(R*, not R8)

biznatch

If EA manages to succeed with this dick move, will they have the rights to all of Take Two's intellectual properties?
If the R* team could jump ship and reform their own company, and EA owned T2, could R8 still make GTA games?

biznatch

the sith persist

h-town

With the EA strategy in place for american games it's no wonder the japaneese companies will always produce more quality than quantity. EA will continue to suck up everybody until the gaming industry become just like hollywood; filled with money hoarding big shots with high regard for the dollar and very tiny regard for art. Gaming won't be the same anymore.

Xtreme_Hindu_Cow

Give up EA ffs !!! Dont you get it there NOT selling !!!!!!!!!!! NOOBS

Viper

@Gantz: Your Trusted Friend in Science.: Except of course this is about Take 2 "complying" with and not "resisting" the process. I love the pavlovian effect those puzzle pieces have on people these days. Kotaku should put them on random stories and see how many "OMG leave T2 alone!!!" comments get posted by people who didn't even stop to read the article.

/end rant

ThursdayNext

With the shit-storm surrounding the Yahoo-Microsoft failure still whirling around [in brief, Yahoo shares now sit $20 below the $40 price Ballmer told Yahoo's president they'd go to (which occured during a meeting at an airport... crazy), causing much nashing of the teeth by Yahoo shareholders], I can't imagine Take-Two can hold out much longer.

A T2 shareholder has already filed against T2 for not accepting... Only while they can prove to the shareholders that another company is also offering the same kinda deal (or indeed better) can they resist, surely.

RogueSquid

Pleasue cue the rust effect on those metal puzzle pieces. I wish EA would just F-Off already. If they're resisting so much, don't you think a shitload of people will jump ship if/when this actually goes through?

Gantz: Your Trusted Friend in Science.

@Gantz: Your Trusted Friend in Science.:

The question is whose resisting? So far it seems to just be TT's uppermost management, and if the deal goes through, they'd probably be out of a job anyways. (Possibly why they don't want the deal to go through). The actual various studios under the TT umbrella may or may not care whose umbrella they operate under. Heck, maybe they want the deal to go through too.

GnatB

It would be a lot of fun to see Take Two sell off Rockstar before EA can acquire them.

JonDarkwood

It's not that Take Two doesn't want to sell. It's just that they don't want to sell at under $26 a share. Take Two's board of directors need something more from EA. They can't accept EA's offer of $25.74 a share because then the shareholders will rake the board over the coals because they told everyone to hold out for more.

Also if EA officially walks the stock prices will probably plummet below the 25 dollar mark. Just look at what happened to Yahoo's stock price when Microsoft walked away from their merger talks. That would be even worse from a shareholder's perspective. Any other publisher that Take Two claims have shown interest will have even more leverage because of the sudden price drop and it will be difficult for them to get a price above $26.

EA can probably hold out with this tactic but they know they will need to bump the price. EA also must realize that as long as they show interest, the price of the stock will not move below $26 unless a major Take Two scandal breaks. The question now is, when will EA make move and how much more will they offer at that point? If EA is serious in their statement that this acquisition is purely for holiday sales then the latest they can hold out would probably be sometime in September.

Of course, a lot of this is just my purely speculative opinion.

dyl604

Take 2 would be stupid not to accept EA's bid at this point. They can hold out for more on their stock price, but that's about it. However, EA will bastardize GTA to the point that it will be oversaturated (GTA Kart Racing here we come!). And plus, EA will have the MLB license again by proxy.

I really hope EA will go out of business so this story can go away.

GuyinGA

@biznatch: To my knowledge Take-Two actually now owns all of Rockstar's IPs so unless EA sold the rights to make GTA to them, they could not.

However, unlike many of Kotaku's commenters, Sam Houser (GTA's director and Rockstar's president) has no issues working with EA: [kotaku.com]

Seriously, since EA kicked out their last CEO and put Ritticiello back in about a year and a half ago, has EA done anything that makes people think they'd screw up Rockstar?

Nirolak

@Nirolak: Bad Company. I'm speaking of the game, of course but, I still think EA is a Bad Company itself.

Eclectified

@Gantz: Your Trusted Friend in Science.: They won't jumpship. It is all about money and more money. When EA buys T2 the employees will most likely get enough to sign papers and work for EA. Remember that the T2 game devs are not fanboy forum chatters ... LOL

mx5

Although I'm against this merger, I bet Visual Concepts could make Madden NFL Football worth buying. I could see Rockstar San Diego working on the next Need For Speed, even if it was just called "Need For Speed: Midnight Club", but I'd really miss the NBA 2K series. But also, I think that EA would give Rockstar North near-free reign over Grand Theft Auto, from the example of what EA has been doing with Criterion, Bioware, Pandemic, and DICE. But in the long run, I think it'd be bad for everyone. I'd much rather see Take-Two with Activision-Blizzard.

TreyTable

"But in the long run, I think it'd be bad for everyone. I'd much rather see Take-Two with Activision-Blizzard. "

@TreyTable: As would I.

Papa Midnight

"The Company"? What is this, Prison Break?

Papa Midnight

@TreyTable: this is a monopoly, pure and simple. ea has been playing dirty pool for years, this is just another stepping stone in it's way to gamestop-like ubiquity. what we really need is another teddy Roosevelt to go out there and kick some ass.

thejakeman: probably disagrees with you