GregoriRasputin

AaronMD

Trancer

Agreed. I'm worried bout these monopolies more and more...

Communist_Gamer

cheeses

Knoxximus (360/PSN)

kylo4

Take Two? Take Two?? TAAAKKKEEE TWO!!!!???!!!

stevesan

I read all the article and though I don't know shit about business I can tell what I got from this.

All in all it seems from the business side of this that the best possible path is that EA actually aquires Take Two raising the value of the company.
Of course that is what investors, analyst, business men, etc. care about, they don't care what gamers thinks of this, they just know many people will go uninformed of the take over and will continue to buy games regardless of what happens here.

For more informed people who may not know all that happened but have a gist of it, I think the general opinion is that this should not happen due to EA "tradition" to slowly rot everything they get. We care about our hobby/way of life so we of course want the best of it and from experience this of course is not the best course of action to be taken.

As annoying and sometimes outrageous the "console wars" are they bring us diversity which is good as we don't have to play the same thing over and over. This could be applyed to this situation, we don't need one great company, we need many companies to offer us different things so we don't stagnate.

I sincerely hope that this merge do not happens, not for Take Two but for the diversity of things.

WDYC

psgamer92

I can't speak for Meier or Levine, but I would rather have an extremely polished and slaved-over game released every 3 years than one rushed game every year.

tiredluke129

Dude are you serious? NBA 2k is the BEST basketball video game franchise ever! Like another commenter said, leaps and bounds over NBA Live, which has been shit every year since 2000. 2k didn't even get worse when Visual Concepts was acquired by TT from SEGA.

Know what you're talking about before you post man.

jspeed04

krln99

xBETAx

That said, from a gameplay standpoint there is often no comparison between the two, I'll take an ugly/un-intuitive menu with a kick ass game beneath it over an amazing menu with a crappy game every time...so yeah this sucks if 2K gets dismantled/integrated into the EA collective, just from the standpoint that I doubt it will improve Live 09, Madden 09, etc much :(

DaiMacculate

Adam Rock

DaiMacculate

Adam Rock

You couldn't be more wrong

First, you call NFL 2K5 a "crappy budget title", which is just an audacious statement for so many reasons.

Also, the NBA 2K and College Hoops 2K series have been outstanding and are leaps and bounds better than EA's crap entries into those series.

I could go on, but I'll stop here.

Snuffbox

Leigh is a wizard!!! No ordinary human could have explained all this!

Evil Tortie's Mom

Right.

Sith_Librarian

Just so you know, this has nothing to do with Itunes "running the same way it does now," it has to do with the fact that the dominant MP3 player on the market will not play the file format of the competitors, requiring them to buy from Itunes. Letting WMA work on an Ipod has nothing to do with Itunes.

Catalyst

Vabor

Strangelove

Aside from Top Spin, what 2k sports game has come out recently that was good? There aren't any. Many of them downright suck (ahem MLB 2k8). They made like two good football games, 2k, 2k1, and then that division started putting out crappy budget titles.

Also, I find it funny how people are willing to give Zelnick the benefit of the doubt by saying that its not his fault that TTWO is hemorrhaging money because he hasn't been there that long, but are unwilling to grant Riccitiello the same consideration (he became ceo in 2007). By all accounts, it seems as though EA's restructuring is changing the culture for the better and resulting in better games.

Finally, for everyone who bashes Pachter's comments that some established developers will like being at EA better than TTWO, I would just like to point out Will Wright as an eample of why this might be true. He has had pretty much unlimited time and resources to develop Spore. It seems logical that Sid Meier and the Rockstar guys will get the same treatment considering the brands they control. I doubt that they will complain about a boss who can give them more development money, as well as better marketing and distribution channels.

TomHayden

MS could be a bit less eager to build the DRM in at the OS level in my opinion, but yeah ;)

DaiMacculate

"Apple could license the WMA format from Microsoft for less than 2 cents per iPod, lawyers say, which would make iPods and iPhones, old and new, compatible with music purchased online from rivals like Wal-Mart, Napster, Best Buy, Yahoo and others.

Most downloads sold by those companies are WMA files wrapped with digital rights management, or DRM, codes that limit copying and set expiration dates on files from services that have monthly subscription charges." - From Your Link.

