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Apple Eyeing EA?
Posted by
Soulskill
on Sat May 09, 2009 10:42 AM
from the ever-bigger-publishers dept.
from the ever-bigger-publishers dept.
yerktoader writes "There are rumors that Apple might buy EA, but some interesting counterpoints abound. File this one firmly under 'unconfirmed,' but it's nevertheless a tantalizing rumor. According to Fast Money's Guy Adami, Apple is 'eyeing Electronic Arts as a takeover target.' EA is currently the second-largest games publisher in the world and owner of the smash hit NFL-licensed series of football games. Could we be facing the possibility of an iMadden? Well, probably not. Apple has indeed been bolstering its games know-how, hiring a major Xbox strategist away from Microsoft in recent weeks. And EA is no stranger to Apple platforms: in the last year it's brought several of its major franchises to the iPhone (with more on the way), including Sim City, Tiger Woods, and Spore, with considerable success. But it's a far cry from there to a takeover, and that's putting it mildly. Video games analyst Michael Pachter seems to agree. Speaking to Gamasutra, he pointed out that if Apple was looking to make some entertainment acquisitions, it could buy Warner Music — which controls 20% of the music industry — for roughly half of EA's estimated price."
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What do you get combining Apple + gaming company? (Score:4, Insightful)
Nothing.
Re: (Score:2)
Would Apple really have money to buy EA? They're almost the largest player on gaming industry, and I dont really see Apple having that much of buying power.
Re:What do you get combining Apple + gaming compan (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:What do you get combining Apple + gaming compan (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't know if it's true any longer, but I recall that Apple had some obscene amount of cash on hand that they could use to buy out a lot of decently large companies.
In fact, This recent news article [washingtonpost.com] states that they have around $29 billion just sitting around. It's no wonder everyone predicts they're going to buy company X.
The only real question is whether or not they'll be able to find a company that would be a good fit for them. Twitter and EA don't really offer Apple anything that fits with their current business strategy. They want to sell expensive high-end Mac computers and iPhones. The iPod has saturated the market to the extent that they really don't need any acquisitions in that area.
It would make more sense for them to throw a lot of money at Autodesk so that they would release a version of AutoCAD for the Macintosh. Think of how many high end workstations they'd sell to engineers and architects and other CAD users who could be convinced to try the Apple experience.
You could argue that gamers are a high end market, and to some extent that's true, but they're the type of people who like to constantly upgrade a box to stay on the bleeding edge. Apple likes to sell you new boxes, but doesn't really like you to upgrade them incrementally with parts from Newegg from which they won't see a dime.
If Apple topped out at 20% market share, but it was the professional market that purchased their top of the line, high profit margin machines, why should they care if they'll never crawl above that. Let the other PC markers enjoy their race to the bottom price wars to fight over the remaining 80%.
Parent
Re:What do you get combining Apple + gaming compan (Score:5, Insightful)
My prediction is that Apple will continue to do that. They want to be a leader in the consumer electronics field, and so they are going to spend those billions in a way that helps them do that. Does buying Twitter, a company without a business model, help them be a leader in the industry? If not, they're not gonna buy Twitter. Does buying EA help them be a leader in the industry? Apple makes hardware and software to operate that hardware, but they've never been much of a software company, so it doesn't help them.
True, games is a huge market, and one that Apple has missed out on. But Jobs' ego dictates that Apple is a technology leader, not a follower. They don't want to be a 'me-too!' company by jumping into a market with a shiny white console when the console market is already saturated between the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii. Apple conquered a new market with the iPod and is a serious contender in the emerging smartphone market. Apple will continue to tackle emerging technologies, not established technologies like game consoles. My guess is that Apple will (1) expanded into portable, networked electronics that fill the gap between phone and laptop, and (2) try to do for the TV what they already did for music. They've already tried that with Apple TV. It hasn't taken off yet, but it's a step in the right direction.
Parent
Re:What do you get combining Apple + gaming compan (Score:5, Insightful)
Steve Jobs said he wanted Apple to be the new Sony, that is, to be the leader in consumer electronics. At the time, I thought Jobs was either out of it, or being typically grandiose. But over the past ten years, this is exactly what Apple has done.
