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Electronic Arts Offers $2B For Take Two

Posted by kdawson on Sun Feb 24, 2008 06:11 PM
from the something-in-the-air dept.
PC Games (Games) Businesses
quanticle writes "The New York Times is reporting that EA has offered $2B for Take Two Entertainment. The effort appears to be a move to consolidate the two companies before Take Two releases the next iteration of its blockbuster franchise, Grand Theft Auto 4. Take Two has politely declined the offer."
+ -
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Submission: Electronic Arts offers $2bn for Take Two by quanticle (843097)
[+] EA Launches 'Hostile' Bid for GTA Publisher 171 comments
Games news sites are reporting that EA has issued a new offering to Take-Two's shareholders in an attempt to purchase the company outright. Last month EA offered some $2 billion to Take-Two in an effort to accomplish the same goal. Take-Two declined, and EA took their offer public. Now, Electronic Arts is offering the price of some $26 per share to Take-Two's holders, a generous valuation. "Within ten business days Take-Two is required by law to publish, send or give to shareholders (and file with the Securities and Exchange Commission), a statement as to whether it recommends acceptance or rejection of the latest offer ... Since EA launched its February bid Take-Two said that other parties had approached it regarding a merger, but that it hadn't entered into negotiations with other companies about a deal."
[+] EA Abandons Efforts To Take Over Take-Two 98 comments
Erik J writes "Electronic Arts has abandoned plans to absorb Grand Theft Auto IV publisher Take-Two Interactive, the company announced earlier today. Following over half a year of hostile buyout offers by EA, the pair went into talks under a confidentiality agreement in late August. From the official announcement: 'EA continues to have a high regard for Take-Two's creative teams and products, [but] after careful consideration, including a management presentation and review of other due diligence materials provided by Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., EA has decided not to make a proposal to acquire Take-Two and has terminated discussions with Take-Two.' The announcement caused Take-Two's stock to drop by 30%, and analysts expect a bidding war to ensue for employment of the GTA creators."
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  • Oh God no.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Daimanta (1140543) on Sunday February 24 2008, @06:12PM (#22539438) Journal
    Please don't let EA screw up another good game studio.

    • Re:Oh God no.... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Thane2600 (1158225) on Sunday February 24 2008, @06:26PM (#22539556)
      Word!!! Westwood studios being the prime example of a game studio run into the ground. And Battlefield 2 is like a supermodel dressed in a paper bag. I just love the ten minutes it takes to get into a BF2 server.

      • Re:Oh God no.... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by rustalot42684 (1055008) <rustalot42684@@@gmail...com> on Sunday February 24 2008, @06:44PM (#22539728)
        Or Maxis. The SimCity 4 Rush Hour expansion had a stupid thing where you could unlock buildings by doing "U-Drive it" missions or whatever, and now they've made some shitty "sim city societies" game that's not about building up and cities any more, and EA's to blame. Fucking assholes.

        • Re:Oh God no.... (Score:4, Interesting)

          by Mr_eX9 (800448) on Sunday February 24 2008, @08:04PM (#22540384) Homepage

          Maxis may have gotten decapitated, but EA is still giving Will Wright their full support. We'll see the fruits of their labor when Spore finally comes out later this year.

          And the real test to whether or not EA is going to stop screwing up their acquisitions [wired.com] will be the fate of Pandemic/BioWare. The jury's still out on that one.

        • Rush Hour U-Drive-It sucked.

          Rush hour had new road types and the intensely useful commute graphs. So it wasn't all bad.

          Societies is horrible though.

        • Re:Oh God no.... (Score:5, Insightful)

          by asdfghjklqwertyuiop (649296) on Sunday February 24 2008, @10:04PM (#22541168)
          Not to mention that SimCity 4 was basically unplayable without the expansion. You just didn't have the road types needed to handle traffic in high-density cities. It just reeked of your typical EA garbage where they get the game only partially done, sell it, then sell the finished product as an expansion. I won't be buying societies.

