At roughly the same time this morning, Bethesda and EA dropped some big announcements. Zenimax (the parent company of Betheda) revealed that they’d purchased id Software. EA unveiled their new RPG/MMO studio group, made up of Mythic and BioWare. Didn’t see either of those coming.
So what does this mean for you? Overall, better games. Bethesda makes some kick ass RPG’s and id makes some kick ass shooters. Put them together sharing resources and you can bet the next Fallout and Doom games will be better off. The same goes for new RPG’s coming out of the new conglomerate of Mythic and BioWare. Could we see an MMO in the Mass Effect world?
While the effects of these mergers and acquisitions won’t have immediate effects on what games you’ll be playing, the long term fallout (no pun intended) will make better experiences for you, which is what these companies are striving to achieve.
Looks like things are moving along with the hostile takeover attempt by EA. They’ve gone ahead and secured a $1 billion loan from Morgan Stanley and others to help in the cost of buying out Take-Two.
I guess it’s inevitable at this point. What EA wants, EA gets. No more 2K Sports, more yearly sequels to games that don’t need them. I don’t see any way this is going to be good to gamers. Sure, it lines the pockets of the executives on both sides, but if it serves to hurt gamers in the long run, I don’t approve.
What do you think? Is Take-Two as we know it over?
Looks like Phil Harrison’s time at Infogrames has started with a bang. The company has offered to buyout Atari’s stock for $1.68 a share.
Keep in mind, Infogrames is already the majority stockholder in Atari, essentially controlling the company. This offer is to buy all remaining stock to fully own the company. Atari is set to hold a meeting of the board to discuss the takeover and see how they feel.
I say let it happen. Atari is in the crapper right now, and being controlled by Infogrames can only help. I just hope they don’t kill the Atari brand, as many of us have very fond memories growing up their systems and games.
[via GamesIndustry.biz]
The internets are swarming with reports that Microsoft might be buying Epic, creators of Gears of War, the Unreal Engine, etc. According to an editorial in GamePro, Microsoft will drop $1 billion on the developer. Mark Rein responded via develop:
“I have not seen the actual GamePro article but if they’re going to make predictions about us selling Epic we would prefer if they started at $2 billion,” he said. “Because we don’t want anyone thinking that we’re cheap.”
This is something I honestly don’t think would happen. With the Unreal Tournament 3 modding on consoles, Mark Rein has made some not-so-nice comments about Microsoft in terms of how things need to be run for the game. Could you imagine if future UT games were pigeon-holed into Windows Live? Or if Microsoft stopped allowing the use and licensing of the Unreal Engine for platforms other than their own? Speculative, but something I hope never happens.
EA sent out a press release today to let us know that the acquisitions of BioWare and Pandemic Studios have been completed.
“BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios are two world-class studios and bring strong, highly compatible cultures of creative excellence to the EA Games Label,” said Mr. Gibeau. “Their strengths in the RPG, action and adventure genres further broadens EA’s portfolio, and reinforces our commitment to creating the world’s greatest interactive entertainment.”
I’m a big fan of games from both studios, and I hope being part of a larger corporation doesn’t interfere with the development quality. Only time will tell.
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Activision dropped some serious cash to acquire Bizarre Creations, the developer of Project Gotham Racing and Geometry Wars. The actual price wasn’t released, but I wouldn’t expect it to be cheap.
Bizarre Creations had a statement regarding the news on their own website:
Well, we’re no longer tied to just one platform for starters. Our future titles can be on whatever we please – we are a truly multiplatform studio now. Of course that doesn’t mean that we’ll be forced to make a port of every game to every console in existence… we simply have that option available to us.
Both of our two main game teams are about to start work on two new AAA titles for Activision. One will be a racing game, and the other a character game. Of course we’ll make some more detailed announcements in the future, but be prepared for something big and exciting!
Very cool. Could PGR5 end up on all consoles? Only time will tell.
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Payoffs have existed in all industries for a very very long time. You can’t argue they exist, but do they do any good for the end user?
The most recent gaming related payoff centered around Microsoft and Rockstar, with a $50 million purse headed to the developer for the exclusive rights to publish two episodic packs for Grand Theft Auto IV for the Xbox 360. Many can argue this is good for gamers, but I disagree. This is good for Microsoft, and that’s about it. Rockstar will still sell the same number of copies of GTA4 with these exclusive packs as opposed to the downloads being available for multiple platforms, it’s just now the majority of copies will be for the Xbox 360. And what about the price paid? All of Take Two’s games sold on Xbox platforms have not totaled $50 million in gross sales, so how can one justify that cost? Will these downloadable episodic content packs cost gamers an arm and a leg? If history repeats itself, they very well just may.
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