Very good point. The reason Apple is kicking Sony's ass from hell to breakfast is precisely because Sony can't decide whether they're a hardware company or a content company. They're a house divided against itself; every time the hardware guys want to do something cool, the packaged-entertainment side of the company overrules them.
So, yeah, if Apple wants to be the next Sony, then buying EA is exactly what they'd do. And that would be great news for whatever startup is waiting in the wings to take Apple's place.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Well I think you'd at least get a high energy burst of gamma rays.
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Huh? Oh, this never happened? Well how about th
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Well, to be quite honest, Apple bricked (unable to reflash back to normal) my SuperDrive through a "security" update. The update was to prevent people from being able to rip DVDs. I did not even realize what had happened until after I replaced it.
I wanted to rip a dvd so I stuck a dvd in my replacement superdrive and the ripping process errored out. I said hmmmmm. Performed some research, and searched for a flash update to unlock my drive... which is when I ran across numerous discussions about the model nu
Re:What do you get combining Apple + gaming compan (Score:4, Informative)
As for point #1, replacing your DRM-laden songs. Now that is typical Apple - typical American corporate beast. They didn't even offer the option, trade up to DRM free (with higher sampling bitrate) for 30 cents.
Incorrect, you can upgrade songs in your library to a higher quality DRM free version.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Who gave you the impression making a living writing good software should be an easy ride? In the end it's the customers who buy the products, not the developers, so throwing crap out for better stuff at least benefits the people paying for the stuff. Them, and future developers who don't have to keep working with outdated API's that do not take full advantage of the latest hardware and software infrastructure.
Yes, maybe a lot of developers might move off the Apple platforms because they don't want to adjust
Re:What do you get combining Apple + gaming compan (Score:5, Interesting)
So exactly what have you done?
I see a post on Slashdot full of claims but no links to anything of actual substance. You almost sound like Steve Balmer claiming he's going to DESTROY GOOGLE. The fire and brimstone is there, for sure, but that's about it.
If you really want us to go along with your plan at least link to a website detailing what exactly it is you're doing. Your post is so vague that I'm not exactly sure what this 'stuff' I'm supposed to be doing entails. As far as I know, this wonderful Slashdot post is that first move you mentioned. I think you need a more defined cause before you try to rally people to it.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I was able to see a PDF of the complaint you filed, but is there any more information available on this case? It looks like you filed in Nov/Dec 2008, but I couldn't find any updates on the case anywhere.
Incidentally, I wouldn't go so far as to say I wholeheartedly agree with your lawsuit, but I admire you for having the backbone to take on EA in a court of law over their DRM garbage. Best of luck to you.
Re: (Score:2)
Uh, yeah... Good luck with that!
Again? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Again? (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe Apple are about to buy Slashdot?
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe Apple are about to buy Slashdot?
They tried. They even sent Linus a Power Mac G5, but he won't budge. They sent Stallman some deodorant. Rookie move there!
On the other hand, they are making some headway against the Slashdot Vista Fan Club, and Windows 7 isn't going to get the cakewalk it was supposed to get after the first beta. I guess "Better Than Vista" isn't exactly high praise around here.
But to be sure, let me check with netcraft. Just a sec...
Ooh, it's not looking good for BSD!
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I can't help but think about the Cramer video [google.com] where he talks about stock manipulation. If you don't want to watch the whole thing, skip right to around the 3 minute mark, where he's talking about calling reporters to start rumors.
Now maybe this rumor is legit, or maybe it's just someone's flight of fancy, but these days, whenever I hear completely unconfirmed and seemly baseless rumors like "Apple might buy [insert company here]," it makes me think of Jim Cramer.
Re: (Score:2)
How many rumours of Apple wanting to buy companies is Slashdot going to post this week?
Several. Slashdot posts news and lots of news articles are speculating about Apple acquisitions. Market analysts look at Cisco and similar companies and watch them using some of their large cash reserves for acquisitions. They look at Apple and wonder who Apple will buy. They discuss and speculate and articles are written. Slashdot readers enjoy "what ifs" and they get lots of comments.
