Rumor: Activision interested in acquiring Take-Two Interactive

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A new rumor from analyst Mike Hickey is stating that Activision Publishing is interested in acquiring Take-Two Interactive, the publishers behind games such as Grand Theft Auto series.

Take Two’s stock today saw a dramatic increase following the note. Hickey noted that there’s an “emerging romance” between Activision and Take-Two recently. Apparently, Take-Two and Activision are interested on making a movie studio together based upon their popular game series.

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“For Activision, acquiring Take-Two Interactive would be a no-brainer, in our view, circling some of the strongest development talent and owned IP in the world, within a company that has nearly $1 billion in cash and trades at a comparably lower multiple,” Hickey said.

Take-Two admires Activision’s “deep connections to Hollywood” and its capabilities in making massively multiplayer online games, such as “World of Warcraft” and “Diablo.”


The two publishers could become a gaming giant, and could help Activision enter the movie industry with some of Take Two’s series. Another big thing that would come out of a possible acquisition is that Activision would become the owner of some of the biggest developers in the world. Currently, Activision has the Call of Duty team under it’s roof, and Bungie. With this possible acquisition, Activision would then own Rockstar Games as well.

“With the acquisition of Take-Two Interactive, Activision would have arguably the three strongest development studios in the world with Rockstar Games, Bungie and Blizzard,” Hickey said.


Previously, EA made a bid for Take-Two, but Take-Two turned them down. Activision would have to have a strong proposal to Take Two on an take over matter.

The investor also noted that Activision could use Take Two titles to balance out their “annualization” of franchises.

“The opportunity for Activision to intelligently layer future releases from Rockstar, Bungie and Blizzard, could in-part enable Activision to annualize future performance from what today is arguably a less linear performance profile.”

“We would also note that Activision’s mega performance foundation with World of Warcraft is trapped within a life cycle decline, their Skylanders franchise will face considerable pressure from Disney and Call of Duty is vulnerable to franchise fatigue from consistent annual iterations. Therefore, acquiring GTA, Red Dead, Borderlands (now owned, partnership deal that would likely transfer…), NBA 2K, BioShock… etc. Along with the potential performance opportunity from a new MMO and movie adoption of GTA from Rockstar Games… Acquiring Take-Two Interactive would seem like a very smart move for Activision.”


All of this is just a rumor for right now, and nothing official has been stated.



Posted:
Related Forum: Grand Theft Auto Forum

Source: http://www.charlieintel.com/2014/08/29/rumor-activision-interested-in-acquiring-take-two-interactive/

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"Rumor: Activision interested in acquiring Take-Two Interactive" :: Login/Create an Account :: 52 comments

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EstablishedGamingPosted:

NO THIS CANNOT HAPPEN! They will destroy the franchise.

AchePosted:

"With this possible acquisition, Activision would then own Rockstar Games as well."
^^^
If this happens im done with gta, sadly.

StonerzardPosted:

A lot of people don't get it do they? A publisher pumps in money to the game, and they get a percentage back afterwards, it's their job to bring in publicity and to spend money on any PR campaigns. That's it. The developers make the game, hence why Activision's name is on a lot of games, because they publish, not develop.

GILFPosted:

-Mercer I think this would be a good thing for take-two and activision!


I agree I thin this would be great for both companies and benefit them massively

DragonPosted:

I think this would be a good thing for take-two and activision!

BeetPosted:

Hollywood_Undead
FluffyisEpik
Hollywood_Undead To all you idiots:
Activision is a PUBLISHER
NOT A DEVELOPER.


Get your facts straight before you judge a good publisher by their crappy developers.


Basically the publisher calls the shots and says what goes and what doesn't. I think people are just afraid that they will turn GTA into Call of Duty releasing it annually.




Not entirely.
All publishers do is publish the game to major stores.
They are the ones that print out copies.
They're the ones that help the game get where its going.
Developers call the shot, its their own game.
But publishers have to make sure the game is fulling working or they will refuse to publish it.

EX: Activision will not publish GTA unless the Online comes with it bug-free


Activision is a business. The people in Activision are not game designers they are businessmen. They have corporate goals and when those goals are not met there are consequences. Their main concern is not keeping the consumer(YOU) happy but keeping the stock holder happy. The development teams are investments of the company as they are linked to them under contract. They tell the developer what they need done and set a deadline. If the deadline is not met they either release the product in its current state or their are consequences(fines, lay offs, firings, etc.)

As for your statement the publishers don't make the calls the developers do, that is part correct and part incorrect. The developer decides how they are going to make a game based on their resources and their deadlines. With the approval of the publisher they decide on a name.

The publisher decides the type of game, the title, who makes it, and when it comes out. Activision won't let Treyarch go off and make another spiderman game. It has to be Call of Duty:________. Activision sees Treyarch as an investment and they will look over the heads of that investment so it will make them the money they need so the Robert Kotick(CEO of Activision) can get even more rich.

Is Activision a good Publisher? Well by the book they are a good and stable business. They give their developers huge budgets and staff, but tend to milk out game franchises. Ex. Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero, Call of Duty.

PolygonPosted:

I see a lot of people saying "NO, ACTIVISION RUINS GAMES".
They don't make the games.
They just publish them.

People forget that it's a business.
The more income, the better.

XBL-ABPosted:

FluffyisEpik
Hollywood_Undead To all you idiots:
Activision is a PUBLISHER
NOT A DEVELOPER.


Get your facts straight before you judge a good publisher by their crappy developers.


Basically the publisher calls the shots and says what goes and what doesn't. I think people are just afraid that they will turn GTA into Call of Duty releasing it annually.




Not entirely.
All publishers do is publish the game to major stores.
They are the ones that print out copies.
They're the ones that help the game get where its going.
Developers call the shot, its their own game.
But publishers have to make sure the game is fulling working or they will refuse to publish it.

EX: Activision will not publish GTA unless the Online comes with it bug-free

CearnsyPosted:

Hope none take over EA are terrible and so are Activision both rush to get their games out

RWDPosted:

well thank god they turned down ea are we all know how it would end up


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