Analyst Convinced EA Will Buy Take-Two

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

EA and Take-Two's drawn-out acquisition dance has been dragging on since February of this year, but in the end, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter is certain EA will buy the Grand Theft Auto maker.

"We remain convinced that EA will prevail in its bid for Take-Two," said Pachter in a Friday investor note. "Now that EA has received FTC approval for the combination, the company is not under any pressure to keep the negotiations alive."

EA recently withdrew its offer of $25.74 per share, or around $2 billion total, to enter friendly talks with Take-Two regarding a buyout.

Take-Two management has repeatedly said that the amount offered is "inadequate."

Pachter added, "In our view, Take-Two management is interested in completing an acquisition by EA or by another party. We think that management has chosen to pull out all stops to demonstrate the company?s earnings power this year..."

The Grand Theft Auto franchise and the corresponding talent behind it have been obvious factors in EA's desire to acquire Take-Two. But since GTA IV is now in the rearview mirror, Take-Two may have lost leverage.

"Now that the 'GTA trade' is behind us, we think that EA may decide to demonstrate its leverage by threatening to walk away," Pachter said.

When speculation circulated this week that merger talks were going truly sour, Take-Two shares slid 5.6 percent.

At market close Friday, Take-Two shares were up 2 percent to $23.75.

Pachter stated, "...We believe that [EA] can complete a deal at a lower price by breaking off negotiations and cooling its heels for a few weeks. However, we think that EA has 'deal lust' and vastly prefers a friendly deal.

"Thus, we expect the company to increase its bid by a modest amount (likely $1-2) in order to complete a friendly deal."

Source: EDGEb>

[bobbytomorow]

It would be another sad day for gamers. EA may have the casual market sure but any self respecting hard core gamer has had them on boycott for ages and buying out 2K will only make that worse. Less choice for us is always a horrible thing. I freaking hate EA.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Maybe this won't be a bad thing. Lets just see how it turns out.

[zape]

But since GTA IV is now in the rearview mirror, Take-Two may have lost leverage.

Do you honestly think people give a **** about the GTA IV Xbox 360/PS3 version? No.

November 18 2008 is where its at; GTA IV is not in the rearview mirror at all.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Do you honestly think people give a **** about the GTA IV Xbox 360/PS3 version? No.

Are you being serious? :blink:

[lalalawawawa]

It would be another sad day for gamers. EA may have the casual market sure but any self respecting hard core gamer has had them on boycott for ages and buying out 2K will only make that worse. Less choice for us is always a horrible thing. I freaking hate EA.

You are not the only one. My hope remains with Valve and Blizzard.

Are you being serious?

Actually he is right (a little). GTA IV may have sold massively on the PS3 and 360, but the little kids wait it for PC, because not everyone has PS3/360. At least here in my city, if you go to a gaming club, you'll never see someone playing GTA IV on the PS3s that they have, but everyone playing GTA SA on PC. Many of them are saying that they are waiting for GTA IV for PC. Not that they are going to buy it, but at least they are waiting for it and not caring about the console version.

[Smigit]

Do you honestly think people give a **** about the GTA IV Xbox 360/PS3 version? No.

10 million + sales says otherwise.

Anyway I used to really hate EA's practices. Now days I think they are at a turning point. Yes they still churn the sports titles out but they are also handling other franchises better and forming partnerships with some rather important developers such as ID and Valve which surely means they are doing something right in their partners programs. Also there are several EA games I've liked in the past 12 - 18 months and a few more on the horizon.

[Ayepecks]

I still think this will be a good move for everyone -- EA, Take Two, and gamers. The only negative would be if EA only keeps one sports brand and they don't advance the gameplay at all.

[what]

Do you honestly think people give a **** about the GTA IV Xbox 360/PS3 version? No.

Let's get something cleared up here. What you think != what everyone else thinks. I run a GTA website and GTA IV on the consoles is far from dead. The biggest thing at the moment is what will come in the episodic content packs, not GTA IV for PC. In fact, most people don't give two hoots about the PC version, because they know it'll be ruined by the same thing every other PC game is ruined by: high system requirements, DRM, and cheating online.

[zape]

Are you being serious? :blink:

Yes

10 million + sales says otherwise.

Anyway I used to really hate EA's practices. Now days I think they are at a turning point. Yes they still churn the sports titles out but they are also handling other franchises better and forming partnerships with some rather important developers such as ID and Valve which surely means they are doing something right in their partners programs. Also there are several EA games I've liked in the past 12 - 18 months and a few more on the horizon.

I bet you the PC version will do triple that....

Let's get something cleared up here. What you think != what everyone else thinks. I run a GTA website and GTA IV on the consoles is far from dead. The biggest thing at the moment is what will come in the episodic content packs, not GTA IV for PC. In fact, most people don't give two hoots about the PC version, because they know it'll be ruined by the same thing every other PC game is ruined by: high system requirements, DRM, and cheating online.

ALL BS

Games dont have DRM, you can cheat on consoles too, and high system requirments? It looks better than your limitations :)

Look I was not looking to start a PC vs Console thing; I was just stating that GTA IV will sell more copies for PC than for concsoles. Thats my opinion.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Oh man..

Next time you post your opinion, don't come out with ridiculous statements like nobody cares about GTA on consoles.

[Kreuger]

As long as EA doesn't hamper any further game releases in the franchise, then I don't mind.

[Rookas]

It would be another sad day for gamers. EA may have the casual market sure but any self respecting hard core gamer has had them on boycott for ages and buying out 2K will only make that worse. Less choice for us is always a horrible thing. I freaking hate EA.

EA has been on a roll lately, they've got some great new IP's on the horizon also. I think this is good news, it just means more money for Take-Two which can't be a bad thing. Remember, EA is under new management and it shows. It's like they're Electronic Arts again, so maybe EA no longer translates into "Satan".

[theyarecomingforyou]

If this happens I fear that we won't see GTA4 released on Steam, which would be terrible. For that alone I hope that EA doesn't succeed.

[macrosslover]

EA has been on a roll lately, they've got some great new IP's on the horizon also. I think this is good news, it just means more money for Take-Two which can't be a bad thing. Remember, EA is under new management and it shows. It's like they're Electronic Arts again, so maybe EA no longer translates into "Satan".

I will say I'm impressed with Dead Space and the way that's looking, but other than that I still feel EA is a crap company. This is my personal opinion now, but I think they are one of the absolutely worse at the crap annual sequels. It's like they spend more development time making new copy protection code than they do making the game better.

Let's look at the new Harry Potter game that was forced to be delayed. I'll admit it does screw EA that they are going to miss the holiday sales window for this game, Warner Brothers really should pay some penality for that, however that said, do we honestly think they are going to use this extra 10 months to make a better game? Obviously I can't say for certain, but I bet they just shelf it for 10 months and not spend another dollar on it, when they can turn this negative into a gift horse and make the best movie-tie in recent memory.

[Ayepecks]

You're saying a company is bad because they delayed a game? What?

[macrosslover]

that's nowhere near what i said.

[Ayepecks]

Actually, it's very near what you said. Read your second paragraph. All I wanted was clarification, because that is the clear impression you gave me.

[Smigit]

I bet you the PC version will do triple that....

I'd like to bet otherwise. Infact I'd say 5 million would be a stretch. I can't vouch for how accurate this chart is, but heres wikipedia's list of top selling PC titles. For that list at least not a single GTA PC title even factors into the list. Even if it did it's certainly nowhere near the mark you seem to believe.