So, EA's trying to buy Take 2/2K. Wait, WHAT THE ****?!
 

http://www.eatake2.com

Jesus Christ, they are the devil.

well maybe they will fire their own developers and just use 2k's.

I can't wait til we're all playing EABox 720 and every game has Madden as the protagonist.

Wishful thinking. EA's current employees are already accustomed to the grueling schedule and shitty pay, so there would be no reason to risk a mutiny by dumping them and bringing other teams aboard.

Whee!

They rejected this offer. Doesn't mean they can't make another, but for now we're safe.

P.S. Link

F*** EA! I hope GTAIV sells millions and helps T2 stay away from EA. That's all we need is every f****** T2 game being ruined by EA.

GTAIV should sell more then Halo3.

All i can say is everyone buy GTAIV if you dont want EA to acquire Take Two. If that happens. I am going to have to get into RPG games or someshit.

Hey, what's wrong with RPGs? They're my favorite.

(I didn't buy Halo 3, but I'll be getting GTA IV for sure.)

Nothing, i played Everquest for years. I am a sports gamer mostly, but this will pretty much force me to play more RPG games.

You should. They make up the bulk of my gaming time and they BEAT THE HELL out of sports games. ;)

I like the competition online though. Thats where my Sports gaming thrills come from.

Take-Two leads gains after rejecting EA bid
 

Take-Two leads gains after rejecting EA bid
By Rex Crum, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Technology stocks showed signs of life in early trading Monday as Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. shares climbed almost 50% after the video game maker turned down a takeover offer from Electronics Arts Inc.
Take-Two (TTWO:
Take-Two Interactive Software

TTWO 26.84, +9.48, +54.6%) shares soared $8.40 to $25.76 after EA said it made a $2 billion bid for the maker of the "Grand Theft Auto" videogame franchise. EA said it made the offer, valued at $26 a share, last Tuesday after offering Take-Two $25 a share earlier this month. Take-Two rejected the bids. See full story.
EA shares fell $1.50, or 3%, to $48.25.













http://www.marketwatch.com/news/stor...D&siteid=yhoof

Good for them

True. I've had an XBox Live Gold subscription for about a month out of the 2 years I've had my unit. I just can't play online, too much BS.

I have a pretty decent friends list from back in the 2k5 days. So i play alot of the top sim ballers that play. So i always have a bunch of good fun games without the BS.

If EA can't make a great game they will go out and try to add them under their moniker..

Good for Take 2... EA alone is trying to kill the industry..

Wouldn't some of the monopoly laws come in to effect if this takeover were to happen?

No.

http://gamepolitics.com/2008/02/25/p...-gta-is-gravy/

Good article, i mean its mostly common sense, but its still a good read.




Pachter: Sports Drives T2 Deal for EA; GTA is “Gravy”

Forget Grand Theft Auto.

According to Wedbush-Morgan analyst Michael Pachter (left), Take Two Interactive’s 2K Sports unit alone makes acquiring the company a winning deal for Electronic Arts. Pachter told GamePolitics:

This [$26 offer] is a very fair price. I do not think there’s another bidder. I don’t think there’s any prayer of a bidding war.

Only EA can can make sense of [Take Two’s] sports assets. It doesn’t makes sense for anybody else to buy Take Two to engage in a battle to the death with EA for sports games, whereas EA can consolidate all the sports games and make a profit from it.

GP: Currently, EA has an exclusive on NFL-licensed games with its Madden series. T2 tried to challenge that last year with All-Pro Football 2K8, but the unlicensed game was a retail dud and garnered poor reviews. Take Two has a third-party exclusive on Major League baseball.

For EA, sports is enough to pay for the whole [$2 billion] thing. If you get rid of sports competition, you suddenly add Take Two’s $200 million per year in sports revenue and EA doesn’t compete on price anymore. So, theoretically, they could grow that business by $100 million [per year].

Currently [EA and Take Two] compete in pro basketball, college basketball and hockey. So by taking out all of that, EA has a monopoly in sports. If these guys have a monopoly, they’re not going to cut pricing on sports games as quickly. We’ve been seeing sports games come down [in price] before Christmas the last couple of years. That’ll never happen again.

That’s worth a lot [to EA]. Everything else is gravy. GTA is just gravy…

Yeah, baby! I've got 240 shares of Take Two stock that I've had for years. I made $2,287.20 today off of this.

Nice.


It looks like T2 is considering other "unnamed" offers. Is this a tactic to make EA pay more or do you guys think other companies are also interested?

Who else might be interested that could offer that kind of money? I think they're trying to up EA's offer...

Microsoft. I know there wouldnt be games for the PS3, but they do have the money. 2k sports is already doing the boxing for every console but the Sony ones.

Activision-Blizzard is likely the only third party company that could compete with EA. The console manufacturers could of course. How much would you pay for exclusive GTA?

True.

Microsoft acquiring them would be a pretty big coup. Definitely would take the sting out of losing the HD battle...

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6187712...stnews;title;0

EA's Take-Two takeover bid turns hostile

[UPDATE] The gloves are off and the megapublisher is taking its $26-a-share offer directly to the shareholders; GTA IV publisher tells shareholders to stand fast as it reconsiders offer.

By Emma Boyes, Tor Thorsen, GameSpot UK
Posted Mar 13, 2008 3:53 am PT

Back in February, Electronic Arts made a $2 billion offer for Take-Two, which Take-Two promptly turned down, stating that it didn't believe it was enough.


"Now, witness the power of this fully operational acquisition fund!"
Later in the month, Take-Two made it known that EA was not the only suitor it had and also secured severance plans for its employees in the result of being taken over and downsized.

However, by the beginning of this week, some of the company's shareholders were getting restless. Two major stockholders ditched a percentage of their Take-Two stock, and one shareholder filed a lawsuit against the company for not exploring EA's offer.

Everyone's been waiting to see what EA's next move would be: Would the company put a higher offer on the table or attempt a hostile takeover? Today, the megapublisher has decided on the latter, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Electronic Arts has now confirmed that it will be taking its offer directly to the shareholders of the Grand Theft Auto IV and BioShock 2 publisher at the same price it originally gave--$26 a share.

CEO John Riccitiello commented, "We believe Take-Two investors will see our tender offer as the best way to maximize the value of their investment in Take-Two. This tender offer provides a clear process to complete the proposed transaction."

The tender offer is set to expire on April 11. If successful, the acquisition would be the biggest prize in EA's recent buying spree, which saw it subsume such developers as BioWare/Pandemic and Digital Illusions CE last year.

[UPDATE] Several hours after EA's announcement, Take-Two issued a statement urging its shareholders to stand fast. "The board of directors...today recommended that Take-Two stockholders take no action at this time in response to the announcement by Electronic Arts that it has made an unsolicited conditional tender offer to acquire all of Take-Two's outstanding shares of common stock for $26 per share in cash," it said.

However, Take-Two also announced it will give EA's offer a second look. The company said that, "Consistent with its fiduciary duties, and in consultation with its independent financial and legal advisers, Take-Two's Board will review and consider EA's offer, and within 10 business days, will advise Take-Two's stockholders of the Board's position regarding the offer as well as its reasons for that position." Assuming the 10-day period started today, Take-Two's response should arrive by or on Wednesday, March 19.

Last summer. Good times.

Makes me sad if it ends up happening. Sports gaming will be completely over for me :(

Blizzard in there Diablo I, Starcraft, and warcraft days was the shiznit.

now thanks to WoW there heads make Mr garrisons (south park) look like Pinhead (from puppetmaster.

So what happens to the MLB license? Can they make MVP again?