I tend to root for the underdog. Not in all things but I do have this uncanny knack for backing the guy who doesn’t look to have a chance of winning. So it shouldn’t be a surprise when I tell you I was hoping Take Two would tell Electronic Arts to take a hike. Take Two might be a multi million dollar underdog with a hot property on its hands but they’re still the underdog.
The whole thing started off wrong… Electronic Arts hostile bid for Take Two stock was an indication of how the whole “negotiation” was going to unfold. When EA decides they want something, they generally try to take it. And then when the hostile bid failed, they came and offered pretty much the same thing they were offering when they were trying to make the hostile bid. That part didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.
EA has a bad reputation when it comes to getting what it wants. EA decided they should be the only company making NFL games, so they negotiated an exclusive deal with the NFL to be the only company with the right to use the likenesses and names of the players in the league. And somehow this was a good idea for the NFL. So now Madden is the only NFL licensed game on the market. This doesn’t lend itself to a competitive market.
In my opinion, Take Two’s publishing rights for the Grand Theft Auto franchise are worth more than the $2 billion offered. GTA IV did $500 million in sales in the first week. It’s sold over 6 million copies to date with a PC version launching in November and the game’s launch in Japan taking place some time in the first fiscal quarter of 2009. And that’s just for one game in the series.
Analysts may disagree with Take Two’s decision to turn down EA’s offer. They may say it will hurt them in the long run. In the end, I think it’s going to come down to whether or not Take Two can continue to produce quality titles for the GTA franchise. If they can, it was the right choice. If they can’t, well, there’s a ton of fans out here who aren’t going to be too forgiving, EA deal or not.
I’ve been rooting for you so far, Take Two. I’m one of those fans. Don’t let me down.