        • You say that, but... (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Dutch Gun (899105) on Sunday February 24 2008, @07:51PM (#22540308)

          don't we all want more sequels after a sequel to a sequel which used to be an original game 10 years ago
          The simple fact of the matter is, that's what consumers seem to actually want. Look at the most anticipated games of 2008 (according to some writer at Yahoo, that is):

          http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/10-most-anticipated-games-of-2008/1177969 [yahoo.com]

          Grand Theft Auto 4
          Smash Bros. Brawl
          Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
          Metal Gear Solid 4
          Halo Wars
          Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
          Fallout 3
          Spore
          World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
          Final Fantasy XIII

          Of that list, I see only one title based on a 100% new intellectual property: Spore. One guess who is publishing that title...

          Irony?

          • Re:You say that, but... (Score:4, Insightful)

            by crhylove (205956) <rhy@leperkhanz.com> on Monday February 25 2008, @04:45AM (#22543612) Homepage Journal
            Well, those are actually good games. For every crappy rehash game I've gotten or tried out via torrent, I've played at least ONE somewhat abysmal original, or a game you've never heard of. It's not that 90% of sequels suck, it's that 90% of all games suck.

            Here is my obligatory list of games that still get played, and most of them are NOT new at all, sequel or otherwise:

            Mario Kart 64 (still the best)
            Mortal Kombat 4 (Great in Emulation), easy controls
            Civilization II (still much funner than civ 4)
            Urban Terror (this has replaced all other FPS games except:)
            Golden Eye 64 (people are ecstatic the second they see it on the big screen in high res).
            Super Mario World & All-Stars (SNES)
            Super Mario 64
            Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
            Flatout 2 (we like to hurl bodies through fire)
            Ocarina of Time (I got nieces and nephews that LOVE it, it's new to them!)
            Tetris (SNES version)
            Dr Mario (N64 version)
            Bust a Move (SNES version)
            Quake 2 Evolved (Sometimes I just put it on because it's pretty)
            Smash Brothers (I only have the n64 version, they seem to like it)
            Super Metroid
            Lego Star Wars (for the littlest guys)

            I honestly can't think of another game that gets played around here. I had Stepmania set up at one point, but nobody was that into it long term.

            I mean, when you zoom out a couple of decades plenty of GOOD games get completely left out of the mix. Of course, I will be first in line for the new Grand Theft Auto, though....

              • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

                by crhylove (205956)
                I recommend the now hard to find Mupen++ with the Rice Video plugin 6.1.0.0 and the high res textures off of emutalk.net. There is also a high res plugin that works even better called glide ++ or something like that. If you need further assistance, you can email me: rhy (that little a with the circle) leperkhanz (dot) com

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Sinryc (834433)
          See, this is where people are wrong. No one will ever get tired of sports games any faster than people get tired of watching sporting events. Its really that simple. People have been saying that they would get tired of the sport games for the past 5 years or so, but it hasn't happened yet.

    • Re:Oh God no.... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by numbski (515011) <numbski@hks i l v e r .net> on Sunday February 24 2008, @06:50PM (#22539788) Homepage Journal
      Everyone's focused on GTA. How is everyone overlooking the fact that TT owns Visual Concepts - ie, the 2K Sports franchises? They would eliminate the only real competition they have in that arena, and Madden will continue to be the "best" football game out there.

      (ie, the only football game out there)

      • (ie, the only football game out there)
        Konami makes Pro Evolution/Winning Eleven, which is touted as the most realistic football game out there and has a very dedicated fanbase.

        Oh, you ment American football. Gotcha.... As far as I'm concerned, all video games for that sport went downhill after Tecmo Superbowl
        • Madden has been the only football game out there since they purchased the exclusive license from the NFL.

          All-Pro Football 2k8 was released last year. I myself don't consider on par with Madden, since it lacks a franchise mode (even if they are all made up teams, I don't care), but give enough time I think it would be pretty good.

    • Re:Oh God no.... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by PocketPick (798123) on Sunday February 24 2008, @06:51PM (#22539792)
      Given the fact that in the last few months Take Two has been investigated by the SEC, ousted most of it's executives, laid off some of it's staff and has a stock value that is still 1/2 what it was in 2005, I don't think they need EA to screw themselves up.
          • Woohoo for typos and slow reactions on the stop button!