The reason they would have to pay those 2 cents? Because those WMA files have DRM. DRM which Apple would have to support themselves, basically, to keep the iTunes system running the same way it does now for all the users who really enjoy it.

Same thing with iTunes tracks, which also have DRM-mandated in both cases by the labels-they won't play on your Zune.

So MS and Apple are doing the same thing. Apple is successful at it, and all the other WMA-based players are getting creamed. Apple is getting sued and MS and their partners are not, despite the fact they are ALL DOING THE SAME THING!

So yeah, you'll forgive me if I don't see Apple doing the same thing as every other company, at the behest of the labels like every other company, as somehow evil or anti-competitive. If you want to play files without DRM that don't play iPod-native, you can re-encode them, just like other players.

DaiMacculate

Wow. I don't even know how he came to that conclusion.
If EA buys T2, its the death of sports gaming... I'm praying it doesn't happen.

pharcotix

That's a dangerous argument to make in my opinion. Isn't that like Coke and Pepsi merging (which is probably just a matter of time if things keep going the way they are) and then justifying it by saying that there are other sodas or drinks out there? That argument you gave could work for a number of products and services, and the fact that it worked in the Sirius/XM deal I think is a bit troubling. I've heard stuff about DirecTV and Dish Net merging. They'll use essentially the same argument: that they have to compete with cable, Fios, etc. Where does it stop?

LucRichard

[www.wired.com]

Catalyst

I know the EU keeps trying to argue against them, but the basis they're arguing against them on is true of every other online music retailer, the difference being that Apple is successful and worth suing, the others are not and aren't.

I know it was just your example, but I see this tossed off all the time and I want to know: what evidence supports this conclusion? iTunes ain't perfect, I've had my issues with it myself, but in no way does the iPod force you to use iTunes, and Apple has done nothing to force competitors to cease competing, so I just don't get how they are truly "anti-competitive". From where I'm sitting, they just beat everybody else, nothing unfair about winning is there?

For the record, I find the EU's case against MS a bit tenuous as well, but at least in the case of MS they have enough backlog of true anti-competitive behavior (giving IIS away for free than charging once they'd damaged Lotus sufficiently, muscling out OS/2, etc etc) that it kinda justifies it.

DaiMacculate

The problem, is that EA's corporate culture, does not place enough value on the quality of their games. Their emphasis is on the franchises, the name, and they only allow the developers free reign when they've developed a legendary status, that few developers have.

The end result of this, is rushed, sloppy, game design. Whenever they acquire a new company, many developers flee ship, and the remaining ones are essentially condemned to, "development hell."

So, no, I don't see being bought out by EA as good for anybody, except the men in suits.

WolvenOne

PhilESkyline

Foglight55

@LucRichard: Well, since it's technically not a monopoly, and other options are available, there won't be any government action over this. This isn't Apple-Ipod, Microsoft-Internet Explorer, or any of the other examples of true anti-competitive behavior. There are other sports games, and, more importantly, there are other games. Like the XM/Siriur merger, they may have been the only satellite radio outfits, but there were the tons and tons of non-satellite radio stations.

Catalyst

Fireblast

1. Take-Two isn't exactly setting the world on fire, losing money three consecutive Christmas seasons in a row is bad news for any company

2. EA put forth a damn nice deal for the shareholders, the premium offered is great and since it's speculated that many of the shareholders are arbitrageurs it seems to me that they'll be more than willing to go ahead and sell their stock in Take-Two

Which leads to A. Take-Two being bought out by EA or B. Take-Two continuing to struggle financially when there's not a new GTA on shelves

In my opinion neither of these two outcomes seem to benefit the gamer.

nastysquared

beem

RFX

That pretty much says it all. Great article Leigh!!!!

dead_red_eyes

P.S. I didnt write the book. I just like it.

P.P.S. MUAHAHAHA! IM GONNA BE RICH!!!

P.P.P.S. Oh yeah... forgot to stop typing...

thewisestfool

LucRichard

...delays are imminent.

