[Rumor] Activision Eying 2K Games?

[DoctorFinger]

I'm more than a little hesitant to post this item, but it's gaining steam online and I think I'd now be doing all of you a disservice by ignoring it.

British gaming pub MCV is floating a rumor that Activision - fresh off of cutting 500 jobs and killing the Guitar Hero & True Crime franchises - is potentially looking at a hostile takeover of rival publisher Take-Two Interactive.

It's easy to see why Take-Two is such an attractive target. They control a ton of very attractive properties, but none of them are exploited to the degree that other name properties are. To refresh your memories, here are just some of the properties in their stable: Borderlands, X-Com, Civilization, Max Payne, Mafia, Serious Sam, Red Dead, Bioshock, 2K Sports and of course the crown jewel, Grand Theft Auto. They also topped Metacritic's just announced 2010 publisher rankings. They're all also published in what today's market would call a leisurely pace. None of them (except for the team sports games) are annualized, and they're generally kept in the hands of a single developer. That's almost...quaint for this day and age. So Take-Two is seen by many as an untapped resource, which makes them the belle of the ball so to speak.

Now I know some of you are thinking: this sounds familiar. It should. Back in 2008 EA attempted to acquire Take-Two for $2B, an amount which would have been a big premium over market value, but Take-Two's board successfully held off the acquisition. Many industry watchers thought this was EA's attempt to counter the Activision-Blizzard marriage from the year before. But things have changed for Take-Two in the interim. Not too long ago they were thought of GTA and a bunch of also-rans, but they've built themselves into a publisher with a rich and diverse stable of properties. But they're also facing changes. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has bought up a lot of Take-Two stock in the last few years, and has clashed with the company's board several times, with many analysts speculating that Icahn was seeking buyers for it.

So you have the players. Activision: flush with cash and with some of the surest things in the business but still on the lookout for some more established properties, and Take-Two: overflowing with popular IPs and talent, but they've never managed to crack the 'elite' level of publishers.

What do I think of the deal? Unlikely, at best. Activision is a notoriously conservative company, and a deal of this nature would require a huge amount of capital. If $2B from EA didn't get the deal done in 2008 - before GTA 4 hit and before the emergence of the Red Dead, Bioshock & Borderlands properties - I can't imagine how much money it would take now. It's not an impossibility, but at this point I'd peg the chances as very unlikely.

Sources - MCV;

[Widgetcraft]

I'll will be extraordinarily pissed of this happens.

[DoctorFinger]

Part of me wants this to happen just to see the internet completely melt down. Almost.

[Reverant]

Well, that solves the mystery of where they'll get IPs after killing Guitar Hero and sucking COD dry.

[Kelegacy]

This is not remotely funny. Activision is exactly what is wrong with the industry. Take Two's games are meaty where almost every Activision one is incredibly short and shallow, made hastily and formulaicly predictable. Some of the industry's best properties would be raped by a gang of fat greedy, lecherous men in suits.

Not. Funny.

[DoctorFinger]

Can we get an image of a Dickwolf with an Activision logo on it? It can go next to the EA Borg cube!

[Exodus]

Originally Posted by Reverant

Well, that solves the mystery of where they'll get IPs after killing Guitar Hero and sucking COD dry.

Not to mention killing True Crime.

[Purple Santa]

This rumor is just to depressing to say anything.

[Philonious]

Seeing how well EA has supported Bioware since taking over I would MUCH rather see them gobble of Take-Two then see Activision do it.

[Lekon]

I just... can't imagine why anyone would choose to sell to Activision now. They've shuttered several studios.... while the studios were making money. "Hey, congrats on selling well, you're fired! We only care about our Blizzard stuff now, ha hah!"

[Reverant]

Originally Posted by Lekon

I just... can't imagine why anyone would choose to sell to Activision now. They've shuttered several studios.... while the studios were making money. "Hey, congrats on selling well, you're fired! We only care about our Blizzard stuff now, ha hah!"

2K stockholders would jump for joy. Activision might be the bane of picky gamers, but you can't deny they manufacture money.

[agentgray]

I have pretty much only bought Take Two and Ubisoft games in the last two years.

This is not funny at all because I fear many of those games that I've come to like are going to disappear because they may not be milk-able.

Sometimes I seriously think about just having a new hobby.

[SilentScreams]

While I don't believe that being taken over by Activision is the death sentence that a lot of people make it out to be, I'd rather not see it happen to Take Two.

Activision's strategy is putting out games regularly, which is fine with some games like CoD. They need changing up regularly to keep them fresh...but I don't see a single game on Take Twos list that would benefit from such a thing.

Borderlands maybe...but that's a stretch.
Civ already has a pretty decent release schedule, with the main game getting a new version once every few years and little side projects like Civ Rev and Colonization filling in the gaps.

Nope. I'd be happy to see Take Two carry on exactly as they are.

[jpublic]

What the hell main franchises does Activision have anyway? There's Blizzard's stuff, CoD, the Whatever Heroes games they're killing, and...?

Wait, they have the Shrek and Transformers games too.

[DoctorFinger]

Activision also has the Spider-Man & X-Men franchises, Prototype and Transformers. But 3 of those 4 are licensed properties which can be taken away.

While doing this story I was almost shocked how many good-to-great properties Take Two has. Even the ones which are sort of quiet, like Max Payne, X-Com and Bully all have a ton of potential.

[fitbabits]

I almost posted this earlier, but declined for obvious reasons.

If this happens (and as the good Doc said, it's gaining momentum), the interwebs will asplode.

[carnage11]

Too bad video games don't get those high brow political comic treatments. I can visualize one for this story now.


The Activision monster is hungry.....FEED ME SEYMOUR.

[fitbabits]

It's like Activision took a gaming laxative recently to make way for their latest binge and purge cycle.

[Wilkz07]

good bye Borderlands.. and whatever else 2k makes.

[LongStepMantis]

Originally Posted by agentgray

I have pretty much only bought Take Two and Ubisoft games in the last two years.

This is not funny at all because I fear many of those games that I've come to like are going to disappear because they may not be milk-able.

Sometimes I seriously think about just having a new hobby.

I had a similar epiphany/bout of disgust a few years ago. So I became primarily an indie and retro gamer. I probably play my SNES more than any other system (PC aside).
It was rough at first because I had grown accustomed to the shiny graphics and productions values of modern games, but when it was all said and done, I had more fun playing games from the PSX and earlier eras.

As far as Activison trying to acquire 2K, of course I don't like it. As others have said, I see Activision as one of the big players in why modern games piss me off. I'm not going to shell out top dollar for a game just because it has a recognizable franchise name, which seems to be what they think matters most. Take your overpriced map packs, cash-in titles, and your "can beat it in one sitting" games and shove them up your ass, Activision.