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Businesses Entertainment Games

Infogrames Could Help Ubisoft vs. EA 191

Posted by Zonk from the united-we-stand dept.
GamesIndustry.biz iz reporting that in a show of European solidarity publisher Infogrames may assist Ubisoft (with the blessings of the French Government) if EA attempts a hostile takeover of the Prince of Persia developer. From the article: "Speaking to news agency Reuters, Bonnell expressed his hope that Ubisoft will remain independent - and rubbished EA's claim that its recent purchase of almost 20 per cent of the firm's stock was merely an investment." Further details on Greg Costikyan's Blog. All this is follow up to year-end shenanigans from EA.
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Infogrames Could Help Ubisoft vs. EA More

Infogrames Could Help Ubisoft vs. EA

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  • Sigh (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 05, 2005 @05:34PM (#11268728)
    I guess that means the EA cafeteria will be selling "Freedom Fries"

  • Best quote ever.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by hollismb ( 817357 ) on Wednesday January 05, 2005 @05:35PM (#11268744) Homepage

    From Penny Arcade [penny-arcade.com] to EA:

    PA: How do you respond to rumors that you are the fucking devil?

    EA: EA does not comment on rumors.

  • Pun? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Talrias ( 705583 )
    GamesIndustry.biz iz reporting that in a show of European [...]
    Iz that a pun?

    Sorry, I couldn't rezizt commenting on thiz. I'm here all week.

  • History in the making... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 05, 2005 @05:37PM (#11268774)
    France stands up to aggression! Film at eleven.

  • In other news... (Score:5, Funny)

    by k4_pacific ( 736911 ) <`moc.oohay' `ta' `cificap_4k'> on Wednesday January 05, 2005 @05:37PM (#11268777) Homepage Journal
    Jordan Mechner has been kidnapped by unknown hostile assailants. A video released by his captors show him working 90 hour weeks at gunpoint in an unidentified office. Police suspect foul play.
    • FBI analysts report that it was taken on top of a hill, with a snow-capped mountain not far away. Martial artists are reportedly searching hilly areas in sight of the Rockies for foreboding castles.
    • When I first started reading that post, the first thing that came to mind was 'Are you a bad enough dude to rescue Jordan Mechner?'

      I guess I'm a little TOO oldschool.

  • No context.. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by the_mad_poster ( 640772 ) <shattoc@adelphia.com> on Wednesday January 05, 2005 @05:38PM (#11268799) Homepage Journal
    Who the hell is Greg Costikyan and why is his blog a good source of information? It's called "context", folks. Before I read any of the linked text, I should know the basics about what's going on, who Ubisoft is, and who Costikyan is.

    I'm getting sick and tired of reading writeups and being left to discern all of the information on my own. If you're going to claim to post news articles with information in them, you're going to have to actually provide some information.
    • I like your style, and would enjoy subscribing to your newsletter.

    • Only on slashdot... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by xgamer04 ( 248962 ) <xgamer04NO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Wednesday January 05, 2005 @06:14PM (#11269312)
      I love how everything that is critical (no matter how just the claims are and how well they are written) gets modded down here. And then we get +5 funny "in soviet korea" garbage. :P
      • I love how everything that is critical (no matter how just the claims are and how well they are written) gets modded down here.
        Bullshit. Not all do, but plenty of critical posts end up at +5. Shit, the one you're replying to is at +3 right now. Maybe I should complain about the number of worthless anti-Slashdot whine posts like yours that get modded up.

    • Before I read any of the linked text, I should know the basics about what's going on, who Ubisoft is, and who Costikyan is.

      In the time you spent writing your post, you could have Googled the information you were looking for, rather than wasting everyone's time listening to you whine, and remaining ignorant.

      Slashdot stories are not going to suddenly get longer because people like you refuse to put out a little effort.

      If you're going to claim to post news articles with information in them

      I don't s

      • So, basically your argument here is that Slashdot is a worthless wannabe news aggregator and there's no conceivably good reason to come here since I could get better context and more accurate information from Google News? Good argument: don't complain about it's worthlessness, because it's worthless.

