Sounds far-fetched? Maybe. But consider this: EA had been the largest third-party games publisher for quite a while. All that ended when Vivendi Games and Activision announced a merger valued at a mind-boggling $18.9 billion to surpass the publishing giant. Ever since then EA has been 'bullish' in the takeover market.
The year began with EA finalizing a $860 million deal to takeover VG Holding Corp., the owners of acclaimed development studios BioWare and Pandemic. Soon after that, EA announced a takeover bid worth $2 billion for Take-Two studios. And guess what they own: the GTA franchise. And BioShock. And the 2K Sports label. With such acclaim and following behind their titles, Take-Two have so far resisted the bids, calling EA's offer 'undervalued'.
With John Riccitiello taking over as CEO, EA's takeover intentions turned 'hostile'. Deadlines have come and passed with Take-Two maintaining a firm stance. But as of May 16, EA has already gobbled up 6,210,261 (8%) of Take-Two's outstanding shares. Another bid deadline, June 16, has already been set and EA has made its intentions clear. Even Ubisoft (behind the Prince of Persia series and Assassin's Creed) continues to resist a bid. But EA has already pocketed around 15% of its shares.
They've taken all this trouble when they have their own mega-successful EA Sports & EA Games (that includes EA Mythic) labels and a studio roster that boasts developing powerhouses like Maxis and Westwood. My simple question is this: Why?
The year began with EA finalizing a $860 million deal to takeover VG Holding Corp., the owners of acclaimed development studios BioWare and Pandemic. Soon after that, EA announced a takeover bid worth $2 billion for Take-Two studios. And guess what they own: the GTA franchise. And BioShock. And the 2K Sports label. With such acclaim and following behind their titles, Take-Two have so far resisted the bids, calling EA's offer 'undervalued'.
With John Riccitiello taking over as CEO, EA's takeover intentions turned 'hostile'. Deadlines have come and passed with Take-Two maintaining a firm stance. But as of May 16, EA has already gobbled up 6,210,261 (8%) of Take-Two's outstanding shares. Another bid deadline, June 16, has already been set and EA has made its intentions clear. Even Ubisoft (behind the Prince of Persia series and Assassin's Creed) continues to resist a bid. But EA has already pocketed around 15% of its shares.
They've taken all this trouble when they have their own mega-successful EA Sports & EA Games (that includes EA Mythic) labels and a studio roster that boasts developing powerhouses like Maxis and Westwood. My simple question is this: Why?To become the number one publishing house could be an honest and obvious answer. But $2 billion just to have #1 stamped across your chest seems a bit too much -- even for EA!! As I pondered over my own query, one possible scenario came to my mind. It seemed ridiculous, no doubt, but, in some insane way, logical -- from EA's point of view atleast.
An EA exclusive console. Think about it! With amazingly popular and best-selling franchises like Need for Speed, FIFA, Madden, NFL, NBA and even Cricket already under its belt, EA could drive the other consoles out of the market by declaring exclusivity as these titles drive millions in sales. Add to that all the future Sims & Spore titles and you already have a virtual monopoly! And I haven't even begun to add to the fray the future sequels of GTA, Command and Conquer, BioShock, Mass Effect and god knows what all else they've got up there billion-dollar-sleeves.
Besides, exclusivity would reduce production costs. Yeah, sure, making a future-gen console to compete with what Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo can come up with is gonna take still more billions in investment. But once they launch an exclusive, standard system, the returns will ensure that they only need to do what they do best: publish more and more games! Yearly upgrades, sequels, new intellectual properties........ all for ONE console. No multi-platform ports (apart from PC, that is :)) to worry about.
Food for thought? It remains to be seen. But, for now, even that is enough to ruin the appetites of current-gen honchos! Do post in with your own views on EA's buying spree.
News Source: GameSpot.
An EA exclusive console. Think about it! With amazingly popular and best-selling franchises like Need for Speed, FIFA, Madden, NFL, NBA and even Cricket already under its belt, EA could drive the other consoles out of the market by declaring exclusivity as these titles drive millions in sales. Add to that all the future Sims & Spore titles and you already have a virtual monopoly! And I haven't even begun to add to the fray the future sequels of GTA, Command and Conquer, BioShock, Mass Effect and god knows what all else they've got up there billion-dollar-sleeves.
Besides, exclusivity would reduce production costs. Yeah, sure, making a future-gen console to compete with what Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo can come up with is gonna take still more billions in investment. But once they launch an exclusive, standard system, the returns will ensure that they only need to do what they do best: publish more and more games! Yearly upgrades, sequels, new intellectual properties........ all for ONE console. No multi-platform ports (apart from PC, that is :)) to worry about.Food for thought? It remains to be seen. But, for now, even that is enough to ruin the appetites of current-gen honchos! Do post in with your own views on EA's buying spree.
News Source: GameSpot.