EA might, by the way, actually be a reasonable move for Apple. We all know MS bought up their fair share of game companies
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EA might, by the way, actually be a reasonable move for Apple. We all know MS bought up their fair share of game companies and how it has worked for them.
Yeah, they got this small game that was being touted as a Mac exclusive just months before the acquisition. I think it was called "Halo".
Just imagine how different things would be today had Apple bought Bungie instead of MS.
Would be nice if it were true... (Score:4, Informative)
It would be really nice to see some quality EA titles for the Mac versus quick and sleazy ports - but it won't happen, and I am not saying that just because it's a rumor. Of course, if Apple really financially enticed EA to make titles for both PC and Mac - and *really* worked with developers to make games work on the Mac OS X platform to the levels of performance people come to expect from the PC only market - then EA could really make some money with games for the Mac.
Sadly, as it is right now - they are more than happy to let Aspyr hoover up the residuals making sadly ported versions of their games on the Mac platform.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Might be good for linux gaming too...
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
dunno why your moded funny, for a game to work on mac it has to use openGL, combine that with wine and most of the windows versions will run pretty well under wine.
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I remember the good ol days on the Apple II when a lot of the best games were EA. Skyfox was very nice, but there were literally dozens of others. Though they also had some of the most advanced copy protection on the market at the time. (19 clock cycles anyone?) So I wonder how that will fit in with today's DRM?
Apple has been wanting to make a solid break back into the gaming market for years, one of their main problems with switchers has long since been "but there aren't any games for mac are there?"
Re:Would be nice if it were true... (Score:5, Insightful)
It would just be nice to see some quality EA titles.
Parent
I'm not seeing the benefit for them to purchase EA (Score:5, Insightful)
It might be worth their while to buy a small stake in the company just to ensure that the blockbuster games get ported to Mac, but it wouldn't make much sense for them to buy the entire company. Although the gaming industry is getting bigger, I think it might be more beneficial for them to target the living room through something like their Apple TV. Otherwise they would need to release their own gaming console and even though they've got the money to burn, it's probably cost Microsoft some $8 billion just to get the point they're at now where they can start trying to make some of that back.
It would probably make more sense for them to negotiate some deals where content providers would allow Apple to rent TV shows to iTunes customers for a fraction of what they charge for a purchase and get Apple TVs into as many homes as possible. If they could work some kind of worldwide distribution as well they could easily target the huge market that Hulu leaves out due to regional restrictions.
Everyone seems to be spouting rumors about who Apple is going to acquire. I think someone saw how much coverage the Apple/Twitter buyout rumor got and decided that it'd be fun to garner a few additional hits to their blog or second rate news site. I think I'm going to go spin a rumor about Apple acquiring Adobe and pull in some ad revenue when other sites pick up the story and link to me. Of course, unlike all the other stories, this one is true. I have it on good authority from someone inside Apple and there's no reason I'd ever lie about that.
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That would probably work if Apple had something like 50% of the market share. Otherwise you're just blowing tens of millions on a AAA game title that will only be able to move a few hundred thousand units because you simply don't have enough machines on which to run the games.
Apple can get a larger number of games for their system by just increasing their market share. They can't necessarily guarantee a significant increase in market share just from buying a gaming company. If they tried to make everything
Gamers are going to be pissed! (Score:2, Insightful)
let me ask, how many major independent game companies are there?
Re:Gamers are going to be pissed! (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
How valuable is gaming to Apple's Ecosystem? (Score:2, Informative)
Game developers are already writing apps for the iPhone/iPod touch.
However, Mac gaming is in a pretty sorry state.
There are also rumours that Apple will enable casual gaming on the AppleTV.
Having the #1 game developer would certain help boost Apple's gaming platforms. The question is, how much are they willing to pay to do so? Apple traditionally doesn't pay much for acquisitions, preferring to buy small companies with promising technologies.
