@Cell9Song: "would'nt it be completely senseless to cut staff if they were bought out? I mean, much of the value of the company is in their dev teams, no?"

You'd think so, wouldn't you?

But you can figure anybody at TakeTwo whose job duplicates one at EA is at least at risk. This includes sales, marketing, accounting, human resources, legal, quality assurance, etc. Pretty much the only folks immune are the development teams and the janitors. And even the janitors are at risk if EA decides to move Take Two into their offices. Economies of scale, y'know.

Then suppose the new version of Madden NFL sucks and EA doesn't make their numbers for the quarter. Who do you think will get the axe - the folks who screwed up but have been there for years? Or the quite competent TakeTwo developers nobody knows? Different end of the industry, but it happened where I work...

bobert

@vine:

Rockstar's contract with Take Two is independent of any buyout that may occour, and their contract is up within the next year or so, so don't count on Rockstar coming to the EA fold regardless of whether this buyout happens or not. Besides, I don't think Rockstar has ever been financially limited by their partnership with Take Two.

Rockstar will make their own terms with a publisher, whomever that may be, but I doubt it'd be EA.

To your other point, Bioware and Pandemic weren't nearly the size of Take Two when they were acquired by EA (in fact EA and other publishers were handling the release for the majority of their lineup already), so they couldn't have had the number of employees on the publishing, marketing, administrative, and operational end of things that Take Two has and has had for many years.

There's a lot of redundancy with those sorts of positions between one publishing company and the next, and it's those people who need to worry about losing their jobs. Not the devs.

Consolidation of the scale we've seen in the last year in the industry is a historically unprecedented trend. Many people fear homogeny in the industry and a lack of creative growth should it continue. I have a hard time disagreeing with that view, and I hope Take Two's shareholders agree. Think what's going to happen to sport games if EA has no competition... now apply that logic to about half of the western genres that currently exist. Not good.

stranger

I don't see this as anything other than a "stop worrying and get back to work" email.

I'm sure it's more a result of mid level management getting hammered with questions from concerned employees that they didn't have answers to. What better way to allay concern than have the guys running the show shoot out a memo assuring everyone that even if they do get fired from a buyout (any buyout mind you), that they will receive a severance benefit that was perhaps not a provision of some people's original contracts.

I don't see this message in any way reflecting the minds of the shareholders, who at the end of they day will be the ones making the decisions about Take-Two's future. This is management dealing with an internal concern that could hamper productivity. Nothing more.

Btw, does anyone other than EA actually want to see this deal happen? Not really, and I don't think those who hold stock on Take-Two feel much differently.

Their stock price has been in the toilet for a long time, and $26 is nothing compared to the value it's going to have in a post GTA4 universe. They'd be fools not to wait it out and sell when they're closer to $40 a share.

stranger

"EAten"

omg, that's awesome XD

TheCakeIsALie

Honestly I'm not going to get all pissed if EA buys them and fires people.

The US economy lost 70,000 jobs or something this month. And remember it takes about 120,000 a month just to keep pace with new people eligible for the work force and that the unemployment rate doesn't count people who have stopped looking for a job because they just can't find one.

SSJPabs

Hey, I don't blame EA. It's the fault of the investors who take the money, just as it has been with every developer/publisher. Sorry, but after Origin, Westwood and Bullfrog, you should know full well what happens to your company when you take EA's money.

Besides, I've no doubt that much of the creative talent would either leave, or be laid off, forming new studios and/or allying themselves with EA's rivals. EA just hasn't learned their lesson yet, and I doubt they ever will.

RawSteelUT

@Rebelphoenix83: who cares, you won't be missed

baccardi84

@HobbaHobba:

/Sigh...

I agree totally with that statement. I love 2k, not having a choice in Football is one thing, but they take away my Basketball too. Fuck EA. If they do absord T2, I will never purchase a single game from them again. Even skate. I'd just rent them to make sure that they wouldn't receive a penny from me.

jspeed04

@Seiryuu: 'Jesus Heavenly Industries of Good'

lulz =)

meandering_drivel

It's just fear mongering on Take Two's part. Did EA fire anyone at Bioware or Pandemic? No. Why would we think EA would want to screw up a good thing if they bought Take Two. The only ones who would possibly be fired are the execs and board of directors who are currently driving Take Two into bankruptcy. Not even a wildly successful launch of GTAIV can prevent the inevitable. I'm not saying EA buying Take Two is a good or bad thing, but someone is going to buy them eventually and hopefully Rockstar will finally have the backend support they need to produce the mind blowing games they are capable of.

vine

I'm more concerned with NBA2K and MLB than GTA at this point. EA buys T2 = no more NBA2K.

