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Rupert Murdoch Considers Entry to Gaming Industry

Posted by Zonk on from the right-wing-games-to-follow dept.

GamesIndustry.biz reports that News Corporation's Rupert Murdoch is considering acquiring a game publisher. He's apparently "kicking the tires" on everything up to and including EA. From the article: "He highlighted Activision as one games publisher which is being considered for purchase. The Californian company, which is one of the biggest publishers in the world, has a market capitalisation of under $3 billion, compared to around $19 billion for Electronic Arts." It's sobering to consider that as big as EA is within the gaming industry it is small fry compared to the big fish in other sectors.

47 comments

  1. well... by Admiral+Ackbar+8 · · Score: 1

    I doubt he could possibly make EA any worse.

    1. Re:well... by over_exposed · · Score: 1

      Agreed! Who knows, maybe it could get better. Maybe he'll fire all the HR people in the name of "Synergy." Here's hoping!!

      --
      "The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his." - Patton
    2. Re:well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm looking forward to Liberal Hunter; set to compete with Splinter Cell, you play none other than Bill O'Reilly (and based on his umm... best-selling book), taking out the editors and reporters for such media as "The Nation" and "Air America".

      (Yes, yes, I know, Murdoch owns "Air America".)

  2. I can't wait... by nekoniku · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...for EA to release Fox News Presents Virtual Bill O'Reilly including a coupon for a free box of falafel mix.

    --
    "It's a wonderful idea. But it doesn't work." -- Tad Danielewski
  3. Here it comes... by DesScorp · · Score: 1, Insightful

    ...the inevitable Vast Right Wing Conspiracy posts; "Murdoch just wants to turn gaming right like he turned the news right", or something along those lines. Someone will find some reason to complain, and toss in both Fox News and Bill O'Reilly's name into this somehow.

    More likely, it's that Fox has such a vast entertainment holdings that Murdoch simply wants to capitalize on them through the game market. The potential is vast if he does so. Everything from the Predator and Alien franchises, to perhaps a GTA-type game based on the cop series The Shield.

    This is just business opportunity; nothing more, nothing less.

    --
    Life is hard, and the world is cruel
    1. Re:Here it comes... by Fr05t · · Score: 2, Funny

      Too late.. 03:42 PM January 13th, 2005.

      Your post: 03:43 PM January 13th, 2005

    2. Re:Here it comes... by mrseigen · · Score: 1

      The concept of a right-wing game is an interesting one. Provide examples? I'd say that America's Army is pretty conservative.

    3. Re:Here it comes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anything by Wisdom Tree... :P

      And of course you have games like Redneck Rampage and Deer Hunter...

    4. Re:Here it comes... by snwcrash · · Score: 1

      Depends what you call a conservative game. There are all kinds of conservatives out there, and there might be some untapped market just waiting.

      But the safest bet is probably turn out games the way the industry does now, by just making the next shooter or football game. It would be interesting to see if someone could come up with some unique gameplay ideas, but I'm not sure political philosophy will make for big sales.

      Even saying America's Army is conservative is probably debatable, since that made the top ten list of worst games for X-mas I think. I doubt people on the far-right and far-left are big gamers to begin with.

      --
      Save a life, sign your organ donor card.
    5. Re:Here it comes... by MBraynard · · Score: 1
      I doubt people on the far-right and far-left are big gamers to begin with.

      Any evidence of that? Don't be silly - I definitly was a big gamer and a very right wing guy. There are a lot of political views out there in gaming- just listen in on Xbox live sometime.

    6. Re:Here it comes... by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      I find desert combat to be very conservative.

      There is a definate distinction between good guys and bad guys (even if you can play the bad guys).

      Not knocking it, just stating my impression.

      Urban Terror for example has no distinction.

      Also the "good guys" seam to have the advantage in Desert Combat (at least when it is me vs computer, I suck too much for online).

      I can easily win as Coalition, and barly as Opfor.

      I would prefer the game to not call the Good Guys coaltion, even NATO v OpFor (seperating it from the current situation) would make it more fun (for me).

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
    7. Re:Here it comes... by Atzanteol · · Score: 4, Funny

      just listen in on Xbox live sometime.

      I don't know about politics. But there *is* a lot of discussion over who's "gay" or not.

      --
      "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"

      - Charles Darwin
    8. Re:Here it comes... by bynary · · Score: 1

      Nothing is "just a business opportunity." You're missing several key factors of human behavior here. People with that much influence/power/money have other things in mind when they buy companies like that. No, it's about power, greed, and the knowledge that what you want the world to become will be alot more likely if you control more of it.

