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Electronic Arts is looking to sell or merge

Baron Dupek

Arcane
Joined
Jul 23, 2013
Messages
1,870,765
Original title "They lost FIFA and gave up on life - EA looking for next body to assimilate"
thx



Now who could be blamed for the netcode if that happened - EA or Comcast?

https://kotaku.com/ea-acquisition-apex-legends-star-wars-fifa-nbcuniversal-1848957274

The video game market is consolidating like never before, and Electronic Arts is scrambling like everyone else. The Battlefield and FIFA maker recently pursued a merger with NBCUniversal, and also held potential acquisition talks with Disney, Apple, and other companies, according to a new report by Puck. While a deal isn’t currently in the works, it doesn’t sound like EA plans to give up anytime soon.

“In recent years, as media companies have taken greater interest in the rapidly growing gaming industry, Wilson and Electronic Arts have held talks with a number of different potential suitors, including Disney, Apple and Amazon, sources with knowledge of those talks told me,” wrote Puck’s veteran media reporter, Dylan Beyers. “Several sources familiar with these talks say EA has been persistent in pursuing a sale, and has only grown more emboldened in the wake of the Microsoft-Activision deal. Others say that EA is primarily interested in a merger arrangement that would allow Wilson to remain as chief executive of the combined company.”

But it was apparently a deal with NBCUniversal that got the farthest along. According to Beyers, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts was looking to spin off the entertainment conglomerate into a separate entity with EA, with one version of the deal leaving current EA CEO Andrew Wilson in charge of the new mega-business. Negotiations eventually fell apart over price, however.

*dun-dun*

“We don’t comment on rumors and speculation relating to M&A,” EA spokesperson John Reseburg told Kotaku in a statement. “We are proud to be operating from a position of strength and growth, with a portfolio of amazing games, built around powerful IP, made by incredibly talented teams, and a network of more than half a billion players. We see a very bright future ahead.”

 
Last edited:

deuxhero

Arcane
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Messages
11,325
Location
Flowery Land
If this means EA is hurting for money, I wonder if THQ Nordic can get the funding to grab a bunch of EA's back catalog they aren't doing anything with so soon after the Eidos purchase. Origin, Bullfrog, SSX (lots of licensed music though), Alice, maybe some of the licensed games like James Bond (though those use EA in-house engines for the driving) or Harry Potter there's zero chance of EA getting to re-release would all be worth re-releasing if the source still exists for anything.
 

Sjukob

Arcane
Joined
Jul 3, 2015
Messages
2,052
https://kotaku.com/ea-acquisition-apex-legends-star-wars-fifa-nbcuniversal-1848957274
In recent years, as media companies have taken greater interest in the rapidly growing gaming industry, Wilson and Electronic Arts have held talks with a number of different potential suitors, including Disney, Apple and Amazon, sources with knowledge of those talks told me,” wrote Puck’s veteran media reporter, Dylan Beyers. “Several sources familiar with these talks say EA has been persistent in pursuing a sale, and has only grown more emboldened in the wake of the Microsoft-Activision deal. Others say that EA is primarily interested in a merger arrangement that would allow Wilson to remain as chief executive of the combined company.

Whatever EA’s future holds, one big concern with consolidation is how it will ultimately impact employees at these companies. Even as EA’s reported another profitable year, Kotaku recently learned that an estimated 200 customer service staff are being laid off. According to four of the impacted employees, their work is being outsourced to cheaper third-party vendors in Romania and India.
:lol:

The entire artice is under the spoiler below:
The video game market is consolidating like never before, and Electronic Arts is scrambling like everyone else. The Battlefield and FIFA maker recently pursued a merger with NBCUniversal, and also held potential acquisition talks with Disney, Apple, and other companies, according to a new report by Puck. While a deal isn’t currently in the works, it doesn’t sound like EA plans to give up anytime soon.

“In recent years, as media companies have taken greater interest in the rapidly growing gaming industry, Wilson and Electronic Arts have held talks with a number of different potential suitors, including Disney, Apple and Amazon, sources with knowledge of those talks told me,” wrote Puck’s veteran media reporter, Dylan Beyers. “Several sources familiar with these talks say EA has been persistent in pursuing a sale, and has only grown more emboldened in the wake of the Microsoft-Activision deal. Others say that EA is primarily interested in a merger arrangement that would allow Wilson to remain as chief executive of the combined company.”

But it was apparently a deal with NBCUniversal that got the farthest along. According to Beyers, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts was looking to spin off the entertainment conglomerate into a separate entity with EA, with one version of the deal leaving current EA CEO Andrew Wilson in charge of the new mega-business. Negotiations eventually fell apart over price, however.

