EA starting hostile takeover of Take Two

[vidarc]

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080313-ea-to-take-two-prepare-for-grand-theft-boardroom.html

EA is now offering to buy out all of Take Two's shareholders. And considering EA has a shit ton of spendable income and that Take Two has been losing money for the past few quarters, it appears to be somewhat possible.

2bil offer, then this. EA seems to be very determined to get ahold of Take Two, and if enough money is tossed around they may end up getting it. Can you file monopoly complaints against a videogame company?

[Chris]

Nope. Not based on getting Take Two. Too many video game producers in the game to pull an anti-trust.

[wuincy]

honestly off the top of my head i dont even remember any games take two has marketed.

on another note, this is just going to make video game finish quality go down. EA hasnt been great on this before and with less competition it will only get worse

[Proud]

honestly off the top of my head i dont even remember any games take two has marketed.

on another note, this is just going to make video game finish quality go down. EA hasnt been great on this before and with less competition it will only get worse
I didnt recall the name either but it looks like they worked on GTA, bioshock, the darkness, the 2K series of sports games and Manhunt, oblivion, the civilization series and others.

[vidarc]

Yea, Take Two owns GTA and the main reason EA wants them, the 2k series. Buying out the competition is a lot easier then making better games.

[Scryed]

After the activision vivendi merge EA needed something I guess, but a hostile takeover seems like a desperate move, not good on EA's part.

[Impulsive]

Yeah EA tried to buy them out earlier and TT just basically flipped the bird and told them to fuck off. Ugh, just make it till GTA hit the stores please.

EA has made good games in the past, they just do a poor job supporting the good games. Armies of Exigo was great a RTS game for high level multiplayer, but EA didn't back it at all. Now they have the LotoR RTS which is incredibly horrible for multiplayer. The real worth in RTS these days is in its ability to attract high level (professional) gamers to play it. AoE had it (potential at least), BofME doesn't and guess which one EA backed more.

[Fireworks]

EA has made good games in the past, they just do a poor job supporting the good games. Armies of Exigo was great a RTS game for high level multiplayer, but EA didn't back it at all. Now they have the LotoR RTS which is incredibly horrible for multiplayer. The real worth in RTS these days is in its ability to attract high level (professional) gamers to play it. AoE had it (potential at least), BofME doesn't and guess which one EA backed more.
I'm sorry but can you please explain to me what LotoR, and BofME are. Lol

But yeah I just think its rediculous that it has to come down to this. EA in my opinion has always had decent releases. But the only thing truely keeping them strong is all of their sports games, which are still below par considering the new amounts of material people have come up with to make a great video game. Every Madden game seems the same to me but with better graphics (sometimes worse) and one new added move here and there, nothing has really popped out.

[Kahrdis]

lotor is lord of the rings RTS i guess.for BoFmE...Ballin' on females Multiplatinum Edition?

I don't know honestly as you would guess...

[wuincy]

LotR is Lord of the Rings

Bfme is BAttle for Middle earth

They are both abbreviations for the Lord of the Rings rts games

But BofMe would be a better play through if it was Ballin' on females Multiplatinum Edition. Because honestly the lord of the rings rts games suck.

edit: i complete forgot the the reason i was gonna post in this thread to begin with

Oh shit the GTA games are gonna suck now..../wave goodbye to high levels of polish good production values

[Chris]

Just b/c its a takeover doesn't mean they are gonna strip the company. EA could actually be wising up and intend to let Take Two function as before, with EA taking a chunk of the profit. That's what an intelligent CEO would do, anyways.

[vidarc]

Just b/c its a takeover doesn't mean they are gonna strip the company. EA could actually be wising up and intend to let Take Two function as before, with EA taking a chunk of the profit. That's what an intelligent CEO would do, anyways.

Take Two is losing money, no way would EA let them do what they are currently doing. I imagine the first month would involve massive layoffs, management moving about, and people being generally moved all over the place. EA is somewhat hands off on their money franchises, such as Will Wright. He can do whatever the fuck he wants to at Maxis cause EA is still making tons by selling The Sims expansion packs every month.

[Chris]

Well, yeah, but I meant in terms of running the Take Two franchises. The smart play would be restructure but keep the creative elements the same.

[Jahre]

Interesting. . . I had not heard about this until now.

[Impulsive]

Well, yeah, but I meant in terms of running the Take Two franchises. The smart play would be restructure but keep the creative elements the same.

Big companies always manage to mess it up some how, Blizzard and EA are both shining examples of this with their highly successful franchises. As much I love for TT to make it out of this unscathed, it doesn't look like its going to happen based on prior experiences.

[Chris]

I don't agree. Its in the big companies interest to allow the smaller companies to do what makes them profitable. I'm fairly sure Vivendi hasn't altered how Blizzard handles WoW much at all.

[Impulsive]

I don't agree. Its in the big companies interest to allow the smaller companies to do what makes them profitable. I'm fairly sure Vivendi hasn't altered how Blizzard handles WoW much at all.

Unless they were trying to sell the division and the actual worth of the company was too much which what Vivendi was doing with Blizzard.

[wuincy]

i think Vivendi's name being changed to Vivendi/Blizzard speaks to this point. Blizzard owns the biggest money earner in the video game world. You dont buy a gold mine and then decided to relocate it or cave it in to restart mining there.

i dont think that EA will keep Take Two creatively the same. EA will send managers there to cut slack and try to get profitibility back. That means a tight ship. also means make games that make money or DIE.