            Try the Preview button next time - works better than the stop button.

        • Re:Oh God no.... (Score:4, Interesting)

          by Chris Mattern (191822) on Sunday February 24 2008, @08:00PM (#22540360)
          You go back far enough, and you realize they also ate themselves. Remember when Electronic Arts meant Pinball Construction Set? Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Sim? M.U.L.E.? Archon? The creativity in Electronic Arts was once nothing short of amazing.
          • You're right. The irony is that EA is nowadays in many ways the antithesis of what it started out as. Rather than a seller of endless sequels created by anonymous slave-driven peons, it used to be a well-regarded publisher of generally high-quality games, with the authors even being given named credit on the front of the packaging.

            I'm sure I read somewhere that the turning point was sometime around the start of the 90s when they shifted their focus onto games for the 16-bit consoles. Wasn't that also the

  • I guess EA will get frustrated... (Score:4, Funny)

    by syousef (465911) on Sunday February 24 2008, @06:12PM (#22539444) Journal
    ...and in the spirit of GTA will start randomly shooting people, stealing cars and running people down, and picking fights with random street walkers.
  • I think we are just going to end up with one massive games company.

    • Re:[Whispers] Buy Everything! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Dunbal (464142) on Sunday February 24 2008, @06:31PM (#22539632)
      That's what I thought, way back when all these buyouts and mergers started happening in the 90's. Guess what? The big commercial entities (EA, Sierra, Ubisoft, etc) keep making "sequels" and innovators keep appearing with new stuff that sells well (before getting bought out before version 3, etc).

            I doubt very much we'll only every have the One Big Gaming company - games would suck so much people would eventually stop buying them.
      • Ok, but how does this take into the account the every increasing cost to make big games, isn't that creating an ever increasing barrier of entrance? Sure, creating a concept like Tetris doesn't cost much, but on the whole if I draw a graph of the average cost associated with making games over the last 10 years, it has been increasing because of hardware possibilities and such. The most innovative time was when games could be made by a single freak in the attic, but just like in the 90ties when you could not
      • I doubt very much we'll only every have the One Big Gaming company - games would suck so much people would eventually stop buying them.

        I was too busy playing games back then, and less busy thinking about them--besides that I was just a kid--but didn't something very much like that actually already happen once sometime in the 80s or 90s?

        The difference, now, is that video games are breaking into the "real world" and are becoming akin to movies and television. They'll suck, sure, but people won't stop b

  • and of course, (Score:5, Funny)

    by notgm (1069012) on Sunday February 24 2008, @06:13PM (#22539458)
    in response to the offer, take two has blown up several cars outside EA's offices and triggered a turf war.

  • In Related News (Score:5, Funny)

    by garett_spencley (193892) on Sunday February 24 2008, @06:20PM (#22539506) Journal
    Many Take Two shareholders are suing the company for acting outside of the best interest of it's share holders. Other shareholders have resorted to robbing Take Two employees' cars and using them to pick up hookers before taking their money and "disposing" of them.

    • Many Take Two shareholders are suing the company for acting outside of the best interest of it's share holders.
      Nice. I like how in your parody of the Yahoo story you reproduce Slashdot's trademark grammatical error.
       
      • Ouch and to think I'm a grammar Nazi myself. I can't believe I let that one slip :(

        Wait, did I just invoke Godwin's law ? I double suck today.

  • Take Two ~~ Yahoo? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Rinisari (521266) on Sunday February 24 2008, @06:22PM (#22539518) Homepage Journal
    I wonder if Take Two's shareholders will sue the board now similarly to Yahoo's shareholders.

  • Aw... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Orleron (835910) on Sunday February 24 2008, @06:29PM (#22539600) Homepage
    ...and I was almost so psyched about getting to play a MMORPG where you can grind skills like "Steal Cars", "Shotgun", and "Pimp Ho's".