No, no they are not. (Score:2)
If they need to do anything, it would be a manufacturing fab. Or it would be a chip designer or manufacturer, or screen company. But none of these things are really necessary to lower the parts cost, increase revenue, or increase profit.
But they really don't need to buy a games company. They make plenty from the apps store, and the games company is making plenty from the game. They are both happy.
Netbook (Score:2, Informative)
How do you fend of the netbook challenge, which Apple doesn't have a product in? Make sure that CPU heavy games and other applications run on your platform, but not on a netbook. Then your choice is between a netbook, or spending another $500 on a MacBook that also runs $GAME.
And even if they had a netbook product, the margins would be low and perhaps cannibalize other higher end products. I'm not sure that they want one.
I think Apple has a small problem. Now that they have finally switched over to a pe
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, they have the most popular netbook: the iPhone/iTouch.
Get EA & music (Score:2)
They get games, music and can fuck over a rival in the PC and console gaming market.
If they bought EA and quit making PC games and started making Mac games that would give them a huge advantage and really screw MS over with consumers.
Also apple needs to have better laptop prices and (Score:2)
Also apple needs to have better laptop prices and video cards $2000 for a 9600M GT with 256MB with 15" screen and $2,799.00 9600M GT with 512MB with 17" screen. Come on there maybe laptops that are good for gameing at $1000 and up.
Even some with 17" mate, blue ray, ati 4850 512, p9500, e-sata, hdmi and more for about $1600.
Got to love slashdot (Score:2)
We get a totally unstubstantiated rumor and then that is speculated upon by what would be a even more unlikely.
Apple buying EA. Okay, the idea behind that would make some sense. After all MS has been selling of its gaming companies and Sony is doing so well owning both hardware and media... on which note, what idiot then goes on to claim buying Warner is a better idea? Because it is cheaper? EA would give Apple games for its hardware, of course EA already puts a lot of its games on the mac so the advantage
Warner Music (Score:2)
Just like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. (Score:2)
Re:Remember when Apple was going to buy Nintendo? (Score:5, Informative)
How big the video game industry is? If you take 20 seconds to look it up you'd see that EA has a market cap of 6.49 billion vs Apple's market cap of 115.25 billion. Where do people keep getting the idea that EA is so big, they're literally a small fry compared to Apple.
Parent
Re:Remember when Apple was going to buy Nintendo? (Score:5, Insightful)
How big the video game industry is? If you take 20 seconds to look it up you'd see that EA has a market cap of 6.49 billion vs Apple's market cap of 115.25 billion. Where do people keep getting the idea that EA is so big, they're literally a small fry compared to Apple.
You mean they're figuratively a small fry compared to Apple. You should look up the meaning of literal.
Parent
Re:Remember when Apple was going to buy Nintendo? (Score:5, Funny)
He means literal in the figurative sense.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
I think he meant "literally" in the sense of "actually", which is the third definition for the adverb on Dictionary.com.
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You might want to look up the meaning of 'small fry' too. The term literally was correctly applied.
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A commenter above indicates that they could pay cash. Twice.
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Or at least not only EA. My reason is simple, EA doesn't make Mac games. They make PC games ...
And you think that wouldn't change if Apple bought them?
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To answer your question: "To drive Mac sales."
Compared to the PC gaming market, the Mac gaming market is nearly non-existent, to the point where it's the largest reason for the people who actually buy high-end PCs to skip Mac.
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What do they get by buying EA?
A major games software firm to help them sell their new Apple games console.
Apple is very good at selling easy to use hardware to consumers. A games console/media center box fits in with their strategy.
They already have a marketplace to sell the games from.
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but apple can do better then 9400m that uses system ram and at least put a 9500 / 9600 in the $800 mini and the $1200 and up imac should have at least a 9600 level video card with 256 or more. I am not talking about high end video cards. I am talking about being more in line with other pc systems.
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Look at the worth of EA versus the worth of Apple. Look at the simple fact that Parallels exists. Apple doesn't need to give a shit about the computer gaming industry.
Look at the size of the computer gaming industry vs. the console gaming industry.
Look at the difference in price between Apple's computers and their iPods and iPhones. Look at their shares of the computer m