        Achtung, moron-boy: if they want me to go out to various sites and read things for my informational pleasures so that I keep coming back to give them ad revenue then they better damn well tell me what I'm click

        • So, basically your argument here is that Slashdot is a worthless wannabe news aggregator and there's no conceivably good reason to come here since I could get better context and more accurate information from Google News?

          If you want to make shit up and pretend that I said it, then yeah, sure, go ahead. My actual argument is that /. is really about the discussions; the stories provide a springboard for those discussions. Providing substantially more background in the stories isn't worth the time of the

  • Funny... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Evan Meakyl ( 762695 ) on Wednesday January 05, 2005 @05:40PM (#11268830)
    I read this morning here [voila.fr] (in french, sorry!) that it was Vivendi Universal Games which was supposed to help Ubisoft....


    But "In /. I trust ..." :D

    • Re:Funny... (Score:3, Informative)

      by spac3manspiff ( 839454 )
      The French industry of the video game tightens the elbows vis-a-vis with the attacker
      PARIS (AFP),
      05-01-2005

      The French industry of the video game, whose brittleness burst at the great day with the intrusion of the American giant Electronic Arts in the capital of Ubisoft, is mobilized to preserve a part of its independence, which could pass by a bringing together between Vivendi Universal Games and Ubisoft.

      The financial daily newspaper Agefi launched this assumption Wednesday, by affirming that the group of

  • Infogrames is Atari. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ananegg ( 772033 ) on Wednesday January 05, 2005 @05:46PM (#11268905)
    Didn't Infogrames change their name to Atari? http://www.atari.com/
    • Infogrames relaunched the Atari brand-label in 2001 even though they acquired it long ago.

      source http://specials.ft.com/ftit/sept2001/FT343T996RC.h tml
      • It says in the article that they acquired Hasbro Interactive (previous owners of the Atari name) in December 2000- so, although the company they acquired owned it before that, 'they' (Infogrames) didn't own the Atari name as such until the end of 2000.

        Obviously Hasbro Interactive was part of Hasbro, and I assume it was split off before being sold. (Hasbro's "contribution" to the Atari name was to take all Atari's old games such as Centipede and Pong, and make modern versions of them. I mean, really... if
    • They haven't changed the name under which they are incorporated in France, but after they acquired the Atari brand name, they started using it for their communication and marketing.
    • Only when they're not sucking up to the French government.
    • Infogrames S.A. Paris trades on the Paris stock exchange. In turn Inforgrames owns a majority of shares (rougly 70%) in Atari (ATAR) which is a US game Company and quoted on Nasdaq. Recently infogrames has been using ATAR stock as collateral to back issuance of new Shares and Warrants in Inforgrames in order to make 2005 Bond payments. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110485888138516 517,00.html?mod=yahoo_hs&ru=yahoo
  • How exactly are they going to stand up to EA? They can't even figure out how to spell "Games"!

    I was gonna make a joke about France, but frankly...

  • Help? Fight? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Humorously_Inept ( 777630 ) on Wednesday January 05, 2005 @05:50PM (#11268988) Homepage
    What can Infogrames do except buy enough of Ubisoft to control it entirely or at least deny EA a controlling stake? Either way, this offer of help doesn't exactly sound like charity.

    Is there any place on the web where we can get capitalization information and statistics on foreign companies? Both Infogrames and Ubisoft are public, but neither has stock listed in the Americas and I can't seem to find info like floats, capitalizations, insider/institutional holdings, amount of cash available, etc. EA's a pretty big company sitting on a pretty fat wallet (to the tune of 2.5B in cash).
  • Vivendi to help Ubi [cnn.com] . And has more financial resources to do it.

  • That name.. (Score:4, Funny)

    by Frac ( 27516 ) on Wednesday January 05, 2005 @05:53PM (#11269044)
    Everytime I see Infogrames, I can't help but wonder whether someone screwed up when they registered the company Infogames.

