bluesquareapple — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:30:05 MST

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.

bluesquareapple

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

buzzcannon — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:29:34 MST

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.

buzzcannon

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Dimipapa — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:27:58 MST

Love the picture lol

Dimipapa

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Ghost_of_Sparta — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:27:25 MST

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.

Ghost_of_Sparta

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

28121986 — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:27:15 MST

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

28121986

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

rlh445 — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:25:13 MST

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

rlh445

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Gray665 — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:23:30 MST

@invictus2006: More like a hate-hate relationship.

Gray665

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

OpiZA — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:19:42 MST

@Shiryu: Completely agree!

OpiZA

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Shiryu — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:13:26 MST

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

Shiryu

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Hylian — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:13:23 MST

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

Hylian

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

enewtabie(Future LittleBigPlanet Master Creationist) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:12:37 MST

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.

enewtabie(Future LittleBigPlanet Master Creationist)

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Tei — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:08:58 MST

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.

Tei

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

sedaris — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:08:05 MST

@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.

sedaris

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Degringolade — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:07:25 MST

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.

Degringolade

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

HurricaneDave — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:04:54 MST

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.

HurricaneDave

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Mr Fortitude — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:57:51 MST

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

Mr Fortitude

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Lanhoj — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:57:24 MST

@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!

Lanhoj

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

J-LI-L-i-LI-S — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:56:20 MST

SO, at what point does this become a monopoly?

J-LI-L-i-LI-S

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

baked ham — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:53:21 MST

@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.

baked ham

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

jfx316 — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:45:07 MST

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

jfx316

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

MistahJGM — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:44:43 MST

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'.

MistahJGM

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

invictus2006 — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:43:00 MST

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

invictus2006

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Nesagwa — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:42:32 MST

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.

Nesagwa

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

rlh445 — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:41:07 MST

@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.

rlh445

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

huginn — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:37:53 MST

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.

huginn

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Cdestroyer127 — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:37:00 MST

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.

Cdestroyer127

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

P-Sheddy — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:35:01 MST

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

P-Sheddy

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

BigWeather — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:34:16 MST

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).

BigWeather

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

baked ham — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:33:24 MST

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

baked ham

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:32:50 MST

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.

dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Gadgetron — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:31:19 MST

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?

Gadgetron

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

FarmboyinJapan — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:30:57 MST

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

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

FarmboyinJapan

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Han Daimond — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:30:44 MST

Damn you EA... DAMN YOU!

Han Daimond

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Burguois, Teabagger of Olde — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:30:34 MST

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

Burguois, Teabagger of Olde

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Buttah — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:28:49 MST

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

Buttah

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Mr Fortitude — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:28:32 MST

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

Mr Fortitude

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

.endejas. — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:27:51 MST

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

.endejas.

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

withaneight — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:27:44 MST

Hahaha. awesome picture selection.

withaneight

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

MasterOfPastures — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:27:25 MST

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

Please make this dream go away.

MasterOfPastures

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

sadkermit - soon to be banned for standing up to the ummm nazi. — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:26:38 MST

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.

sadkermit - soon to be banned for standing up to the ummm nazi.

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Dragonzigg — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:26:12 MST

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

Dragonzigg

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

HurricaneDave — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:25:58 MST

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

HurricaneDave

EA Not Ruling Out Hostile Takeover Of Take-Two

Grind_Axis — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:25:54 MST

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. :(

Grind_Axis