EA Looking to Increase Stake in UbiSoft

Despite recent claims from EA that their intentions were benign, Reuters has the story today that EA may expand their investment in Ubisoft and could seek a seat on the board. From the article: "EA is now Ubisoft's largest shareholder and has 20.88 percent of its voting rights. But the Guillemot brothers, the French company's founders who together own 17.5 percent, still control 22.8 percent of the voting rights."

Comments

Consumers just do not care.

[LordZardoz]

This may amount to bad press, but for bad press to matter, the consumers that drive the sales would need to actually give a damn.

Now, in order to give much of a damn about EA's competition practices, labour relations, or other general bad behaviour, you have to be one of the following.

1) a follower of the goings on in the videogame industry
2) an employee within the game industry.
3) a direct relative or friend of someone who qualifies on item 2
4) a Labour activist.
5) a member of the gaming Media.

Now, the number of people who fall under those categories is quite small. Granted, members of those categories are screaming their heads off to anyone who will listen.

But the bulk of EA's sales come from the following.
1) Casual gamers.
2) Parents of casual gamers.

EA being a miserable company does not show up as even a blip on the radar of someone who cannot tell you the difference between EA and Blizzard. It does not affect their ability to do their jobs, raise their children, or search for their Pornography, or address their day to day moral concerns.

So if you want consumers to give a damn about EA being run by assholes, you need to give the disintrested consumers a much better reason then the disapperance in choice between companies they have never heard of.

END COMMUNICATION