Tendo City

From GAF:

Quote:Posted by Josh Freund at 09:08:43 AM EST on 12.20.2004.



Electronic Arts announced today that it is buying a lot of shares in France-based Ubi Soft. 19%, to be precise. This has fueled speculation of a total buy-out by EA. Yes, EA could easily buy Ubi Soft if they wanted to.

"Electronic Arts is unlikely to stop at the 20 percent threshold. There is an industrial logic behind this move. They must be gearing up for an acquisition," one sector analyst said.

You may know Ubi Soft as the company behind such popular titles as the Tom Clancy games (Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six, etc.) and Prince of Persia. What effect this EA transaction will have on Ubi Soft's future titles is unknown at this time, but if EA decides to do a total buyout, you can bet on some changes, whether better or worse.

The 19% shares transaction will be completed after EA gets U.S. anti-trust clearance. If anything else develops, we'll be sure to let you know.

Guys, this is really, really scary. Ubi Soft is the best third-party developer in the west and EA is the most evil developer in the world, and if they get a hold of Ubi... holy shit. That's some of the worst news I could ever think of. All of that creativity will go down the drain. Forget about ever seeing something unique from Ancel again (unless he jumps ship).

:crap:

Can't they just say no?

If the man holding the shares wants to sell to EA there's nothing that anyone else can do.

It'll only be a matter of time before Ubisoft is forced to make watered-down sequels to their games and then EA closes them because they aren't making enough money or just because EA hates us. The second downfall of the videogame industry is closer than we all thought...

Then they just have to say no when they try and buy the shares. Can't they just refuse to sell shares to certain people?

FUCK. This is so depressing. :( I hate EA with all my black little heart.

Oh a few good games come out of there every now and then.... Too bad that's all I have to say good about them.

Quote:Then they just have to say no when they try and buy the shares. Can't they just refuse to sell shares to certain people?

If EA offers the stockholders enough money [or at least the ones with the most shares] they'll most likely sell out, it's sad but that's the way business works for some people. If they wanted to they could say no, of course, but a lot of times they don't because they want money and don't really care about the company they have stock in.

Yeah.

Stock holders can reject a buyer if they believe it will ruin the company and detrimental to its future.

The Power is still in the hands of the people dont buy EA products ! Boycott all their sports titles ! Boycott all their games !

Capcom publishes Blizzard's games in Japan. Boy I bet they can't wait to get ahold of World of Warcraft. I wonder if Blizzard will have seperate servers for Asia or do like Squeenix and let both regions use the same servers and incorporate a translation system (various words and phrases you can start typing and tell it to find a phrase closest to that to translate it into, so when you say it it appears in whatever language the reader has the version of... um yeah...). The idea of playing with crazy Japanese people, who I hear are actually another species, might be enough to get me to get that game. I'd be a Tauren, and I'd call myself Dasher.... no wait... Dasho, that sounds cooler and less... reigndeer...

Only sell like 49% of your stock, then you can never be taken over :D.

That's what you think.

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/574/574482p1.html

Quote:December 20, 2004 - After buying exclusive rights to make the only official NFL videogame, Electronic Arts today shocked (and maybe horrified) the industry by moving to acquire 19.9% interest in Ubisoft, the French publisher and developer of games such as Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six and Prince of Persia.



If it can hurdle US regulators, the almost 20% block share bought from Dutch investor Talpa Beheer (which held a minority share), the holding company of billionaire TV producer Jon De Mol, shows there is little that stands in EA's way to buy whatever and whoever it wants. The agreement is said to have cost between $85 million and $100 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.

EA would not say whether this purchase meant it's intent on buying the whole company, but it does mean that EA will have a say in future transactions.

But a Ubisoft spokespeson said it would consider such a stake "hostile," until the firm acquired more details from EA. "Pending further information, we consider this operation as hostile," an Ubisoft spokesman told Reuters. "We think this operation is aimed at securing the studios of Ubisoft that are ready to face the next generation of gaming consoles."

With this potential purchase, EA will become the largest single shareholder in the French company. That's a larger share than even the original founders who control 15%.

EA has had partnerships before, including its role with Square prior to Sony buying a significant share (remember Square-EA?). This move also could be to ward off potential suitors, such as Microsoft, from buying Ubisoft.

Earlier this year EA also acquired Criterion Software, the developers of the Burnout series as well as its own Renderware software. EA has also been making moves in China where it is looking for acquisition candidates.

We'll have news on EA's mad rush to acquire other companies as soon as, erm...who knows, tomorrow?

EA is the devil, to quote Penny Arcade.

Yes.

I really wish they didn't own Maxis. What was Will Wright thinking?!

He was probably thinking "Hmm, I like money".

Blizzard North isnt going to make Diablo III they are working on somthing new but its not been announced.

I loved Diablo when I had first played it , But after so many RPGs I have seen it just a clickfest ,That game could probaily dull out the mouse.