Microsoft says EA purchase rumor is false

Electronic Arts stock jumped 4 percent Wednesday amid talk that Microsoft might be interested in buying the major video-game publisher.

However, Microsoft spokesman David Dennis dispelled the rumor.

[Turn 10 Studios]

Duh

[Shadow Flare]

would EA want to be 'owned'?

I don't think so...

[Dragun619]

EA is doing fine already, It has plenty of Developers, Popular franchises (Madden, Sims, Battlefield, Mass Effect, Dead Space, Burnout, etc), and is making great profit by supporting and releasing games for all major platforms.

Why would EA allow themselves to be eaten by Microsoft. It would disrupt the games industry as a whole and leave many gamers out.

[RememberThe357]

You have to be a moron to believe it, even if it was true...

[morganfell]

It isn't like Microsoft has a documented history of buying studios with great dev teams and then dissolving them....

[Saaking]

MS purchasing EA would not be good for anyone. ESPECIALLY gamers.

[Jamegohanssj5]

For now that is.

TGSI

[Microsoft Xbox 360]

There goes the dream of many 360 fanboys.

[Aclay]

Of course it's false.... if Microsoft hadn't made strides to acquire Bioware before EA did or Epic Games yet, why in the world would try to tackle a Multi-Billion Dollar Publisher like EA out of the blue? EA's Revenue for the 2009 Fiscal Year was over 4 Billion... I can't even imagine the amount of money it would take to acquire them.

The rumors about EA possibly eying THQ is something that I can believe, because they have a nice track record of acquiring big Studios this gen. but never for a second did I believe the rumors about M$ acquiring EA.

[orange-skittle]

Their stock jumped because the word is out that they are interested in buying THQ. This would create a major problem with the UFC President Dana White since he statement on record by saying "F*CK EA!" Madden sales are down every year and UFC Unleashed is outselling Fight Night R4 and will destroy their new MMA fighting game due out next year. This would also give EA the Saints Row franchise allowing them to compete with GTA. We all remember when they tried to buy Take-Two(publisher of GTA), so they are strategizing to still corner the market.

EA is known for these takeover manuevers because they hate competition. You saw them buy every professional football license(CFL,NFL,AFL,NCAA) as well as the ESPN license so that Take Two(2K Sports) couldn't make another. They bought the ESPN license and never used it. That was made clear when EA used NFL Network's Fran Charles and Alex Flannigan instead of ESPN's Chris Berman or Stewart Scott. They never incorporated any ESPN tags on anything to promote their purchase. It was clearly a chess move to block 2K from competing.

[Golfcoachh]

Ea has a market cap of 6.4 billion dollars, to obtain 50.1% of the public shares it would probably cost them in the multiple billions of dollars. So I don't think that would happen. They could, but they wouldn't

[morganfell]

Oh noes! I'm a most disappointed bot!

Wait, that was not a good imitation.

Oh Nos, im a mst disponted bot!

[Jamescagney]

Lol, I see what you did there. You missed out some of the letters of the words and said that's what a bot would do!

Lol, that's the funniest thing I've ever seen.

[TheColbertinator]

Hahahaha....no

[NMC2007]

morganfail, I like that name for you better.
See, I am a bot and I spelled everything correctly.

[morganfell]

As Chiun said, "Even a fool is occasionally blessed with luck."

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Well, you're already a raging Sony dipsh!t.. Might as well add one more to your resume(disappointed bot).

[MetalGearRising]

Microsoft could have killed Sony with one stone yet they too pity maybe another day.

[TheColbertinator]

You intentionally proved Morganfell's imitation.

[Jamescagney]

Maybe my sarcasm was unwarranted. You bots disappoint me.

[NegativeCreep427]

I thought you owned a PS3, MGR? I remember you telling some tell tale about being neutral and looking at stories like this with a more impartial perspective?

"...with one stone yet they too pity maybe another day."

Yeah forget about the PS3, you should consider buying Hooked on Phonics. It be good too for day you maybe move out of mommy's walk-in closet some another day.

[Obama]

"You unintentionally proved Morganfell's imitation. "

fixed.

[kaveti6616]

I just wrote on the rumor article, and I'll say again, it just would not make sense financially for EA to allow themselves to be bought out, but the top people can probably be bribed.

[iceman2929]

for some reason that made me think of Indiana Jones... ( who is working on the ark!? Top Men Dr. Jones...)

[evilmonkey501]

I just watched that yesterday....

[air1]

if micro has the chance to buy EA and they dont, they are just plain stup!d..

no madden on the ps3 will hurt sony bad...

