Electronic Arts (EA) for Sale - And Why Gamers Should Care

Electronic Arts (EA) is up for sale, and while the discrete maneuverings are going on, gamers should think on what impacts this issue may have on them.

[DaThreats]

It'll be over if Activision owns them

[Blankman85]

Except Activision itself may also be up for sale.

[JBSleek]

No Vendi stock in Blizzard is up for sale. Activision themselves is not up for sale the joint merger is and only 61% of it is.

[adorie]

If that happens, There will be fewer choices for me. I'm gearing up to Boycott Blizzard and anyone associated with them by closing down my wallet to them, their games and sadly, the developers who would be working under them, should this occur.

[zeal0us]

Nexon already offered to buy EA once this year. So if anyone going to try to get EA it would probably them depending on the price.

[SilentNegotiator]

It would be a massive shame if Activision or one of the big three bought them. I can see no good resulting from any of them acquiring EA.

[OneAboveAll]

EA aren't going to sell themselves.

[OneAboveAll]

Since I can't edit my post I will just say that if something ever happened where they did sell, Microsoft should buy them. Complete exclusivity to EA's huge game library and the death of Playstation.

[d0nT wOrrY]

you have such a wide imagination there boy.

[elhebbo16]

yeaaa, no. ea has bin a third party from the begining... and im talking way back so going exclusive NEVER gonna happen

[unchartedxplorer]

......I'm sorry your comment is so retarded in so many ways that I can't comprehend what you are saying.

[Perjoss]

If you are a true gamer you should not wish for the death of sony or the playstation brand (even if you are the biggest MS/xbox fanboy in the history of mankind). One of the best things that has happened this generation is the close competition between Sony and MS. If one of these companies had rocketed ahead you would have seen them stop trying to please customers so badly.

Healthy competition is what keeps these companies trying hard to impress us and win us over.

[Megaton]

It would become a net loss, buying a giant publisher like that and making all of their games exclusive. Their sales would be essentially cut in half, or worse if they also cut PC support.

[Qrphe]

Which would make EA's profits even less than what they are making the purchase a complete mistake

Way to go failed troll

[BitbyDeath]

MS couldn't afford them

[TheController]

That's exactly what we need. Sony to get out of the gaming business so that M$ will have a monopoly on the console market.... Great idea. Imagine LIVE going up to 15$ a month, and the ads on the dashboard to increase or better yet, M$ does what they do best, which is systematically closing down studios one by one until none are left. That sounds like a great idea. /s

[Kran]

Well of course gamers care.

Do you know how many companies that make franchises we know and love that EA bought out that might be affected by this?

[Knight_Crawler]

I think EA should sell all of the studios they bought individually and just focus on the sports and casual market.

If this does happen I hope MS buys Bioware or Bioware buys back them self but get MS to publish there games.

They had a good relationship with MS and Mass Effect one was BOSS compared to 2 and 3.

[Run_bare]

I don't think so, it should remain independent of console makers. Microsoft and Sony should stay out.

[Knight_Crawler]

@run bare - I would like that too becuase this would give Bioware more freedom and time to work on a game but the reality is that AAA games cost million of $ to make and Bioware even if they did find the money to buy them selfs back would not be able to afford to publish a AAA game.

[R_aVe_N]

It would take somebody with some really deep pockets to buy out EA. It is completely possible to do with some company's such as Zenimax or even Google. I could see a company buying them for just the ip's alone that EA owns not to mention the studios involved. If this were to happen I think you would see a shift in all those development teams.

[BitbyDeath]

I'd like to see Google get into the console biz.

[R_aVe_N]

They have just recently started building development teams for facebook games so it is possible for them to expand to Consoles at some point if they see profit in it.

[timur222]

Good article

[SSKILLZ]

what ever happens Sony better better be looking at this

[Blankman85]

SONY can't afford EA

[kane_1371]

It is not about afford, it is about the sense!
they would be insane to not buy if they can, and even more insane to make them exclusive!
buy, and support, gives you both money and edge!
but the smart move would be to buy Ip's or studios, if they are up for sale separately that is.
But I don't really think anything will happen.
They will continue as normal

[Kran]

What is it with you Sony fanboys?

Sony buy this, Sony buy that.

Its not all about Sony.

[xchamp]

Great idea so they can make all EA games exclusive to the PlayStation and destroy the gaming industry /s

[Detoxx]

NOOOOO just think about all the awesome game studios, what will happen to them?

[vortis]

They can go back to being awesome?

[LOL_WUT]

I hope Apple buys them.

[whoyouwit04]

I do and don't only if they are going to come out with a console would I want them to buy them.

[ShabbaRanks]

omg WHAT !?