      --
      http://www.bynarystudio.com
    9. Re:Here it comes... by Pluvius · · Score: 1

      Don't forget that Fox is the least conservative network on TV, with disgusting shit like "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?" Murdoch doesn't let things like "morals" and "aversion to hypocritical behavior" get in the way of making money.

      Rob

    10. Re:Here it comes... by MBraynard · · Score: 1

      And similar discussions about who is 'retarded' and who is a 'cheater.' It gets pretty deep there on Friday and Saturday evenings.

  4. It worked for AOL/Time Warner by Mr.Dippy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Remember when AOL and Time Warner got together and people were like "crap dude, they have the content and the means to give it to people they are going to make billions!" Last time I heard AOL just went through another round of layoffs and Time Warner dropped the AOl name. Same thing is very possible if a Media giant wants to take over a succesful game company.

    --


    -Dipster
    1. Re:It worked for AOL/Time Warner by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even at the time people didn't like that deal, both companies were not evolving quickly enough to changing market demands, and Time Warner gave too much credit to AOL.

    2. Re:It worked for AOL/Time Warner by Dachannien · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The problem in that case was that, while AOL was initially very successful, it failed to account for changes in the ISP marketplace (namely, that people don't want to pay for ad-ridden, content-limited dialup when their cable or telephone company offers no-strings-attached broadband for a similar price).

      As long as News Corp picks a company that already has good business sense and that keeps a finger on the pulse of the public, I don't see any real downsides to this. See Sony or Vivendi Universal for evidence of that.

      Now, the real test will be whether News Corp can hold a game company without trying to micromanage it....

    3. Re:It worked for AOL/Time Warner by nelsonal · · Score: 3, Insightful

      All the television moguls are pretty worried that ratings of 18-40 year old males dropped dramatically this year and their bright young advisors told them video games are to blame. They currently deliver a product that only has value if people (preferably young people) watch it, if something else is taking up that time, they want their fingers in that pot as soon as possible. Remember these guys became moguls by purchasing cable networks in the 1980s and 1990s when they were still cheap, they don't want some one else (video games) doing to them what they did to the broad cast industry 10-20 years ago.

      --
      Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
  5. Ironic as by the_skywise · · Score: 3, Informative

    there was once a Fox Interactive game division that folded because they couldn't make any money and the game market wasn't that lucrative.

    1. Re:Ironic as by Piquan · · Score: 1

      I thought there had been. I have one of their games, and had always been miffed that I couldn't skip past the Fox logo at the beginning.

      But it's always hard for me to figure out the roles of the different game companies. Case in point: that web site has Vivendi and Fox Interactive logos. The support link leads to Sierra. And the first review I found points at Eurocom Entertainment as the developers. (Mutant Enemy was also involved, I'd guess.)

      So what were their roles, and what role does Rupert see his company being in? It might be that Fox Interactive played a different role in its games than whatever company Rupert's scoping out.

  6. Downfall of gaming in Japan by harlingtoxad · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Another "outsider" will be backing a video game company, presumably looking for success in Western markets. If you look at the biggest sellers in NA, the majority are from local publishers and developers. A lot of Japanese developers have merged because of failures in the West (SquareEnix, Sega/Sammy, etc). There is a divide between what each hemisphere wants from games and the Japanese seem to be losing ground.

    --
    Gravity is not just a law, it's also a good idea.
    1. Re:Downfall of gaming in Japan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean we're going to lose the "evil empire aquires/develops new war making technology, can't control it thus threatening the entire world" genre of games?

    2. Re:Downfall of gaming in Japan by Squatchman · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Not just that, but also the "Silent early-teen Hero takes on ancient overly-vocal evil" action genre.

      Don't forget about the "Final Sequel: No really, for real this time" RPG genre.

      Finally, who could forget the "Super Hyper Avenue Fisticuffs Ten: Alpha-X-Niner Turbo Tournament Edition" fighting genre?

  7. Some new Fox Games by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Anne Coulter Strip Poker". This one's usually over in 3 minutes.

    "Hannity Vs Colmes Boxing". Imagine the Hulk vs Woody Allen and you get the idea.