EndersGame

Would like to make one comment;

Pacther just lost all respect from me
[Quote]
Pachter believes the merger would be in the best interest of both game developers and gamers, resulting in "more games, less crap."
[Quote]

Oh my GOD has this guy ever playied an EA Game?? "more games, more crap" is much more like it

dirtjunkie

This isn't Standard Oil. This isn't as if EA can stop everyone from making sports games.

Catalyst

beem

Also, on another note, how come we haven't heard that GTA 4 has gone gold? Does Rockstar not announce that info or has it just not happened yet? We are only two weeks away from the release! Does anyone know anything about this?

LucRichard

Now I hope gamers will read this and understand this isn't as simple as the "good guys" fighting off "evil EA." I'm really ambivalent about it, myself; I share concerns about EA's culture, but hardly see T2 as riding on a white horse in shiny armor. I hadn't considered the way this might actually lengthen development cycles. (Like if they choose to rotate Burnout and Midnight Club, instead of killing one of them.)

beeporama (brian.j.parker)

In reality, I think EA will up its bid to $30 or $32 and get this thing done with.

rockinthestocks

TTWO was a heavily shorted stock with money being run through large investment banks by hedge funds, so a case could be made that most of the analysts (aka Pachter) covering TTWO were actually on the side of shortsellers. Up until recently he had a price target of $12 on TTWO stock even with the imminent release of GTA4.

rockinthestocks

Blinkman

Mmm...Illegality.

Anyway, maybe the reason Zelnick keeps refusing is because he shares the same views as the 'informed gamer' and he doesn't want his current baby to become a sellout? Who knows.

Sure it works for Bioware, they didn't have anything touched. Westwood got the preverbial rape at the get go...and their games are finally coming back to their feet now...after what? near on more then a decade?

I hope someone eventually gets enough money and buys out EA, even if it's someone like Microsoft. Bill's probably got cash to share, maybe he should do it.

Whyspir

ghostgirl

Pachter doesn't seem to understand the first thing about games as art or entertainment. He understands business and money, so he can make informed statements about what publishers and their shareholders might be thinking. But statements like this suggest that he doesn't understand developers. I don't think any developer wants to just "pump out more copies" of their game. Yes, they like it when their games sell. No, they don't want to milk franchises to death. Money only matters so far as it's there to let them keep making the games they love to make.

Good article, anyhow. Nicely collates most of the existing info on the offer, including some stuff I hadn't read before.

dphrygian

Spoony Bard

Matt008

I'd like to add that T2 has really turned itself around structurally. The fact that T2 lost money the last three years, though relevant, is not that important because those losses occurred under completely different leadership.

Snuffbox

CapeMonkey

good post. i think all any of us are really concerned with is pachter's possible scenario of GTA4 being delayed.

3inst3in

He makes unsubstantiated claims all the time like "Ken Levine and Sid Meier would love to work for EA." Hell, he even suggests Rockstar would like it.

The problem is, those guys don't need EA's marketing to sell their games. Based on what I have read of the Rockstar execs, being incorporated into EA would not be consistent with their ethics. What do those developers have to gain by joining EA? A marginal bump in sales?

For the sake of gaming competitiveness, I hope that this merger is soundly rejected by shareholders tomorrow.

Snuffbox

ShaggyB

Wernious

mva5580

Sam_Lowry

axiomatic

@Carbomb,

It doesn't really matter that TTWO is in the middle of a restructuring or is on the way to financial recovery (if that is even the case, which I doubt). Why should the shareholders wait to see the gains from such moves, which may take years to materialize, when they can sell to EA and realize the gains from that transaction immediately? It seems more likely to me that all of the Board's proffered reasons for refusing the deal are just a smokescreen for the Directors to hide behind when they get sued for breaching their fiduciary duties because the real reason they want to maintain control is to get their fat new compensation package.

TomHayden

but EA buyout seems to suggest no 2k and no more top spin.

so me mad.

Dakobah

enewtabie

AndrewG009

You can definitely say that EA acquiring a company is not monopolistic because they're not acquiring the ONLY other company in existence. EA may acquire comapanies, but there are still many more outside of them to compete with and make different products.

But when you say that they're going to acquire Take 2, and then totally eliminate the 2K Sports series as a whole so EA Sports essentially has the sports market wrapped up, to me that is the actions of a monopoly.

