Evil Empire considering taking over Evil Empire?

[Queasy]

Complete and Massive Rumor at this point. But still a fun rumor to discuss since the implications of such a merger would be absolutely huge in the games industry.

NEW YORK, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Shares of Electronic Arts Inc (ERTS.O) jumped more than 4 percent to $19.36 on Wednesday on unsubstantiated talk that Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) might be interested in buying the video game publisher, traders said.

"There's talk that Microsoft might be interested in acquiring Electronic Arts. It's unsubstantiated chatter, but it's out there," said Frederic Ruffy, options strategist at WhatsTrading.com in New York.

A London-based trader also cited similar talk as making rounds in Europe. Microsoft shares were up 0.9 percent at $26 on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Ellis Mnyandu; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)

 

[JDub02]

that would certainly give them alot of "in-house" development power for the zune

 

[JDub02]

oh .. and madden might become an xbox exclusive. sony would go nuts.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

Sure, why not?

/shrug

 

[brblx]

pretty vague rumor.

would be insane if it happened, though. i'd sell my xbox immediately, because MS has been going in such a shitty direction already, and bringing in EA would basically seal 360 users' eternally butt-raped fate.

 

[mugs]

I wonder if they would even be allowed to merge. EA is the second (?) largest third-party publisher, and if they were allowed to merge it would probably have disastrous effects on Microsoft's competitors.

On the other hand, Microsoft is pretty far behind Nintendo right now, so looking at the numbers and not the effects it would have on a subset of gamers (us), I guess it doesn't appear to be so bad.

 

[DaveSimmons]

^ if wonder if they'd at least be forced to give up any exclusive sports licenses (are there more besides NFL?)

 

[ChaoZ]

There's no fucking way EA game would go exclusive. That would take away so much revenue from them it's not even funny.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: mugs
I wonder if they would even be allowed to merge.

This is the real question, and it can go either way. After all, there's nothing inherently anti-competitive about having strong in-house development (like Sony and Nintendo already have).

 

[mmnno]

Originally posted by: ChaoZ
There's no fucking way EA game would go exclusive. That would take away so much revenue from them it's not even funny.

They're losing money anyway. And their stock isn't far off of 10-year lows. There will never be an opportunity like this again for MS.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: ChaoZ
There's no fucking way EA game would go exclusive. That would take away so much revenue from them it's not even funny.

This is of course hypothetical, but if Microsoft bought EA you think they'd still publish games for other consoles? I don't think they'd lose that much revenue - it'd force people to buy Xboxes. Madden gamers aren't going to give up Madden.

 

[bdubyah]

Just possibly being able to make Madden an exclusive would make it worth it to MS.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: ChaoZ
There's no fucking way EA game would go exclusive. That would take away so much revenue from them it's not even funny.

This is of course hypothetical, but if Microsoft bought EA you think they'd still publish games for other consoles? I don't think they'd lose that much revenue - it'd force people to buy Xboxes. Madden gamers aren't going to give up Madden.

Yeah, but EA has a whole host of other properties that people aren't going to buy a new system for. It's a tricky equation, I suppose.

 

[mmntech]

As bad as it would be for the industry, I really can't see how EA could be screwed up further.

 

[Kromis]

"Empires rise and fall, but evil is eternal."