    "Geraldo's Foxhole". Fake your own war footage. When it is over, you win what is Al Capone's vaults.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
    1. Re:Some new Fox Games by Moby+Cock · · Score: 2, Funny

      And the football title witll be:

      Rush Limbaugh 2006

      ***Now With Analog Contempt***

  8. EA and Fox by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A match made in HELL!

  9. Sobering by thelexx · · Score: 1

    The submitter has it backwards. And it is actually MORE sobering that EA has over 6x the market cap of News Corp than if it were the other way around.

    --
    "Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world." - Alan Greenspan, 1999
    1. Re:Sobering by IndiJ · · Score: 1

      Are you sure you're reading that right? What I'm reading is that Activision has a cap value of $3B, where EA has $19B.

      --
      It's hard to soar like an eagle when you're surrounded by turkeys.
    2. Re:Sobering by MORTAR_COMBAT! · · Score: 1

      he's comparing EA to News Corp, and you're comparing EA to Activision.

      --
      MORTAR COMBAT!
    3. Re:Sobering by IndiJ · · Score: 2, Informative

      Just to put the numbers in perspective, this article from last year gives News Corp's value at $31.4B. Although this is a fair bit bigger than EA's - it's not that much bigger, which does say a lot.

      --
      It's hard to soar like an eagle when you're surrounded by turkeys.
    4. Re:Sobering by snwcrash · · Score: 2, Informative

      News Corp itself is worth about $53B.

      --
      Save a life, sign your organ donor card.
  10. Fags and Forums by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A match made in HELL!

  11. I'd recommend Ubisoft... by PhotoBoy · · Score: 1

    ...as they're currently one of the best publishers out there and deserve their success, but this is Rupert Murdoch we're talking about. So if Murdoch asks everyone tell him you've never heard of Ubisoft but he should invest heavily in EA. They're both evil, monopolistic empires and they deserve each other...

  12. Activion by ValuJet · · Score: 1

    Weren't they the company that offered to pay for someone's tombstone if you place a refrence to shadowman? If so, that sounds like a perfect fit.

    1. Re:Activion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I forget who it was, but I'm pretty sure it was a British company, not Activision.

    2. Re:Activion by ThreatAdvisory · · Score: 0

      If it was Shadowman, then it probably was the ever classy Acclaim, no strangers to gimmicks

      --
      What COLOR scares you??

      Me at work!

    3. Re:Activion by UWC · · Score: 1
      I think that was Acclaim. Also, I don't think Acclaim makes games anymore. Which is not such a bad thing.

      Visionary!

      --
      Honor Among Slackers. A veri
    4. Re:Activion by Ondo · · Score: 1

      Weren't they the company that offered to pay for someone's tombstone if you place a refrence to shadowman?

      That was Acclaim. They're bankrupt.

  13. Well, it worked for Robert Maxwell... by igorthefiend · · Score: 1

    ... no, wait ...

  14. Just think ... by zangdesign · · Score: 4, Funny

    All the games will be "fair and balanced".

    --
    To celebrate the occasion of my 1000th post, I will post no more forever on Slashdot. Goodbye.
  15. Yeah... by the_skywise · · Score: 1

    I wasn't sure if they did inhouse development or outsourced everything. (I only recall it being shut down along with the animation division after Titan AE bombed) but a google search turns up this

    The Fox Interactive link in that article is dead and reroutes you to Fox home.

  16. What a hypocrite by DaveCBio · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I find it funny that Fox (and Murdoch personally) push a hard line conservative agenda while his other properties continue to pump out the "filth" that Fox commentators lament constantly. It's hard enough to put Family Guy and O'Reilly in the same headspace and now they want to get into gaming? Thanks, but no thanks.

  17. Does this mean... by Kyokugenryu · · Score: 0

    ...we get Reality TV Show games? That's all that's on Fox nowadays anyway.

  18. He already had 2 game divisions. by Quarters · · Score: 1
    Fox Interactive folded.

    Kesmai Corporation (Air Warrior, Legend of Kesmai, Battletech 3025, etc...) was purchased by News Corp in the mid '90s. It was sold to EA (as part of the now failed EA.com) in 2000.

    1. Re:He already had 2 game divisions. by Dunbal · · Score: 1

      And EA immediately shut down Legends of Kesmai because it competed with UO, and this without any form of warning or explanation to the rather large gaming community.

      LoK was derived from Island of Kesmai which was available to the public at large on CompuServe as far back as 1986. It was truly one of the first online multiplayer games around, and had a well established gaming community several decades old by the time EA turned off the switch.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  19. Ack! Murdoch + EA by BigCheese · · Score: 1

    Can the FTC block this because that's just too much evil in one place?

    --
    The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer. - Edward R. Murrow