HobbaHobba

lavos has come...GTA will suck...were through the looking glass here people

NocturnOwl357

@JustJake:
Good one.

beem

EAton alive

JustJake

I can just imagine the conversations being held at the watercooler:

"Nothing to be afraid of guys. Work as usual. You look stressed. Take it easy. Have a day off, or two. Maybe you need a week, a month. You know what? Come back when you like, but you're seat might not be here when you come back. Oh, us? We'll be fine... just fine."

Trowble (XBL/PSN)

@notalkjustrock: My thoughts exactly. Take2 management is setting up their poisin pills for the inevitable outcome.

aka Bitter

nothing to do with a takeover??

riiiight....

gique

@Seiryuu: Ah! Okay. I was thinking about it all reversed and twisted like. It makes so much more sense when you take it literally!

Dorphat the Insomniac

"Was that the sound of stockholders announcing their intentions?"

Not every shareholder, Brian. Even though TTWO is the highest it has been in about 30 months, I've held on to the stock.

It's not a vote of confidence or anything; I'm just a lazy investor.

sono

Is Rockstar owned by Take 2, or can they Bungie their way out of Take 2's (or EA's) grasp? I hope Take 2's stockholders don't get shrinkage and that they hang on to that stock. GTA IV will dominate (duh), but to have EA profit off of that just sickens me.

Fuck EA. And fuck John Madden, too. Fat bastard.

jerimas

That headline gave me a chuckle Crecente.

darthmole12

Thanks EA. You guys rock.

/sarcasm

Swarm19

would'nt it be completely senseless to cut staff if they were bought out? I mean, much of the value of the company is in their dev teams, no?

Cell9song

If we don't want EA to buy out T2, then fucking buy GTA IV like no tomorrow. Buy a copy for yourself, your friend, your mother, even your cat. Hell, buy a copy for your grandmother, whose been dead for years now.

Captain_Goober

@Candlejack: Seeing Bioware's previous history, you probably would actually :P. (Jade Empire, Kotor, the Dungeons and Dragons stuff, etc.)

Seiryuu

Depending on what the compensation is, they could turn this kind of thing into a fantastic poison pill. To all the non-business type people, a poison pill is where you enter into a contract to try and prevent a hostile takeover. If they made the compensation very high for severance it'd make it so that EA would be less desirous to buy them out because of the compensation they'd have to pay in restructuring.

Fun fact: The Lord of the Rings trilogy was a poison pill, to prevent a hostile takeover New Line Cinema decided to sink a ton of assets into this crazy project to make them an unappealing acquisition.

notalkjustrock

@FLYBOY611: Hey, stop complaining. Without EA, I most likely wouldn't be getting Mass Effect on my PC. Win! :)

Candlejack

@Dorphat the Insomniac: It means that there is a minimum compensation that they'll get in such an event, which is a big step up from "nothing".

Things like this are often also done to drive the price of a hostile takeover up (as it will effectively be the Take-overerer who ends up paying it). Yahoo did it recently too when trying to fend off MS. Hopefully they'll be successful!.

@meandering_drivel: I think his point is that EA does not have a story of "100% Metacritic averages", quite the opposite actually. And edgy companies being absorbed into mellow, arguably mediocre behemonths with no drive or personality beyond trying to keep the balance sheet, well balanced, tends to give pause to some.

I don't think you'd see comments like that if say, Jesus Heavenly Industries of Good was purchasing it. Such an adquisition might be out of synch with previous statements made by Jesus Heavenly Industries of Good's management, but then they often find themselves misquoted and misunderstood so it's anybody guess.

Seiryuu

talk about resuming work under stress

InEffectMode

If EA buys Take 2- I'm never buying another Civ game again (unless Sid spins off a company)

arstal

@Rebelphoenix83:
Actually Rockstar's contract with Take Two ends in 2009. They could go independent. It's going to take a ton of cash for EA to convince the Housers to give in I'm sure.

DigitalHero

If I were an employee there I think it might make me MORE frightened about the future of Take Two. EA went from throwing its weight around the industry to straight bullying companies.

ThisCharmingMan

For fucks sake......anyone but EA....I'd even prefer Microsoft over EA

FLYBOY611

Those want to leave, can cash in for another company and I hope they do, developed new IP for us gamers. Then the old one will be = FAIL by EA low quality sequels??

ahmeng

@Rebelphoenix83: yea, not even if it receives 100/100 metacritic average.

amazing games just don't deserve to be played if EA somehow profits off of it!?

meandering_drivel

@BryanGuitarDude: they'll only fire the mediocre people...

no wonder you're so worried =)

meandering_drivel

If EA buys Take 2 out, I will never buy another GTA as long as I live.

Rebelphoenix83

In other words prepare for hostile takeover? but seriously If i was working there i'd be totally paranoid.

BryanGuitarDude

PLCS and the games industry, PLCs and the games industry, go together like chalk and cheese.

ErskinPig

that's fucked up. capitalismlol

cambridge

Minimum levels of compensation? I don't think I get it.

Dorphat the Insomniac