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FTC Will Not Oppose EA/Take Two Merger
Posted by Kotaku US Edition at 8:20 AM on August 21, 2008
The Federal Trade Commission has posted closing letters to its site that show it has closed its Antitrust investigation into the Electronic Arts/Take Two merger.
Upon further review of this matter, it now appears that no additional action by the Commission is warranted at this time. Accordingly, the investigation has been closed.
So.. essentially EA are free to pursue their merger. Or would be, had they not let their bid expire on Monday.
With the FTC investigation put to bed, though, EA are now able to enter into private negotiations with Take Two. Take Two is now to give EA its three-year financial forecasts and the game will continue...
An EA merger with Take-Two gets U.S. antitrust OK [Reuters via GamePolitics]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
dyl604
Posted 9:50 AM 21/8/08
@tok1879: Why the EA hate on this? EA gave up by dropping its bid and in return Take-Two offered to give them an insiders presentation. If anything, Take-Two want this to happen just as much as EA does.
dyl604
GeeBee
Posted 9:49 AM 21/8/08
I'm just tired of seeing the industry dominated by mega corporations that seem to just get bigger and bigger. It seems that the creativity in games just keeps on diminishing as the corporations continue to get larger. I have little faith that the quality of Take Two's games will be retained if EA acquires them.
GeeBee
tok1879
Posted 9:33 AM 21/8/08
everywhere i look, i just see stuff to make me further hate EA!!!
tok1879
onepoker
Posted 9:24 AM 21/8/08
@Tha_Villain: I definetly do I have had a ton of money tied up in this fiasco for months. I was hoping for a quick pop then the sec got involved then they got an extension and now they decided instead of going hostile they are going to meet behind closed doors.
God damn it its driving me nuts and making me broke. Its time for them to crap or get off the pot!!!!!
onepoker
TRT-X
Posted 9:24 AM 21/8/08
This headline is rather obvious. It's like me saying "Well I wouldn't be opposed to marrying Jessica Alba."
I can say it all I want because it ain't gonna happen.
TRT-X
Tha_Villain
Posted 9:10 AM 21/8/08
does anyone else just wish they would just get it over with
Tha_Villain
NiGHTSSTUDiO
Posted 9:08 AM 21/8/08
So will be only seeing one Madden xx, one Live xx, one NHL xx, and one baseball xx.
I would hate to be a sports gamer at the moment.
NiGHTSSTUDiO
Boozerz
Posted 10:12 AM 21/8/08
Take-Two is pursuing this just as much as EA is. Their stock went from $14 a share to $26 on the buyout offer. Their shareholders will overthrow the board if they don't pursue a buyout now. Especially after Zelnick was claiming that other companies were making buyout offers, Take-two is for sale, like it or not. The new EA might be a better option than a huge media company buying them (Vivendi, Viacom, News Corp etc.. )
Boozerz
Jestersage
Posted 11:01 AM 21/8/08
Okay, remeber: If you hate EA, just remind yourself that they gave you Guys rock band, and you guys should go on and hate Activision and Nintendo!
Seriously, all these hate on game company is out of hand. EA made quite a few good games for console. For wii, they gave us a good FPS (Medal of honor Heroes 2), and for the rest of the people, NFS (still good), Rock Band... still I say more?
Jestersage
jspeed04
Posted 11:35 AM 21/8/08
...fuck
As much as I want to be opposed to EA taking over TakeTwo, I know that TT needs the merger, badly. You can see this because they are releasing Bioshock on PS3 after denying its existence for so long, they took the 50 million from Microsoft for GTA IV exclusive DLC, Midnight Club L.A...
I'd prefer someone else merge with TT than EA, but, whoever has the deepest pockets and the slightest interest in the company wins. LET'S GO TT!!!
jspeed04
Chanthas
Posted 11:57 AM 21/8/08
Blizzard/Activision should buy Take Two! Imagine GTA set in the Warcraft universe.
Chanthas
GnatB
Posted 12:07 PM 21/8/08
@NiGHTSSTUDiO: I'd hate to be a sports gamer period. I mean, what's to like about playing the same game year after year after year? I mean, it's baseball, or hockey, or whatever. It's not like the rules are gonna up and change on you to make it actually a different game. Hockey is hockey is hockey... same with baseball... same with footbal. If you want innovative games, try a different genre.
GnatB
Duscrom
Posted 12:32 PM 21/8/08
@GeeBee: Oh really? Cause Harmonix and Valve games started sucking after they went to EA. EA/Take Two is nothing compared to Activision and Blizzard. Cause it's not like we have a yearly Call of Duty game... which would be fine if Gearbox's CoD games didn't suck. Oh yeah, and the 6 different Guitar Hero games coming out this year alone. ANother Yeary tony Hawk game.. that might actually beforced to innovate thanks to Skate... made by EA.
Yes, on the sports end of this.. yes, this does suck.. But look how many VU games got canned at that merger.
Duscrom
DARTH_TIGRIS
Posted 2:35 PM 21/8/08
@NiGHTSSTUDiO:
Well, I used to be 2K Football and Basketball person. Now I'm just a 2K Basketball person. Because the FTC screwed up and didn't realize that the NFL going exclusive is close enough to anti-trust misconduct that they should've shut it down.
If this merger happens, sports gaming may die for me. Every year I play the Madden demo, only to sadly realize that as much as it has improved, its just not right. Its just....not.....right........
DARTH_TIGRIS
sarahoneill
Posted 5:17 AM 22/8/08
It's just bully-business as usual. There is no possibility of amicable takeover. More at this interesting article.
[www.atelier-us.com]
sarahoneill