[ame22]

If EA hadn't foretold of the company leaving a lesser mark in the industry within the next few years it wouldn't be up for sale. Unfortunately, the gaming industry needs to expand even further to sustain itself which may not turn out to be a good thing for us purer gamers.

[byeldell34]

it may be just me but i don't thank EA is for sale.

[enfestid]

Agreed. I'm sure they'd listen if a great offer came along, but that seems unlikely.

The article never states where these rumors are coming from and uses a misleading title. There was a rumor some Chinese company was considering buying them a month or so ago, but that was later revealed to be completely untrue.

[Perjoss]

I hope Valve buys everyone and then explodes into a giant friendly rainbow mushroom cloud that ends all war and suffering. Instead any large scale political disputes will be settled via games of Team Fortress 2.

[Gino_Dino]

LOL.
I need to tweet this.

And yes, I agree. Valve does kick *ss, doesn't it?

[Flavor]

They gonna get bought by some faceless investment group and turned into a cat toy trading company based in Macau.

[Sgt_Slaughter]

I don't care who buys them; I just do not want a phone-related company, (Apple or Google) to buy them.

[Hufandpuf]

Where's the sources that suggest EA is up for sale? EA has made a killing in the mobile market, all of their AAA releases post record numbers. Why make this huge article but not post a single source of info?

[Gino_Dino]

Hi Huf,

The links within the article point to the sources - the one I used is from the NY Post. Here are other sources I referred to for research, if you want to read on it further:

http://games.slashdot.org/s...
http://www.ibtimes.com/arti...

EA itself has refused to comment directly, according to these sources.

[Hufandpuf]

Thanks

[mcstorm]

The only company i can see buying them is microsoft and i dont want to see this happen as it would be the start of the end for sony and nintendo as ea have some of the biggest games like fifa and bf.

If AV went to buy them this would also be wrong too so i really dont know what would happen ro ea. Fingers crossed something happens and something good for the games industry.

[black911]

EA would never let microsoft buy them. Sony would be the only one of the Big 3 that EA would allow to buy them.

[Swiggins]

And you base this on what?

-__-

[SDF Repellent]

You gotta be kidding right? Sony just lost like 6 billion dollars this past quarter. LOL

[FCOLitsjustagame]

Why the hell would EA care who bought them as long as they got their money? Microsoft, Sony, EA janitor, Activision, George Bush, Obama, Chad Johnson...whoever, they got the money then they get the company.

[mcstorm]

@black911 where did you get that idea form? Sony could not afford EA. That ia why I said "The only company i can see buying them is Microsoft".

I don't think they will but they are the only ones that could afford them along with AV which would be even worse than MS in buying them as we have seen what they have done to other Studios.

[whoyouwit04]

I remember when this gen first started there was an article saying that by the time the next gen started there wouuld only be 3 to 4 major publishing companies. The big 3 and maybe EA or Activision, looks like they might be right. Man whats going on with the gaming industry? I guess the latest events just prove everyone needs to grow up and be gamers not fanboys.

[GiantFriendlyCrab]

so EA will be bought by jews ?,

[Soldierone]

Its because they are trying to be Hollywood, and gamers don't want Hollywood.

Remember when the video game industry was friendly? It was all about making fun games for the fans, and adding content. Developers couldn't hold themselves back. Now its how much money can they make, how do they make more money? And above all else its them putting millions of dollars into ONE game. "all star" voice overs, all effort going into visuals, and dev teams of thousands of people just so they can churn the game out as fast as possible.....

IF the game industry is struggling, then why not play actual business rules? Lower prices, demand goes up. Selling a game for cheap is better than not selling it at all....I don't know why the Vita model isn't hitting consoles, 35-40 dollar expected price (50 to 55 for the "better" games) Instead its 60 dollars, 15 dollars PER little tiny dlc pack, OR Pay-To-Win crap (yes yes bla bla some free2play games are good, don't need a list)Same with digital prices, they never drop, they are overpriced, and would sell better lower.

"but but you are getting more with a game" yeah, but that 60 dollar price is intimidating and when people don't have money, they will go for something cheaper.

[GiantFriendlyCrab]

what happened to hollywood is happening to gaming

[Soldierone]

Hollywood has always done this and even nearly killed themselves doing it. Take a "business of hollywood class" and they should tell you how they attempted to monopolize theaters and take every last penny of their movie goers.

Thats how we ended up today with studios taking 90 percent of theaters profits, leaving them to raise prices on concession to make any money.

And they still do it, thinking people will pay more to go see a movie, then the following day we see "wah we can't make money wah!" Probably because its nearly 30 dollars to do it now.....

[FCOLitsjustagame]

If they it is all about the money then they would be making fun games. Now its partly about the "art" and how certain guys don't want to make "fun games". They did get to big...their egos that is.

