most terrifying rumour ever-Activision to buy Take-Two

[metallicorphan]

I really hope this is just CVG jumping the gun again and talking shit

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/288465/news/activision-to-swoop-for-gta-owner/

Activision is reportedly eyeing an acquisition of Grand Theft Auto owner Take-Two.

"There are very strong rumours amongst people at a very senior level within the global business," a senior games executive told MCV.

"But there're not much more than that at the moment - they are just rumours. And, of course, given Activision's news this week, everyone is now looking to see what their next move is. But you can definitely put two and two together and make four-ish."

If true, such a move would potentially unite brands like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption and BioShock.

In 2008, Activision's chief rival EA unsuccessfully attempted to acquire Take-Two in a deal that would have been worth about $2 billion.

Earlier this week, Activision announced its intention to axe the Guitar Hero business unit in order to focus on more profitable areas of its operations.

FWIW-other sites are reporting it also,and CVGs source is MCV

[Larraque]

Hooray! Annual installments of Grand Theft Auto, Bioshock and Red Dead Redemption until the series are no longer profitable!

[Knightshade Dragon]

Awww Hell....first they kill the Hero series (meh on Guitar, WAAAAA on DJ), then True Crime, then Tony Hawk (yaaay!).  What do they have left?

X-Men
Spider-Man
Bond
Call of Duty
World of Warcraft

....and?  I'm starting to seriously question if Kotick has any idea what he's doing.  We already knew he was an asshole, but can you imagine if it was unleashed on a company with unique titles!  There'd be nothing left!

[Purge]

Reminds me of EA back in the nineties.

[CeeKay]

hopefully 2K can fend them off like they did EA.

[leo8877]

hopefully 2K can fend them off like they did EA.

+1

[Dante Rising]

Awww Hell....first they kill the Hero series (meh on Guitar, WAAAAA on DJ), then True Crime, then Tony Hawk (yaaay!).  What do they have left?

X-Men
Spider-Man
Bond
Call of Duty
World of Warcraft

....and?  I'm starting to seriously question if Kotick has any idea what he's doing.  We already knew he was an asshole, but can you imagine if it was unleashed on a company with unique titles!  There'd be nothing left!

Kotick knows what he is doing. WoW and CoD bring in more money than most other publishers dare to dream of.....

[Caine]

hopefully 2K can fend them off like they did EA.

+1

+5 bucks if they need it.

activision just needs to gtfo now.  leave take two the hell alone, kotick.

[Daehawk]

Activision should just make a new Mechwarrior or Heavy Gear .

[CeeKay]

hopefully 2K can fend them off like they did EA.

+1

+5 bucks if they need it.

activision just needs to gtfo now.  leave take two the hell alone, kotick.

we could start a pledge drive!

[leo8877]

hopefully 2K can fend them off like they did EA.

+1

+5 bucks if they need it.

activision just needs to gtfo now.  leave take two the hell alone, kotick.

we could start a pledge drive!

They have one, it's called buy LA Noire

[Graham]

Activision should just make a new Mechwarrior or Heavy Gear .

The rights for Battletech/MechWarrior seem to be with the original creator, but it doesn't seem like he might be quite ready to sell the rights again.  There was that video of a mech game over a year ago IIRC, but no news about it since.

Heavy Gear is a property of Dream Pod 9.  I don't believe that it would be difficult to get the rights to use it.

The thing is, mech games haven't been all that popular lately.  Front Mission Evolved got a tepid reception.  Chrome Hounds has shut down its servers.  It's been a while since we've had a good pure mech game.  It's kind of like space flight simulations like X-Wing, Wing Commander, and Freespace haven't been made recently.  I don't know if we'll see either of these genres make a come back any time soon.

[Space Herpes]

The thing is, mech games haven't been all that popular lately.  Front Mission Evolved got a tepid reception.  Chrome Hounds has shut down its servers.  It's been a while since we've had a good pure mech game.  It's kind of like space flight simulations like X-Wing, Wing Commander, and Freespace haven't been made recently.  I don't know if we'll see either of these genres make a come back any time soon.

