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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.

14 of 47 comments (clear)

  1. 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
  2. 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

  3. 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 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....

    2. 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.
  4. 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.

  5. 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***

  6. 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. 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.
  8. Re:Sobering by snwcrash · · Score: 2, Informative

    News Corp itself is worth about $53B.

    --
    Save a life, sign your organ donor card.
  9. 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
  10. 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.
  11. 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.