[chukamachine]

Still don't see what games cost $40-60million dollars.

It's not a movie where the main actor gets 10million, the rest a few million and the rest.

I would love a real breakdown of the costs.

Anyone have one?

[Morgue]

The days of " super power game publishers " are dwindling and the glory days of Electronic Arts and Activision are fading.

I have so many old ass C64 games that EA & Activison published back in the day, a huge variety and it seems like the same regurgitated crap every quarter now.

People want to bag on MS for their core exclusives but come on folks.

EA
Battlefield
Madden
NCAA
Medal of Honor
Mass Effect
Dead Space
Need For Speed

Activision
Call of Duty

I mean. Could you imagine if Activision released a new Pitfall Harry game every 7 months for the last 30 years??

[MrBeatdown]

EA isn't that bad. They do plenty of stuff in addition to the ones you listed... Mirror's Edge, Burnout, Dragon Age, SSX, Skate, Army of Two, Bulletstorm, Saboteur, Crysis, Rock Band, Kingdoms of Amalur, Overstrike. Most of those are new for this generation of consoles. Even NFS is pretty different from year to year. Shift for example has nothing in common with Hot Pursuit aside from the fact that they are racing games.

As far as trying new things, I think EA's doing better than most.

[BitbyDeath]

EA should sell Bullfrog and Westwood off to someone who will treat their IP's right.

[ThreshStar]

...are we going to talk about the OVERALL reason why EA, Bioware, Blizzard, Vivendi, etc. are having these issues?

"It's the Economy, stupid." - Bill Clinton

Our current economy has shown no major growth over the past 4 years (since the 2008 collapse). Other companies are feeling these aspects as well:

- Facebook stocks are borderline worthless
- Companies like AT&T and Verizon are pushing bigger deals on smartphones never-before seen to entice more sales
- Major chains like Circuit City, Borders, and even Blockbuster disappear almost overnight.

Even Netflix as big as they are have felt stagnation within the company. The entire economy is in a slow slide downward requiring companies to adjust, borderline panic.

If EA is "quietly" looking for buyers, then you can bet the outlook for the future of the U.S. Economy cannot be good. A major company making amazing amounts of money don't "quietly" look for buyers.

[jack who]

i for one am happy for this and it will happen too more companies that let greed and public ownership get in the way of doing whats right..

lets see day one dlc already on disk save you now

[natalscar]

If true; it is indeed a double edged sword. IMO EA does "ick" as a company (choices, creative decisions etc.) but it really does appear casually as the market is suffering and this may portend of future troubles for other companies. I agree that this extended cycle hasn't been great for gaming in general, although some excellent titles have been released. Too much focus has been placed on generating less creative sequels and catering to the more casual gamers. We need new distinctive IP's with stories that gamers can get excited about. There can only be so many variations of 1st person shooters.

[ChronoJoe]

It'll be interesting because I don't see either EA or Activision being able to find a buyer, so they will need to split their assets up and sell them off, if they want to sell.

Obviously that'll be interesting because different IPs will go in different directions. Sony might be developing the next Crash Bandicoot, Codemasters could be developing the next Battlefield game... etc etc. The former being more sensible / likely than the later.

[melrex]

don't everyone see what's going on.activision,ea,etc.these companies are not losing money,its an lie. the money is being spent on tickets for 2012 boat/plane/underground bunker!

[titans9999]

If this is true, I think the makers of MLB the show should take over the madden games!!!!

[StreetsofRage]

I doubt the entire EA will go for sale, but how about the smaller divisions like Bioware. Microsoft really screwed up by not buying these guys up. Maybe this is their second chance.

Sony has no cash to buy anything from EA. Microsoft has the money but do they need it? They're making huge profits in their gaming division without it.

[Roccetarius]

Well, it's too late to buy up somehing like Dead Space and Mass Effect. The damage is done already.

[hazelamy]

ea for sale?

http://v.cdn.cad-comic.com/...
^_^

[MacDonagh]

The writing is on the wall guys.

[KontryBoy706]

man... if Activision buys EA it's a wrap for the gaming industry as we know it. I hope Valve or steps up to the plate or something quick

[MajorgamerQc]

Im sure this have something to do with next-gen. Maybe they realise that making good game that look good is getting more and more available to the indie devs making EA lose a part of the market.

[TopDudeMan]

Potential buyers:
Sony
Microsoft
Activision
Valve

It is possible they could just sell off a few devs and dissolve.

[DA_SHREDDER]

Imagine if Nintendo bought them out. LMAO! Microsoft should buy them considering they don't have that many first party studios.

[Tzuno]

Well this happens if you milk the same franchises every year and release a new IP once in a while.

[Glitch100]

When the next generation of consoles come out I am sure EA will thrive again. There is always new opportunity with new technology.