EA's Take-Two takeover bid turns hostile

VERS1ON: Yes, it is a monopoly on a segment of the gaming industry. Specifically, football games. People can say "you can always get another non-licensed football game", but how many people ever really do? How many copies of Blitz: The League were actually sold? No one wants a game based on real-life without real-life players and teams. So yes, it is as much a monopoly as as the Sirius/XM merger was. You want an NFL licensed video game, you don't have a choice but to buy EA. You want satellite radio? You don't have a choice but to buy Sirius/XM. You want cable in most areas of the country? You usually have only one choice.

EA has ruined so many companys.......

its only a matter of time

hey check out the new and improved profile of john retardello on the following website. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Arts#EA_under_Probst.2FRiccitiello

EA has a thing with exclusive rights and being the only developer to create certain titles. If they take over T2, all that we know and love (GTA,Bully,etc.) will be over. They won't even remotely push the envelope as Rockstar and T2 did. They will make sure it is family oriented to ensure they get max profits from all consumers.

jesus if that happens well be having GTA: NFL

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I hate EA with a passion. And hate is such a strong word. Just too bad I couldn't come up with anything stronger. On another note, that "EatTake2.com" insert next to the article is f***ing hilarious. Sad, but hilarious.

Don't Do it Rockstar!!!

EA. Phailz.

Somebody has to take out EA.

why wont EA understand what 'no' means?

Leave Brit....... er...... Take 2 alone!!!

hahahaha I think that this might of happened because of the NFL license they bought and nobody had a choice but to buy madden..........

Anyone notice that the pole on the main page is still off from what it intially was? What is going on with this website? Why were there no poles for a little while? Why is EA so evil? haha

EA used to make amazing games when there was competition (MVP 05, Madden 04 and Ncaa Football 05), but once the competition was monopolized by EA their games have sucked ass (March Maddnes 06-08, Madden hasn't been up to par and we are now going to feel the punishment of EA taking over GTA, that would suck!

can't wait for the EAboxCubeStation 999 to be released so EA can finally realize that people won't buy a system just for NFL brand games...hopefully..ah who am I kidding, kids will buy anything these days. and that is how EA gained the power to do this crap in the first place. 10 years of trash and you guys keep throwing money at them?

Well if both versions of GTA4 are just unreal good. Theirs hope. But they have to hold till then. Oh and PS the poll is hacked or something. But it wont be the first bent poll on gamespot lol. This one just majorly more bent than others.

I am proud to say that I dont have a SINGLE EA game installed on my computer right now, and I will try my best to keep it that way. I find myself asking this question a lot - arent monopolies supposed to be illegal?

NA3D Is it me or did EA hack GS then modify and freeze the poll? ............ SEEMS SO .....................LOL

Thanatos2, the only reason EA has those games in their roster is because they've bought the studios that make them! They tell them "make a great game", and then force them to crank out crappy sequels and spinoffs! LOTR: Remainder of Westwood. C&C3: Remainder of Westwood. BF2: Dice. BF2142: Dice. Crysis: Crytek. All of these except Crysis are developed by studios that EA bought. They don't come up with their own IP's, they just buy others'. Westwood doesn't even exist anymore.

robinsnestkc, you are right, for EA, it IS about the consumer..Never have I heard about EA even polling the public about what it wants in a game, I have, myself, communicated in many polls and irc chats about gta and other TT games. Both the polls and chats were a mixture of ones hosted or posted by TT/rockstar and by fans, and the ones by fans, one or two accually got a response from the company..one of those was about the aiming feature in gta and the soundtrack in one of they're racing games i forget..tell me if EA ever asked YOU what you wanted, and accually put it in! Rockstar may be about profit to earn a living and progress, but thats natural, but they give a damn about us gamers, because EA has so much money they're heads up their asses, and TT, rockstar and many other companies care..maybe in a small way, but most of their games aren't the same every year..NFL2K series ring a bell? FLAMERS ABOUND FOR THE SPELLING AND PUNCTUATION I'M AT WORK ON BREAK SO FLAME ON AT LEAST I LIVE WITH MY WIFE AND NOT IN MAMA'S BASEMENT!

Is it me or did EA hack GS then modify and freeze the poll?

EA needs to concentrate more on making hit titles instead of buying them.

that's ok to me cuz EA is a great company nd it got so many awesome games so i guess it's better for GTA IV to be taken by EA

If this take over is successful, does that mean that MVP baseball will once again be made for the MLB level? Or is it simply another asset for the owners of EA to make money off of? I'm so sick of being forced to buy MLB 2K, or no baseball game at all!