[OGharryjoysticks]

EA knew it and swung the exclusivity deal because they have money.

2K basketball craps on Live and that is what would have happened to Madden had they not rigged the game.

But if EA had been a Microsoft only company they would have lost exclusivity of the NFL license because the NFL would never allow only one platform to have an NFL game. So I was actually hoping this take over would happen because I don't own any EA games and wish I could buy NFL2K11

[Saaking]

MS sucks anyways so good for EA.

[NMC2007]

Yep, MS sure does suck, Sony has always been the superior company as far as gaming goes, I bet their next console will not have the RROD, that will be replaced by the YLOD, they love to copy Sony anyway so why not.

I can't wait for this killer app!!

[GiantEnemyCrab]

LOL!!!!! Simple Jack 2!!! hahaha +bubs for that!!

I never realized it but I think Saaking might be Simple Jack himself.

Bu bu bu bu I lu lu lu luv my pee pee pee esssss tha tha thareee.

[JonnyBigBoss]

Thank goodness. It would sure hurt the gaming industry if they did.

[MicroSony4Life]

I hope that not a picture of you cause you look like a real AHOLE

[PtRoLLFacE]

i dont think that will ever happen but just imagining lol it will be a disasters for sony if something like that would it happen

[glennc]

i dont think it would be a disaster as MS would just make money on every EA PS3 game. sony would still make the same money (unless MS wanted to be a$$holes about it and we all know all 3 companies are good at that) but restricting PS3 games would make the company (EA) worth less than they paid for it.

[TheGuardianFID]

to realize this rumor was crap when I first heard about it, crap confirmed!!! :D

[madkrazygames]

LMAO.....But honestly why would Xbox only owners want Microsoft to purchase EA? What would they benefit out of that? EA would end up losing major licenses like Madden and NBA Live. That would be a bad move on EA. M$ need to focus on getting more first party studios to compete with Sony's, plain and simple.

[JayAllard]

:D This has given us many a laugh around the office. It would be great in many ways, but it's not happening. Ever.

-J

[olLANDSHARKlo]

If Microsoft really wanted to destroy Sony and end them, they would do this. Me being a multiple platform gamer, it probably wouldn't be a good move.

[PandemicPrawn0]

Apparently Disney and Time Warner are also looking at EA.

If Microsoft don't buy EA I'm sure one of those two will.

MS may end up kicking themselves if they were in a position to but didn't.

[LittleBigSackBoy]

OMG it's true! why would they comment on it otherwise! SNEAKY!

[Double Toasted]

for what they would consider...cheap. Other than that it would just be sand kicked in Sony's face. But I think I heard Sony's heart skip a beat...

[ShabzS]

at all... the only reason ea has big revenues is coz it has games that come out on a yearly basis on multiple platforms which also cater to previous gen consoles .... if ms bought out ea for lets say 10 or even 12 billion how will they get any returns if they turn key franchises of ea into single platform exclusives ...

ea's strenght is its multiplatform multigen catalouge no profits at all for ms if it turns it exclusive to one system

[PandemicPrawn0]

You are absolutely correct in that EA's strength is in their multiplatform titles, so if MS or anyone for that matter were to buy them I don't believe they would cut that revenue stream just to spite the other console makers.

If MS were to buy EA (looks like its not going to happen) I would have thought that all multiplatform deals would have stayed as they were.

of course they almost certainly would have selected a handful of IPs to become exclusive to their console, But it would have been in their best interests financially to let EA do what they do best and just take their slice.

[glennc]

it would not be good for the games industry at all. they would act like sony and withhold the PS3 versions for 6 months and then release them just because they can without even considering if they should.

[cmrbe]

I am pretty sure they can. The problem is once they buy EA at 6 billion EA will loose at least half its value when it only release games on the x360. Lets not forget that in the end its all bussiness. 3 billion plus loss in shares is a very big loss.

People should never believe these sort of rumors. What is possible is MS buying induvidual devs like say BioWare whom they should have bought in the first place.

[seifer085]

L4D 2 for PS3 to confirm your status EA (or my wishful thinkin!)

[dkgshiz]

losers.

[ktchong]

why would Microsoft even comment on a rumor?!?

[Ron_Burgundy]

Hopefully EA won't have happen what happened to Rare.....

[kissmeimgreek]

poor rare... :(

[Omega Zues]

Yeah of course MS has some deep pockets but still to buy EA would be something that would take months maybe even years to have the deal finally be done. Look at the whole yahoo.com thing.

[McLuvn]

you know it's true.