  • Better headline (Score:5, Funny)

    by Pennidren (1211474) on Sunday February 24 2008, @06:30PM (#22539616) Journal
    Take Two declines to Take Two Billion
  • Given Hillary Clinton's [senate.gov] ongoing fight to convince America that she's better at parenting our kids than we are, these sorts of buyouts may wind up being poor judgment calls should she somehow get elected...
  • I really hope Take Two resists this, or GTA 4 will be their last good game for sure. I really don't want that, and I think many agree with me, because that game is just so freaking good!

  • get ready for ... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by cab15625 (710956) on Sunday February 24 2008, @06:44PM (#22539732)
    GTA 5: Drivers Ed!

    GTA 6: Parental Approval!

    GTA 7: Sunday Driver!

    GTA 8: Horse and Buggy!

    • oh please.. it takes them years to do a sequel, it just means GTA will have expansion packs and stuff packs. You'll be able to buy expansion packs that add new areas and missions to drive around in, and stuff packs will add new outfits, cars, and the guns will have new coloured triggers.

    • Quakertown or Bust: Unelectric Boogaloo

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Enonu (129798)
      Horse and Buggy, hmm, what about a grand theft auto (I know auto doesn't make sense here anymore), set in old western times? Riding with a gang of thieves to take down a stage coach full of gold on fast horses actually sounds pretty fun. The entire skill of quick shooting could be pretty interesting when paired with today's twichy mousers. The wild west in a video game?

      All of the old movies could be brought in. The good, the bad, and the ugly. The unforgiven. Sounds awesome.
    • Your point about EA making too many sequels would be a lot more biting if you didn't have to start at 5 because the current owners have ALREADY MADE FOUR OF THEM.

  • Phew (Score:2, Informative)

    by mark72005 (1233572)
    I read another article where an EA bigwig was dismayed by EA's consistently low ratings at metacritic and other sites. Seems like a transparent attempt to eliminate competition with their crappy sports games.
  • It infects healthy cells, multiplies like crazy, introduces all kinds of horrible mutations then eventually moves on, leaving dead tissue in its wake. I think in biology it's called that Cancer.

  • REJECTED (Score:4, Informative)

    by Zaffo (755234) on Sunday February 24 2008, @07:07PM (#22539946)
    The latest word is that Take-Two Interactive's Board of Directors has rejected EA's offer: http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080224/20080224005068.html [yahoo.com]

    Take-Two's Board of Directors has thoroughly reviewed EA's unsolicited proposal with the assistance of its independent financial and legal advisors and concluded that the proposal is inadequate in multiple respects and not in the best interests of Take-Two's stockholders.
  • ..."politely?" Okay, they may have used polite and diplomatic language, but Take Two told EA to f*ck right the f*ck off, and cram a few sharp pointy sticks in various orifices and organs in the process. Their response goes so far as to call the EA offer irresponsible and (by inference) insulting.
  • Finally George W. Bush is unlocked as an American leader, and the Fox News World Wonder is available, after it is built you can declare war on any nation with a Weapons of Mass Destruction claim even if they don't have any. It also allows you to remain in power even if your people find out the nation had no WMDs and it is draining your economy as well.

    Special units, Dick Cheney unit to form Haliburton corporation to get no-bid oil contracts on any nation you invade. Colin Powell unit to help ease opposition to the war with faked evidence for it. Condeliza Rice unit to get other civilizations to side with you on the war. Bill O'Reilly unit to keep your population happy even if they oppose the war.
  • All hail the EA death march!

    One of us! One of us! One of us!
      • Nope. The "long scale" you're thinking of goes roughly as follows: million = 10^6 milliard = 10^9 billion = 10^12 billiard = 10^15 etc etc
        • No; in the UK, the US definition of billion (10^9) has taken over and is now the overwhelmingly accepted standard for all uses. I can't recall the last time I heard the old (10^12) definition used here- except in a discussion like this- and I'm sure I read that it's officially considered obsolete somewhere.
      • How many A material games did you see lately that didn't come out of big studios? Making a game today (and I don't mean some Flash-app or ringtone game) is a quite pricy matter. The days when a small team of enthusiasts could slap together a game in their spare time that makes it into the bestseller lists are over.

        Sure, making a game has become easier than ever. You don't even have to know a lot about the math behind 3D graphics to create something that looks decent. But making it great (and thus sellable f

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