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That's such a dirty move. EA can s*** my b****. Do the Take-Two shareholders realize how much the stock is going to soar when GTAIV is released? There's not a man or child who isn't buying that game or begging their parents to let them play. Suits are so effing stupid. Think about this. I live in L.A. and the property value skyrocketed and people spent frivolously only to discover that (gasp) Property values were dropping and their 4 million dollar home is now only worth 2 million! Oh no, time to sell and buy a more lavish mansion that won't decrease, right? Wrong. If those idiots would have held onto their investment, in five to ten years it would be worth triple. These things happen. Land NEVER decreases in value (unless there's a horrible chemical spill or zombie attack. Personally, I would think the value would increase from a walking dead infestation...but that's just me) and I doubt the team that has the rights to the biggest franchise in recent history will either.

EA was a cool company back 10 years ago but now since they become the big fat cat corporation i think they are lame and just pump out lame games just to make some cash .... all the Hollywood movie video games... but now i think they are just trying to raise their stock for their investors, so they will buy up all the video game companies they can, and really dont care what happens to these great classic games. but i think the sad thing is that none of these companies investors care about these games they just want money from them. but i think these games change the world =P

marx got his ideas from an evolutionary biologist -_- but every economic ideal has had its downsides.

marx got his ideas from an evolutionary biologist -_- but every economic ideal has had its downsides.

I'm pretty sure this is what Marx meant by capitolism consuming itself.

to robinsnestkc: monopolys STIFLE innovation. yes, for corporations it is about the profit motive, but the more companies out there (even as big as they are) the more variation in innovation we will see. do we want the same cookie cutter sports games EA pumps out every year (high profile music, urban/street themed counterpart, no change in game play from the last year). HELL NO. let some other big name company try and suck at it for a change! it's REDICULOUS. in the end, it may all just be for money, without creative consideration for the customers, but nonetheless, we need to protect purity in franchise games and stimulate innovation by keeping the idea of monoply's far from our vidja games.

I wont be buying GTA IV if i see the EA logo on its box !

Take Two is pretty much the last stand against EA. cuz next up, EActivision. And that's just a torrid monopoly. The shareholders have to know that this is going to be a terrible occurance in the game industry if EA becomes the only 3rd PP in existance, thus negating any opportunities for investments in upstart game producers in the long run since EA will control everything. It almost already does, really!

LEAVE GTA ALONE!!!!!!!! Don't ever mess on this game, the last true game...

One word. Monopoly! EA is trying to monopolize the gamming industry

Can any of you EA haters answer a question for me. If EA makes so many crappy games why do they have enough money to purchase take two. Do you know were their money comes from? Us, the consumer. Half of you are saying I hate EA and I have never bought EA and I never will. If that is the case how do you know it their games are horrible. And for those of you who keep buying games that suck you are stupid. You all need to stop crying about things you have no control over. IT IS ABOUT THE MONEY. Not the customer.

Now the gamers see who the companies really cater to. Stop buying the games and buy their stock if you want a say kids!

I dislike EA's business tactics. They're taking out the competition by buying them. That's bad for us gamers. I don't understand why some people want this to happen. Less competition = less quality in the games. Look what happened with the NFL games. 2K sports had the best football games, EA bought the rights, and now NFL games suck. There's no competition. I can't understand why you people don't realize this.

this is getting out of hand, i hope EA stop doing this after the take-two thing is over

i dont care personally as long as gta goes the burnout route dev wise, just recently paradise "copied" gtas open worldedness. who cares, it is new to the genre. and to those who say srs street racing syndicate did it first. that game was lame anyway.

I personally have nothing against EA

this was never going to be pretty

GTA V will be borify by EA. If they are taking over Take Two, then I hate them! Hope they DON'T borify the Civilization series which is a trademark of success in Take Two. I hope all of the smaller game conpanies unite to stand against EA. They're so corrupt. Like Paypal! I had lost some 500 dollars because paypal freeze my account for no reason whatsoever. I haven't even had a single transaction. Curse those Two!!! I'm way off topic, right? 3 words to all of you: "I HATE EA".

Back in the days of Future Cop LAPD, EA were great. But nowadays it's like they are just strying to upset us gamers, I mean, how many times have they re-used the same ideas....

Stand Fast! GTA IV is comming, that will poison pill them, just hold on...

I don't like EA as much as the next man, They have a nasty habit of screwing things up. Plus they are the only company that I can think of off the top of my head that region lock there games, and that just makes me mad I think region Locks should be made illegal cos its immoral. Why should I buy a game twice just because I moved to another part of the world. I had to pay through the nose for a Pal version of C&C 3 :)

I dont like EA, and i dont want them to continue gobbling up the competition because it does not want to "compete for customers". This would take the fun out of what is left of the "free market" in sports.

Good, maybe we can get some decent games for the Wii, like Midnight Club and GTA. All we see now from Rockstar are crappy, cheap ports of PS2 games.