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EA Takeover Moves and Countermoves
Details have emerged regarding several EA takeover related stories. The long running dispute with Digital Illusions may be coming to an end as EA has waived the requirement to own majority shares in the company. They still plan to purchase as many shares of the company as possible. Ubisoft announced that they have a defense planned against a hostile takeover bid from EA, should it arise. No mention of what this plan is, of course. In reaction to the recent press coverage of their move to purchase Ubi stock, EA has announced that their purchase was not hostile, and that they'd spoken often with Ubi representatives. From the article: "Florin reiterated that Electronic Arts was not asking for a seat on Ubisoft's board. 'We had the opportunity to buy a 20 percent stake in Ubisoft and we haven't asked for anything... That's not hostile. In our industry, one doesn't make hostile moves because our value lies with people,' he added."
video games are nonessential and are one of the first things to disappear from a household budget when money is tight.
Ironically, the opposite is true. Generally in times of bad economic news, people become more escapist in their discretionary entertainment spending. And what is more escapist than video games? The golden years for 16 bit systems correlated pretty well to the recession of 92, and PS2 sales (which had been good before) really got traction when the economy tanked. When things are going better, people tend to go outside or take vacations or eat out with their discretionary income.
Atari, Acclaim both imploded for lack of quality reasons... Because they had become synonymous with terrible games. They were an anti-brand, essentially. However, EA owns a lot of different brands, and publishes for even more. This past year they've put out a good version of Madden, a great version of Tiger Woods, Burnout 3, The Sims 2... They've published Black and White, Medal of Honor, Ultima Online, Command and Conquer, Majestic... The list goes on and on. Unlike Acclaim, some of the games with EA's name on it are really good. And the additional labels add insulation. When you think of Sim City, do you think of EA or of Maxis?
EA is part of the gaming ecosystem, like it or not. They make and distribute more games than any other publisher out there, by a pretty solid margin. We should work to change EA for the better, rather than hope they will implode. Maybe if we could convince them to release a system of their own they would realize the importance of tending a garden rather than going for the slash and burn.
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