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EA to Take-Two: We Were Doing You a Favor!

October 15, 2008 in News comments 8

John Riccitiello has explained, at least in part, why Electronic Arts was so adamant about buying up Take-Two: Because EA "wanted to help" them. It has to make you wonder if EA knew something the rest of us didn’t.

When asked about why EA was suddenly interested in buying Take-Two, the EA boss made it sound like he was trying to do the BioShock developer a favor:

"[We wanted] to help that company get through what has been an uneven profit experience."

EA wanted to help. How nice of them. It makes you wonder just how much (or how little) they ever cared about Take-Two in the first place, and when you get comments like this from BMO Capital Markets:

"We do not believe there is another serious bidder for Take-Two in the short term."
PacoDG via bingegamer.net »
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  • 0
    BlackLabel Oct 15, 08
    Well EA knew something as did the rest of the world, Take-Two were in the shit financially they still are i would imagine, yes GTA IV sold lots and earned lots of money but publishers have a habit of only recouping the money they spent on the game plus a small percentage of profits which still means most of the money went to Rockstar Games so they are still in financial troubles. EA has the money to keep a float all the developers out there so they would have helped Take Two a lot.
    • 0
      black doom Oct 15, 08
      Somehow that really sounded like a deal with the devil scenario.
  • 0
    MusiKon Oct 15, 08
    What kind of favor? These days, the name Rockstar Games alone sells games. So Take-Two is doing fine in that aspect.
    • 0
      Final Blade Oct 15, 08
      Not really, had you read BlackLabel posts, you'd clearly see that T2 doesn't get the most profits gained from the game as much as R*. T2 in a way took a road that 'could' hurt them.
      • 0
        Daigoji_Gai Oct 16, 08
        Very true, also worth noting that, EA's move towards supporting third party developers may not be a bad thing. They teamed up with Valve for Orange Box, are working with Shuda 51 and Grasshopper on some upcoming releases (during a recent interview Shuda 51 had nothing but praise for this new direction EA is going on and emphasized they maintain full creative control - EA only markets and distributes)... there are a few other examples of it being not so bad as well - teaming up with Crytek to get Crysis and Crysis Warhead out...

        I will *itch and complain as much as the next guy about EA developed games, especially when they put out the same crap year to year that are light on features; but them using their power to help market and distribute games from guys like Shuda 51 - AND allowing them to do whatever they want = awesome.
        • 0
          MusiKon Oct 17, 08
          I guess you have a point. If the only thing EA intrudes upon on the development of a game is finances (which I'm sure they can support), then it won't be that bad a move.
  • 1
    Big A2 Oct 17, 08
    Then again, communists just "wanted to help".
    • 0
      Final Blade Oct 17, 08
      Then again, EA isn't communists.

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