Take-Two Acquires Firaxis

eToyChest reports that Publisher Take-Two has acquired Firaxis studios, developers of the Civilization franchise. From the article: "At this point I'm not sure what to think. If Take-Two takes a hands-off approach, and lets Firaxis do their thing, then I'm all for this. I just don't want this to become a matter of "too many cooks in the kitchen", and somehow negatively impact future titles that spring from Sid Meier's genius. Your thoughts?"

just a little closer now

[Red Flayer]

Take2 previously handled much of the marketing etc for Firaxis. Take2 doesn't deal so much with the development aspect of game publishing... that's done by the subsidiaries IIRC. Not to say that the parent co doesn't have input, but I imagine it's similar to the original Take2/Rockstar setup. Rockstar devlops games, Take2 publishes them.

Where this worries me is that the Civ franchise will probably need to be dumbed down a bit in order to do well in a larger market -- especially the console market (and you can bet they'll be pushing it there).

I'd like to see the top of the org chart for Take2's new acquisition -- will Sid continue in his current role?

One word: MicroProse

[alexwcovington]

Remember how Sid Meier's greatest games got sold off piecemeal, and how all the new Railroad Tycoons suck?

That's what happens when Sid Meier isn't involved anymore. Pirates! and Civ IV were great games, but we won't be seeing the likes of them until Sid creates another firm 10 years from now.

Granted, 2K has not been heavyhanded with Rockstar, but then Rockstar makes pretty much the #1 game franchise in the world. A smaller firm like Firaxis will be easy to meddle with and fuck up irreversibly.

Another Possible Scenario...

[Song for the Deaf]

What if the folks at Take Two are huge fans of Sid Meier and merely want to pump enough cash into his company to help him make the game he really wants to make?

Games are getting expensive to make these days, and a competitive, next-gen experience is even more expensive. Besides, some folks like to concentrate on creating things and leave business to the business folks.

So while were all speculating on shit we know nothing about, I'll do a little speculation of my own: what if Take 2 will pay for the development of a fully 3D, full featured Alpha Centari 2 with 30 times more content and the greatest, most intuitive interface ever seen in a strategy game?

Can't do that without cash, folks.