EA tries to buy Take Two

[twmac]

http://uk.gamespy.com/articles/854/854580p1.html

Glad that Take Two turned them down, imagine EA getting their hands on GTA, the take two sports titles and the oblivion series? That would be my worst nightmare if EA could finally bury the 2K series and thus give them total domnance of the sports games market.

[Roderick]

Jesus, fuck off with those mergers already It's super bad for the creative flow and the market if everything springs from one company.

[Nachimir]

All of them are going to get bought by someone, even EA. Worldwide, other media industries are fucking huge and have deep pockets, yet look what happened with UK retail last year:

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/29787/Its-official-games-revenues-overtake-music-at-retail

2005:

Video/DVD: £2,196m

Music: £1,839m

Games: £1,345m

Total: £5,380m

2006:

Video/DVD: £2,122m

Music: £1,651m

Games: £1,361m

Total: £5,134m

2007:

Video/DVD: £2,164m

Games: £1,719m

Music: £1,417m

Total: £5,300m

[n0wak]

http://www.eattake2.com/

[LOPcagney]

It's funny, because I was reading the Penny Arcade post earlier in support of EA and the points he brings up are interesting. I'm not saying 2k should sell, but I think now more than ever publishers are realizing that this is an industry of innovation, and I'm glad EA is trying to go along with that.

[Ben]

Yeah, frankly i've always been annoyed by this attitude that many people (including a lot of you on this forum, who seem to wear it like some kind of badge of honour) have which seems to equate large corporations with lack of or no innovation; or otherwise being bad for the games industry. Sure corporations bring out lots of franchises but many, like EA, realise that they are in a position to take risks and do so to a fair degree. EA has done a lot for this industry and to simply ignore that because they produce countless iterations of Madden games might be convenient for the Gaming Che Guevera Brigade but it's also stupid.

Innovation, games as art, experimental games do come from the likes of EA, Sony, Microsoft and so on - they aren't simply the domain of independent developers.

So get over yourselves 'cause it's pathetic to read grown adults whining like little fanboys and it's not something i like to see on this forum; EA buying out Take Two wouldn't be a precursor to the fucking apocalypse and signal the end of the independent gaming spirit or death of creativity in games.

Grumble grumble.

[Roderick]

I didn't even consider the gaming side here, I just dislike all the mergers and everything becoming owned by a single company. The corporate greed of it, gobbling up competitors. That sort of thing.

[Ben]

I didn't even consider the gaming side here...

Right, so what were you referring to/considering when you said:

It's super bad for the creative flow and the market if everything springs from one company.

(I'm talking about the "creative flow" bit obviously...)

[Roderick]

Okay, I was bullshitting a bit there. But my main gripe is still the idea that 90% of everything I see and feel around me is owned by either Viacom or Disney.

[Ben]

Okay, I was bullshitting a bit there.

And this is exactly my point.

[miffy495]

I'm not the type to get super pissed off over EA games or anything like that. I'll admit I feel a bit of a twinge every time I look at a recently purchased game with "EA" on the box, but that won't stop me from playing a good game. I just get the feeling that they've gotten too big for their own good and that with a company as big as they are, it'd be very difficult to maintain the agility and adaptive capability that would inspire more creative output. Not impossible, mind, just very difficult. Honestly, it's not like Take Two is much better, pumping out it's own yearly sports franchises (which is oddly often more stagnant than the EA equivalents [see: puck handling in NHL2K7 vs NHL07] yet dodges many of their critics) and milking other series for all that they're worth. Seeing two companies that are already bigger than I'm comfortable with merging into one super-company is a slightly unsettling idea, and I'd rather not see it.

[Ben]

To your point about adaptability and creative output: It may be difficult I agree, though based on the number of creative titles that the likes of EA and others have produced in spite of their increasing size (links to some of these in my original post) I think they've done a good job.

More to the point, we agree that it's not impossible, and therefore i really fail to see the problem people have in real terms aside from just not "feeling" happy about it. If it is then a purely emotional response, then we can safely say that it's not a rational one, nor is it based on actual quantitative evidence; therefore I think we can also safely say it's just blind assumption. And that, to return to my original little rant, is what annoys me.

[miffy495]

If it is then a purely emotional response, then we can safely say that it's not a rational one,

Which is why I do my best to ignore it. Even though my gut doesn't like it, I do what I can to cognitively give EA the benefit of the doubt. They've proven they can do some cool stuff lately with Skate and now that they're working with Bioware I'm interested in what'll come about. Again though, with regards to this specific situation, I can't see two behemoths becoming one bigger behemoth being all that good in the long run if only for competition's sake. Two big companies fighting with each other through innovation rather than one giant company keeping tabs on everything please. They could still be agile, but the bigger the company gets the more difficult it is. EA has been doing well lately, I won't dispute that, but getting even bigger won't help them to do that, it'll just make them more unwieldy in the hands of anyone other than a complete expert of management. And once again, Take Two is big enough as it is...

[twmac]

Ben, that ıs a lıttle uncalled for.

Skate is one of only a few titles that EA have gotten right and part of the reason for that is because they were attempting to usurp the leader in that field: Tony Hawks.

If EA purchase Take Two, the maın competıtor to their sports franchise will be gone (part of the only reason that there has been any ınnovatıon ın their sports games at all 95-98 were dark tımes for anyone who enjoyed a bıt of sımulated footy) and that can only be a bad thıng.

Miffy, I have a hard time in belıeving that NHL 07 ıs better than 2K7, ın part because I`ve played both and NHL07 is just 06 wıth a ton of features removed (only Ovechkın has a specıal deke/move) and the Dynasty mode ıs now functıonal and doesn`t break or crash as much.

Also I`ve played Army of Two and it is fuckıng dire. EA PR is good and it is convincing people that it is changing but in reality I`ve seen little evıdence to prove that.