Makes me want to cry.  I love space games and mech games.  Also haven't seen much auto combat games.  I76 is still one of my favorite titles.  I really miss these types of games.

[Caine]

The thing is, mech games haven't been all that popular lately.  Front Mission Evolved got a tepid reception.  Chrome Hounds has shut down its servers.  It's been a while since we've had a good pure mech game.  It's kind of like space flight simulations like X-Wing, Wing Commander, and Freespace haven't been made recently.  I don't know if we'll see either of these genres make a come back any time soon.

Makes me want to cry.  I love space games and mech games.  Also haven't seen much auto combat games.  I76 is still one of my favorite titles.  I really miss these types of games.

i would love a good game in any of those genres.  front mission evolved was not a good game in that genre.  they should have stuck with srpg instead.  closest we'll get to anything in those 3 is the new twisted metal, but that's only similar to i76 in that you drive around in both games with weapons on them.  gameplay was nothing alike. 

i fear that mechwarrior game is dead.  too much pollution from the rights owners of robotech i fear.  (remember the mech in the trailer was one of the infamous models stolen from robotech).

[metallicorphan]

it's those darn Analyst again,this time they think this could make EA swoop into action

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/288648/news/activision-take-two-bid-could-trigger-ea-swoop-analyst/

Last week rumours surfaced that Activision is looking to acquire GTA owner Take-Two.

A US analyst has since said that the parent company would accept an offer from the Call of Duty publisher if it put forward a bid of $20-$22 per share.

He went on to say that such a bid could cause rival publisher EA to get involved and perhaps wade in with its own bid for Take-Two

"The market caps Activision at $13bn, EA at $6.1bn and Take-Two at $1.3bn. More consolidation is a no brainer in my opinion, especially after Activision shut down Guitar Hero, True Crime, Tony Hawk," the analyst explained.

"If you're Bobby Kotick with a $13bn market cap, buying Take Two for $1.5-2bn is a no brainer, especially since you have nothing now outside of Call of Duty and Blizzard.

"With Take-Two Kotick picks up IPs like Grand Theft Auto, Bioshock, Red Dead and the NBA 2K series for tiny fraction of his market cap. If I was CEO, I would do it."

"I think Take-Two management would take a $20-22 bid because they looked like fools for saying no to EA's $25 bid last time," he continued. "It's not often you get another chance.

"Activision said on a conference call they shutting down True Crime because it wouldn't be near the top in the 'open world' genre. Maybe that was a hint."

"Kicker is you might get EA to bid too because EA would be worried about stronger resourced sports competitor from an Activision/Take-Two combo."

News of Activision's alleged interest in Take-Two came from a senior games executive last week.

if the worse to the worse i think i would rather see Take 2 in the hands of EA TBH,but of course would rather have Take 2 separate away from these 2,or maybe T2 can unload all their studios before selling,LOL

[Larraque]

The thing is, mech games haven't been all that popular lately.  Front Mission Evolved got a tepid reception.  Chrome Hounds has shut down its servers.  It's been a while since we've had a good pure mech game.  It's kind of like space flight simulations like X-Wing, Wing Commander, and Freespace haven't been made recently.  I don't know if we'll see either of these genres make a come back any time soon.

Makes me want to cry.  I love space games and mech games.  Also haven't seen much auto combat games.  I76 is still one of my favorite titles.  I really miss these types of games.

They need to come out with a new version of mechassault, IMO. I loved those games so much.

"If you're Bobby Kotick with a $13bn market cap, buying Take Two for $1.5-2bn is a no brainer, especially since you have nothing now outside of Call of Duty and Blizzard.

"With Take-Two Kotick picks up IPs like Grand Theft Auto, Bioshock, Red Dead and the NBA 2K series for tiny fraction of his market cap. If I was CEO, I would do it."

This statement terrifies me to no end. If anything, the death of Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero shows you need to diversify your game IPs (like Nintendo) rather than constantly pumping out the same game. It's amazing that Call of Duty has successfully pulled off releasing a new version every year. Sports games aside, I don't think many other IPs are going to be able to pull that off. Bioshock 2 felt like a fast cash-in after the amazing first game.