    "Hey Bob, can you take a look at the incorporation documents? What's with the 'R' in the company name?"
    "Ohhh...... fuck."

    • Re:That name.. (Score:3, Informative)

      by El Cabri ( 13930 )
      -grames is the French version of a common (latin?) suffix indicating something written, or a record. Program, Sonogram, Grammar, (Deutsch) Grammophon, etc.
      • -grames is the French version of a common (latin?) suffix indicating something written, or a record. Program, Sonogram, Grammar, (Deutsch) Grammophon, etc.

        I just looked in one of my French dictionnaries specializing in etymology: the "gramm-" suffix means "letter" or "drawing", used in crypthogramme, programme, programmable, electrocardiogramme, ... So I think if they made a spelling error, it's because they used only one "m"...

        The roots are greek, from gramma, grammatos (letter) and gramme^ (drawing).

  • Plan of Attack (Score:5, Funny)

    by LegendOfLink ( 574790 ) on Wednesday January 05, 2005 @05:56PM (#11269075) Homepage
    It's quite simple, Infogames will turn off the lights and EA will be eaten by a GRUE!
    • Wasn't that Infocom? Are the two related?

      On a similar note, I'd best put on my peril-sensitive sunglasses before seeing my comment's final score.

    • (A nitpick: Zork was Infocom's and not Infogrames' - I was under the impression Infocom's stuff belonged to Activision these days or something. Which is curious, since Atari brand belongs to Infogrames, and Atari's and Activision's relationship... uh, ergh, I got a headache. What a tangled web!)

      Scene: A Tomb of Old Brands, under the ruined halls of a Game Company.

      A pair of Electronic Arts' IP Robbers break through the sealed door and collect their jaws from the floor as their flashlight beams reveal unt

  • I don't understand (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ifwm ( 687373 ) on Wednesday January 05, 2005 @06:11PM (#11269267) Journal
    why so many people seem to be happy that EA may not get Ubisoft. If it's because you think EA makes crappy games, and will make Ubisoft make crappy games, then ok I get it.

    But there are you others. You seem to be assigning a sense of romanticism here, as though EA were attempting to defile the virtue of Ubisoft. What the hell is wrong with you people?

    • Re:I don't understand (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Bagels ( 676159 )
      Ubisoft, unlike EA, occasionally has some bit of originality in their games - see Prince of Persia: Sands of Time or Beyond Good and Evil. The worry is that we'd end up with Prince of Persia 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, etc... or an endless stream of expansions, or any of a number of other mediocre ideas that EA has pushed on the market.
      • On the other hand, that kind of thing is already happening. Prince of Persia: Warrior Within was released back in November, about a year after the last one. I have only played an hour or so, but it was pretty bad (glitches all over, some poor voice acting, bad animation, ridiculous music, hilariously silly new "dark" theme, all charm and humor has been removed, combat about as boring as in the last game but now it occurs every couple minutes or so...). I assume Ubisoft is readying another sequel for the nex

    • Re:I don't understand (Score:4, Informative)

      by UWC ( 664779 ) on Wednesday January 05, 2005 @06:21PM (#11269404)
      I think it might be more that EA has been reviled of late for apparent monopolistic ambitions (and assumed overcommercialization, common-denominator pandering, and stifling of creativity as a result--all unproven but potentially valid fears) and poor treatment of its direct employees. The rumored takeover plans for Ubisoft I think are opposed out of distrust for EA and a feeling that they might not, at the moment, deserve the increased revenues that the acqusition of another major developer would bring. That and the fact that Ubisoft is one of few commercially known studios still operating outside of the umbrella of the likes of EA or Vivendi-Universal.
    • Well, it might have to do with EA [slashdot.org] is [slashdot.org] evil. [slashdot.org]

    • Maybe its because we are sick and tired of NHL, NFL, Rally and whatnot 2001,2002,2003 and so on and really like the smaller shops that makes somewhat different games?
    • well.. imagine if ubibug and E-lets_drop_the_O_-A went together.. what would it spawn? rehashes of last years games with bug of deaths?

      they're both boring game houses... but with the biggest advertising budgets it seems.
    • What the hell is wrong with you people?

