November 18, 2008 – 4:00 pm
In the turbulent times we are living globally, I thought it would be relevant to highlight some of the industry happenings as there are potential impacts to the gaming public. Hopefully this will continue as semi-regular Loot-Ninja feature. The following have been the recent headlines in no particular order. Hit the links for the Loot-Ninja articles.
Lots of grim news financially and lots of studios shutting down, downsizing, rightsizing, etc. The global recession taking a toll on the gaming industry, probably. The above news updates are pretty similar to latest news in the banking industry. In case you’ve been living in a cave for the past year that means things are not very good.
By Keith Carter
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Posted in Loot Ninja
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Also tagged Activision Blizzard, amazon, Avalanche Studios, Brash, Budcat Creations, E for All, Electronic Arts, Industry update, Koei, Konami, midway, Reflexive, Square Enix, Tecmo, THQ, Vivendi, WizKids
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September 14, 2008 – 8:00 pm
After much courtship EA has assessed the situation and decided to run away from this potential merger as if told that there was a flesh eating virus on the loose. No real word on why they are no longer eyeing Take Two but it is clear that the offers and extensions are done. EA will ride its own titles to glory and wait for another possible business venture to make their empire expand. Curious if Take Two will remain tough and by themselves or just look for better offers elsewhere? Not sure who else could match the dollars EA is offering, possibly Blizzard Activision?
EA has made it official, after all the extenstions on the tender offers, and the presentation, they are no longer interested in purchasing Tak
e Two and have terminated all talks.
According to John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer of EA,: “EA is tracking toward a record breaking year. We’re launching 15 new games including award-winners like SPORE, Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge, great new titles from the Sims, new family titles with Hasbro, and the highest quality slate of EA SPORTS titles on this generation of consoles. We’re also expanding beyond our core business with a series of direct-to-consumer launches including Warhammer Online.”
[Via GamersDailyNews]
August 19, 2008 – 10:00 am
We were all convinced that it was a matter of time before EA acquired Take 2 and the video game industry would be one big conglomerate of mediocrity. The inevitable success of GTA IV made Take 2 that much more valuable and forced the shareholders to hold out as long as they could. It seems now as if EA is no longer interested and Take 2 chairman Strauss Zelnick could not be happier.
If this doesn’t work for E.A., then I guess it doesn’t work for them,” Mr. Zelnick said Monday in a phone interview. “I’m totally fine with that, and so are our shareholders.
Mr. Zelnick’s nonchalance may be part of a high-stakes tactic. The back and forth that has agonized investors for months is not yet over. The two companies agreed — in an exchange of carefully worded letters — to arrange a meeting to see whether there might yet be common ground for a friendlier merger discussion.
This could be some sandbagging at the highest level or maybe EA failed in their attempt. We must continue to wait on the fate of Take 2.
NYT via news tip from no stars.
GTA: San Andreas has sold somewhere near 10 million copies. The locked extra content of the “Hot Coffee” mission where a cheat code could unlock a mission where you banged your virtual girlfriend was the focal point of a class action suit against Take Two. They wanted to claim damages that this content should have been disclosed. Here is a shocker, no one gives a shit. Less than 2700 gamers filed with the suit.
“Am I disappointed? Sure,” said Seth Lesser, lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, reports the New York Times. “We can’t guess as to why now, several years later, people care or don’t care. The merits of the case were clear.”
Take Two will have to shell out about 30k to gamers and will make a 800k donation to charity. They made that in about 3 minutes when GTA IV came out. This is another case of overzealous lawyers trying to capitalize on a growing medium that may have had a hiccup. The problem here? Gamers tend to side with gaming companies when content is involved. Its only a matter of time before everyone who bought Haze is going to sue for a full refund.
Bioshock 2 was announced just a few weeks ago and now Bioshock 3 has been slated making it a complete trilogy. When asked when the game would come out, Take 2 could not give any insight when. Furthermore, it is believed that the 3rd game will be released with the movie that will be based on the series.
”It’s unlikely that the picture would be released to coincide with BioShock 2,” said Zelnick. “It would be more likely that it would be released coincidentally with BioShock 3. That also remains to be seen.”
Bioshock 2 is slated for Q4 2009.
The biggest merger that has not happened yet still has much life left as EA extended their deadline which expired last week to another 30 days. No one is surprised. EA is still pursuing the reluctant studio who is still waiting to sell as GTA IV makes history. The announcement quotes Senior VP Owen Mahoney:
Extending our offer will allow the FTC review process to continue. EA’s offer price remains unchanged at $25.74 per share and our offer is still subject to conditions that include regulatory approval. As stated earlier, we retain the right to terminate the offer if the conditions are not satisfied.
EA is no longer the only interested buyer out there. Take Two still feels the offer is inadequate and is talking to other people. Now, this could be a move to drive the price up or maybe they really are looking elsewhere. Take Two had this to say:
This is the same highly conditional proposal that EA offered Take-Two stockholders on March 13, 2008, which our Board of Directors thoroughly reviewed and unanimously determined to be inadequate and contrary to the best interests of Take-Two’s stockholders. As such, the recommendation of our Board of Directors that stockholders not tender their shares to EA remains unchanged. The Board is committed to maximizing stockholder value and is exploring all strategic alternatives to do so. We said we were willing to begin formal discussions with interested parties on April 30, following the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV, and we have in fact begun that process. We are confident in the significant growth potential of Take-Two and in the unique value of our business given our strong position in this growing and dynamic industry.”
Needless to say, you might want to buy some Take Two stock. Someone is going to pay out the ass for it.
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?
We got word this morning from Take 2 studios about their launch numbers. Are you sitting down. 500 million. That is one-half billion dollars for the first week on GTA IV. Halo 3 has taken a backseat to the highest grossing video game in the first week ever. 3.6 million sold in the first day. Think I’m full of shit. Here is the press release.
Read More »
New York - May 5th, 2008
Well, we all saw this coming.
So by now you have all read that the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) had given in to pressure from local politicians and the local FOX News to pull the GTA IV ads from all the buses. So in an unsurprising move Take-Two Interactive is now suing the CTA for violating a $300,000 contract.
What on earth did they expect to happen? Seriously. Read More »
Midnight tonight was the deadline for Take 2 to accept the EA takeover bid. EA wants the company before GTA IV releases because it will mean a much lower price. They would also reap the benefits of the vast income that GTA IV will bring in. Take 2, obviously not run by fucking morons, did not balk at the offer.
The tender offer was previously set to expire at 11:59 p.m., EDT, on April 18. The revised offer will expire on May 16, a full two-and-a half weeks after the release of Grand Theft Auto IV.
EA continues to believe that the offer price is full and fair, and that a transaction between Take-Two and EA is the most compelling combination financially, strategically and operationally for all parties,” the company said in a statement.
This is one of those topics that I get tired of writing about and you are probably tired of reading about because these multi-billion dollar pissing contests keeps going on and on. The most predictable things have and will happen. EA will buy Take 2. They won’t do so until GTA IV makes a fuck ton of money. Almost all the video games will be controlled by a company who sucks tremendous balls at DLC. If EA acquires Bungie and/or Epic, I fucking quit.
[via CVG]