Of course the legalities of it all most likely say that it isn't, and that's really all that matters in the end. But if you're EA, and you acquire Take 2 only to abolish a series which has made some great, great sports games, I don't care how much more your EA Sports games sell that is just not good.

You're going to create some bitter, bitter feelings towards your company and while that one decision certainly wouldn't cripple them, you're going down a bad road.

mva5580

code.monkey

@Derigor: You have a point on what EA used to do. And I don't know if you share the sentiment, but John went over what happened with Virgin/Westwood and Origin at DICE and its about time someone saw the issue and talked about it publicly.

I believe that's part of the reason he left EA originally, it was horribly bad management. I mean EA can't ignore the studios that they left well enough alone *cough* Maxis *cough* making more money than the ones they hijacked.

I don't know about the 2K Sports section though... I tend to like those sports games better, honestly. I mean I think 2K football has been selling better than Madden recently so maybe they want that too. *shrugs*

LizC

Exactly, I worked for a company before that was acquired. It aint fun. Everything is about the money, they will try to cut every corner to make profit. They make it all sound great, but once you worked for them, it's nothing like they promised. They call it globalisation, we call it, you are screwed, look for a new job.

nxp3

If EA offers DLC, i'll wait, no need to rush, its going to be free eventually. If Sony takes away rumble because of a lawsuit not matter what their pr said, i'll survive, i'll just wait for rumble. No need to get stressed over whats simply business.

Anyways, this was an interesting read, its not often i get to read well written analysis on the business behind vvideo games.

meltyman

madbassman39

What master would you rather have? Thousands of savy shareholders, or soul stealing one.

huginn

Simply, amazing.

Terance has Turrets

This is bad for gamers because once EA owns it, they're going to (i know it's been said over and over, nickel and dime us on everything). Instead of inovating and making new games, they'll just try to sell us parts of the game. And as a gamer, I wouldn't want to buy that game again.

nxp3

Its a real nail biter and not fun at all for those that work in the acquired company.....LIKE ME!

cduran02

Strauss Zelnick was brought on as chairman of the board when the then current chairman failed to file with the SEC properly and basically opened the company up to having to deal with the US Government in courts due to questionable money management regarding their stocks.

Zelnick's history is that of being brought in during shareholder takeovers and turning companies around for sale (Google the dude). His hire at Take-Two was and is no different. The company is undergoing major restructuring and consolidation of its studios in order to make it more attractive to potential buyers. Kotaku has covered this; shutdown of Kush Games/2K Los Angeles and the formation of a larger 2K Marin.

So, add to your equation that Take Two is on an upswing structurally, fiscally, and what we know about GTA as well Bioshock 2 being in the works and you'll see that, if anything, they're simply not read to sell, yet.

Maybe they won't sell, but certainly not until they're done polishing the company up so it can fetch a better price for the shareholders. Take-Two isn't hurting and knows it's going to be worth more very soon.

CARBOMB

SpishackCola

Allitherus

Ejvid04

For everyone that thinks this is going to be horrible for gamers, I am not too sure about that. Knowing a bit about Riccitiello and his history, especially when it comes down to EA and the leaps and bounds EA has come, even since he took over, it will be a good thing.

I think Rockstar will be fine and mainly untouched by the evil hands that once were EA in the bad years. It will end up more like the Activision Blizzard deal. Everyone freaked out about that changing and destroying Blizzard and WOW and nothing has happened. The world hasn't ended and Blizzard is still updating WOW. And I don't think it will be any different for Rockstar and GTA with EA.

Fantastic article Leigh, I am getting ready to read your last Gama opinion piece and look forward to seeing you more on Kotaku.

LizC

Lowbar

Gus Johnson's Cardiologist

You do realize that EA already has dealings with Japanese companies, right? For example, iirc, every Square-Enix title you buy in North America and EU is published by EA (through the EA partners program; same thing as Rock Band, The Orange Box (console), and a bunch of other titles).

Also, I hope for the sake of your mind that that opinion of how EA handles DLC isn't set in stone.

Cypher19

nxp3

Feendawg

SapphireC

Sure EA is doing stuff like that now with PAndemic/Bioware but what about the days of yore? Origin? Virgin/Westwood guys? Most of them got k-lined and squeezed out of their own projects. I know alot of the Red Alert guys got canned after the take over and had a start-up down here in Houston. Cant remember what theym ade but I want to say they were working on a few RTS's (was several years ago, dunno if they exist anymore).