“We don’t comment on rumors and speculation relating to M&A,” EA spokesperson John Reseburg told Kotaku in a statement. “We are proud to be operating from a position of strength and growth, with a portfolio of amazing games, built around powerful IP, made by incredibly talented teams, and a network of more than half a billion players. We see a very bright future ahead.”

Over the past year there’s been a frenzy of video game studio acquisitions, one that was sent into overdrive in January after Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two announced it was buying Zynga for $12.7 billion and Microsoft announced it was planning to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard for $69 billion. Sony followed weeks later with a deal to buy the studio behind Destiny 2, Bungie, for $3.6 billion, a price some analysts considered massively inflated and possibly a sign of a new mad rush to consolidate among the gaming industry’s biggest players.

In an earnings call in February, Andrew Wilson implied the company was focused on making acquisitions rather than being acquired. As evidence, EA spent $5 billion over the last year buying up studios to increase its size. But now it appears the publisher has been aggressively pursuing other ways of scaling up. Beyers reports that Wilson approached Disney as recently as March “in pursuit of what sources described as ‘a more meaningful relationship’ than licensing deals.”

This news comes as EA has lost or abandoned some of its biggest existing licensing deals. While the publisher recently revealed three new Star Wars games currently in production, including a new Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order that’s rumored to release early in 2023, its exclusivity deal with Disney for the Star Wars license isn’t going to be renewed when it expires in 2023. That’s allowed competitors like Quantic Dream and Ubisoft to announce their own big Star Wars projects. EA also revealed last week that it’s ending its similar 10-year exclusivity deal with FIFA, and beginning in 2023 will rebrand its blockbuster soccer franchise EA Sports FC.

Whatever EA’s future holds, one big concern with consolidation is how it will ultimately impact employees at these companies. Even as EA’s reported another profitable year, Kotaku recently learned that an estimated 200 customer service staff are being laid off. According to four of the impacted employees, their work is being outsourced to cheaper third-party vendors in Romania and India.

Comcast, Disney, and Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
 

Spectacle

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 25, 2006
Messages
8,363
The death of EA seems like a good thing? What am I missing here?
It doesn't sound like EA is dying, just that they want to become even bigger. So if you think EA dying is good, then this would probably be bad.
 

Jaedar

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 5, 2009
Messages
9,837
Project: Eternity Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker
The death of EA seems like a good thing? What am I missing here?
It doesn't sound like EA is dying, just that they want to become even bigger. So if you think EA dying is good, then this would probably be bad.
Sell or merge implies to me that the management if ea has done a bad job, and are unlikely to remain, even if the company continues to exist in a merged form. And EA's management is responsible for a lot of the things that have scourged gaming in the last 2 decades or so.

It will also serve as an example to others who might otherwise follow in EA's steps.
 

Cassar

Savant
Joined
Apr 7, 2015
Messages
186
If this means EA is hurting for money, I wonder if THQ Nordic can get the funding to grab a bunch of EA's back catalog they aren't doing anything with so soon after the Eidos purchase. Origin, Bullfrog, SSX (lots of licensed music though), Alice, maybe some of the licensed games like James Bond (though those use EA in-house engines for the driving) or Harry Potter there's zero chance of EA getting to re-release would all be worth re-releasing if the source still exists for anything.


It doesn't mean that, it's the opossite. They make more money than ever. They just want to cash in even more for their share holders if the oportunity presents itself.

bp near me with diesel
 

Spectacle

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 25, 2006
Messages
8,363
The death of EA seems like a good thing? What am I missing here?
It doesn't sound like EA is dying, just that they want to become even bigger. So if you think EA dying is good, then this would probably be bad.
Sell or merge implies to me that the management if ea has done a bad job, and are unlikely to remain, even if the company continues to exist in a merged form. And EA's management is responsible for a lot of the things that have scourged gaming in the last 2 decades or so.

It will also serve as an example to others who might otherwise follow in EA's steps.
I think you're pretty naive about the shenanigans the corporate elite can get up to. Look up what happened to Boeing after it merged with McDonnel-Douglas.
 

mondblut

Arcane
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
22,205
Location
Ingrija
When was the last time you have played a game from EA? (and why you are gay if it happened after 1995)
 

Morpheus Kitami

Liturgist
Joined
May 14, 2020
Messages
2,476
I doubt that should they succeed in doing this that any changes will happen. Even if they do, do you want to see them try to make a new Ultima or Dungeon Keeper game?
 
Joined
Mar 3, 2010
Messages
8,818
Location
Italy
Mirror's Edge
speaking of which. to the same period belongs dead space. for a brief moment ea declared it wanted to try something new and forsake the old jewish tricks. it did fairly well for both, and noticing it could be done... ea went straight back to the old ways. ea is not the problem, an ocean of idiots buying shit is.
 

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