      EA is Evil. SCO was not evil, it was just funny, EA is true evil and you don't want to see it. You are happy with their games so you think that everything is OK. Just like many people here use Microsoft software and are happy with it. Try to look from distance. Try to see what influence it has to whole market.
      • "You are happy with their games..."

        I don't own any EA games, and those I have played were mediocre at best. Interesting that you can tell me how I feel about them.

        "EA is true evil and you don't want to see it"

        Um, I know it's early, but god damn what a stupid thing to say. True evil? Like baby raping, genitalia mutilating, human flesh eating evil? Of course not.

        Have you considered never posting (or sharing your opinion) again? You should.
  • Regardless of the merits of EA's Ubisoft non/takeover actions, it should now be obvious that all of that "EA slave labor" scandal in the media the past few months was just propaganda in their takeover war. Regardless of the merits of those labor complaints, we would never have heard about them if there weren't a large equity transaction in the works. EA is hardly a unique taskmaster, especially in the gaming industry (as we heard in the squabbles). But their international ambitions are important enough to d

  • Big fish, little fish... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ag4vr ( 705570 ) on Wednesday January 05, 2005 @06:20PM (#11269391)
    I was wondering, given France's 35-hour work week [cnn.com], how they could legally have crunch times which are common to other game development studios.

    A little Googling shows that Ubisoft has facilities in several countries [ubisoftgroup.com] and actually purchased two U.S. studios (RedStorm and Game Studio) in 2000-01.

    It appears that they've been a part of the general consolidation in the games industry as well.

    I also have to wonder whether the Feds and/or the EU would allow an outright takeover in the first place, given the antitrust implications.

    • Ubisoft as a majority is not based in France, but in Montreal, Quebec (where I live). There are absolutely no limits on the work week. In Quebec employees are legally entitled to time and a half for ever hour after 40 hours. Of course people getting paid on salary, like myself, get screwed over on that. I get paid the same for 40 hours as I do for 60. Unfortunately Quebec has not followed the europeon trend of a more relaxed work environment (longer vacations, shorter days, etc...) and its not much differen
    • CryTek is based here in Germany, where we have similar hours per week, and appearantly, they were able to do crunchtime for FarCry. In fact, a friend of mine interviewed for a job at CryTek during crunchtime.
    • They can't "force" you to work over 35 hours - you have to "volunteer"

  • With what money? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Orne ( 144925 ) on Wednesday January 05, 2005 @06:28PM (#11269518) Homepage
    Look Infogra.. *cough*, Atari is having enough problems with their finances as it is. This mildly annoys me, since I happen to have some of their stock in my portfolio (still waiting for it to break even).

    They have to postpone a shareholder meeting because they can't get a quorum to vote on their bonds that are due this upcoming July, and now they want to give money away just to float another company? Yeesh! [yahoo.com] so much for a recovery...

    • I happen to have some of their stock in my portfolio (still waiting for it to break even).

      Sell Sell Sell

      I don't know why people do this, waiting for a stock to break even is wasting your money. Why would you hold onto a stock that is slowly climbing when there are others out there that are growing quickly?

      Seriously you are losing money by not getting into a better investment.
  • ... with alarming regularity.

    I'm not a fan of EA's business tactics, far from it, but this has happened to all sorts of US companies, and foreign governments protect their markets from the same happening to their companies (see: Japan).

    I don't see why US companies should not buy foreign ones.

  • f ea (Score:2, Insightful)

    by SubtleNuance ( 184325 )
    EA has the money to "invest" in Ubisoft because they are STEALING from their employees. Uncompensated work is criminal.

    Fuck EA.

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