Previous EA practices involve
1) buy company
2) reduce staff
3) hand off said popular franchises to existing EA dev studios
4) rape franchise name because suckers will buy into it.

That's what people Fear will happen (even though old evil EA claims they have turned the proverbial leaf).

@mva5580: I agree with you, if they kept 2K sports alive, but with more money backing them and allowed them use of the NFL likenesses, Competition would be great. They might be forced to actually make a new Madden for once instead of strip features then add them back in as "classic" features the next year. Seriously, dont mess with my NHL 2K!

Derigor

@El Patricko:
Pretty much spot on, just add a dash of "excessive greed" as a motive to the mixture, and you've got a very succint summary of the post: A couple of rather greedy morons are willing to damage their companies for fun and profit.

Grive

However, with that said, I hope there is some sort of miracle and EA gets denied because EA treats the industry like a business. This means that deadlines will be met in favor of profit rather than polish. If EA wins, you can expect cut corners and rehashes from here until the end of time.

I can't wait till GTA V where they remove the lead characters mustache and it runs at a blazing 10 frames per second!!

risingphoenix

Gray665

SpishackCola

Resso

Derigor

Catalyst

I love how people say that this is bad for gamers, but I don't see how development houses having MORE MONEY with which to make games is a bad thing for any gamer. Not just speaking of the gamers, but a company like EA has much more money to put behind marketing campaigns, which for developers means more copies sold.

As long as EA doesn't mess with GTAIV's release date, I'm cool.

hotcoffeeburns

The motives of EA here are pretty obvious. They want GTA, and they want the 2K Sports series. I can't imagine this acquistion involves much more than those 2 factors right there.

Now if Electronic Arts REALLY had balls and had the best interest of the consumer in mind, they would acquire Take 2, and still allow the 2K Sports brand to live on under the EA umbrella. How great would it be to see competition between these two sports development teams in-house? And then you would have all of the rights to these sports available to both companies so they could really get down to it and find out who makes the best game.

That would be a very exciting prospect for me, but obviously the odds of it actually happening are very small. As exciting as that would be, I'll be equally discouraged by the death of the 2K Sports series when/if this whole thing goes down.

mva5580

Expect "The Sims" treatment. AKA 2 billion expansion packs for GTA and maybe 1 engine update (in 13 years).

/Sigh

Well as long as EA doesnt go after Anything Japanese I guess I'll be happy. Hide under the blankets Capcom and Konami, so the EA under the bed doesnt get you!

Derigor

If (when) EA walks, TWWO stock probably will pull back. But not to $17 because "where it was" was $22 before GTA was delayed last summer.

DayTrade

Internet forums do not represent "gamers everywhere."

The majority of gamers just want the game and dont really care who makes it.

AEREC

TheRunningboard7

The one thing that hasn't really been mentioned is that the majority of Take Two stock is owned by financial institutions, who are a lot less likely to put up with this kind of stunt from the board. The shareholder meeting should be interesting.

Catalyst

That's the thing, EA can't drink the milkshake, they have to buy it.

nxp3

Even if EA does get the requisite 51% share holding, does their owning of the company go into immediate effect? Aren't there things that need to be approved by the FCC and such before it can be official?

I guess my big question is, could they really delay GTAIV less than two weeks from its release? :p

hotcoffeeburns

EA has a certain taint on thier name...though it has lessened lately and theyve put out some good games...I still dont want them anywhere near Rockstar or the GTA series.

I just want to know what all this means for Rockstar?

AEREC

nxp3

TheRunningboard7

PissedPS3Fan

Milihpen

El Patricko

liquid_kore

I honestly think a merger would help Take2 more than hurt them, especially with EA, but at the same time, I think EA is looking for a life raft of some sort.

Just my non-expert opinions :P

Master Saji

nastysquared

Mr.SithNinja

Miksho

If I wasn't a gamer and was offered 62% premium, I would take it in a heartbeat.

Fyren

rainofwalrus

StupidDufus

N15PCA

Raziel Dune