EA to buy 20 per cent share in Ubisoft

**gaming ultima** · 12-20-2004

Electronic Arts is to buy 20 percent of French publisher Ubisoft, the Wall Street Journal has confirmed this morning, at a reported cost of between $85 million and $100 million.

Neither publisher has made comment on the matter.

The deal is subject to approval by US regulators, and has pointed towards further consolidation in the games publishing market. EA has had an aggressive year in terms of acquisition, the latest recipient of which was British developer Criterion Studios at an estimated long-term cost of $200 million.

Ubisoft has enjoyed channelled success in recent years following the acquisition of Red Storm Entertainment, holder of the Tom Clancy brand, and global hits with thrillers such as Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon. Critical acclaim has spread to Ubisoft's other high-flyers, in particular the remakes of Prince of Persia and Beyond Good & Evil - considered by some to be the Western equal of Nintendo's Zelda.

Ubisoft has steered clear of buyout talk up to this point, aside from president Yves Guillemot confirming notions of acquiring British stalwart Eidos at E3 in 2002.

The news could point to a serious shift in policy from EA, since CEO Larry Probst intimated at E3 this May that he didn't expect the firm to be making the moves as the industry coagulates.

"I'm not sure that it's going to be us acquiring other companies and I don't think that anyone's going to acquire us in the industry, but I think you're going to see consolidation in the next three to five years, where there are fewer competitors to us in five years than there are today," he said at the show.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=6016
discuss ...

**MiThRaZoR** · 12-20-2004

So..... EA strikes again.

Damn, if they buy Ubisoft that would suck, 'cause I like their games. Wonder how it will effect the future.

**FmanFORPS3** · 12-20-2004

i want Namco to make more games...i like their games and im oping for them to grow into a bigger company. maybe they should partner up with a diff company so their name will stand out more

**Blake** · 12-21-2004

This coupled with purchasing the rights to the NFL's teams, stadiums and players...sigh...

**PeanutButterMunky** · 12-21-2004

Yeah...I've now completely lost all respect for EA, and now I'm going full-throttle in the opposite direction. They obviously don't know how incredibly stupid everyone thinks they are for their decision(s), and I don't think they care anyways. Their idea of "market dominance" is an ignorant one. I hope they crash and burn.

**siren** · 12-21-2004

Not that I even remotely like EA, but I feel the need to post an opposing viewpoint and maybe a little insite into how big business has to work.

Consider that historically most of EA's growth has come through the aquisition of new properties usually through buyouts of other companies. As a result investors have come to expect this of them. If EA isn't buying, their stock goes down. If their stock goes down, the people who make these decisions get fired. They don't want to get fired, so they keep buying.

You have to give EA this much, they are the most profitable game company out there. They know they will never "own" the industry, but they have to remain at the top of their game in order to remain at the top of the industry. They also know that no one company can come up with all the innovative and hot content in the industry.

They are also preparing for the inevitable reduction of companies in the industry. More than likely, within 10 years we will see 3 - 5 big companies providing over 50 - 75% of all major games on the market. These are shapping up to be the following

EA
Sony
MS
Nintendo
Sega

Of those, only 1 is still buying companies. That is EA. Thus this puts them in the unique position of being able to own the largest portion of character IP. Which they can utilize to get better deals with the console makers on a royalty front.

While EA doesn't bring the best games, they generally bring above average games. Almost all of their games are 1 Million+ sellers. That says a lot. Irregardless of how much people on the internet like them, overall they do a great job.

The biggest problem is that they destroy the companies they buy. They get them to produce maybe 1 or 2 more great games, then make a ton of rehashes until they buy another innovative company. Their culture does not encourage innovative thinking, rather it encourages large profits and timely releases.

This isn't entirely bad for the industry. Why you ask?

Having a company like EA out there that is willing to pay so much for great content and innovative concepts and characters can drive some people to create a great company specifically to pitch to the likes of EA. They will try to create the new/innovative game, make their few million selling the game, then sell the company to EA for even more than they made off the game.

Then these designers go out and start another innovative company/game and repeat the process.

So even though EA isn't the innovative company that we would like them to be, in a weird way they can encourage and drive innovation in the industry.

**PeanutButterMunky** · 12-21-2004

in a weird way they can encourage and drive innovation in the industry.

...by treating their employees like utter crap

The biggest problem is that they destroy the companies they buy. They get them to produce maybe 1 or 2 more great games, then make a ton of rehashes until they buy another innovative company. Their culture does not encourage innovative thinking, rather it encourages large profits and timely releases.

This is the BIG reason why EA frightens me.

I'm glad other companies are willing to be innovative still while EA is not. They have a few good games, but if 99% of their arsenal is composed of slightly above average games, then I refuse to buy their products.

**gaming ultima** · 12-21-2004

EA takes every innovative good game and turns it into a franchise, in itself there is nothing bad about that, in fact its good
but after a bit the franchise losses its innovation but because its a established franchise plus EA's relatively huge marketing budget they keep selling and so EA keep making them
EA are a very successful company, and in that respect a very good company but i hate them ....

**SessDMC** · 12-21-2004

Before i say any thing about EA and go into dicussion, i would like to point out how meny great games they had under their sleve, and they distroyed em! like command and conqure, Medal of honour (Riseing sun was really short!) and meny other title that other can point out. I do respect EA but not exactly a fan neither. Take need for speed underground, that not innovation, thats copying a culture, and any ways its a culture that really bored me with their first undergroung game. Ubi soft is in EA sights, id say, stand strong Ubi soft, and dont get bullyed by the big company. What id really hate to see (and it aint going to happen thank god) is EA distroying Rockstar that would bring a tear to my eye.

**siren** · 12-22-2004

Rockstar is well on their way to destroying themselves right now, they don't need EA's help.

Rockstar is currently a one hit wonder. They have been completely unsuccessful at creating a new "BIG" franchise like GTA. On top of that, GTA:SA in a lot of ways was just more of the same. Really great more of the same, but more of the same none the less. It is not selling as well as GTA3 and GTA:VC yet.

**Blake** · 12-22-2004

Take need for speed underground, that not innovation, thats copying a culture

That's the smartest thing I have seen you say, I completely agree.

They have been completely unsuccessful at creating a new "BIG" franchise like GTA. On top of that, GTA:SA in a lot of ways was just more of the same.

Agree with that statement there. State of Emergency was one of thier attempts at starting another franchise, talk about boring and repetive missions...you had them in SOE.

**PeanutButterMunky** · 12-22-2004

The graphics in SOE were shockingly horrible as well...

**Seb** · 12-22-2004

Originally Posted by siren

Rockstar is well on their way to destroying themselves right now, they don't need EA's help.

Rockstar is currently a one hit wonder. They have been completely unsuccessful at creating a new "BIG" franchise like GTA. On top of that, GTA:SA in many ways was just more of the same. Really great more of the same, but more of the same none the less. It is not selling as well as GTA3 and GTA:VC yet.

I disagree that Rock Star is well on their way to destroying themselves. They have created the most successful franchise in all of video game history with the GTA series. Now that they have done that, they have the money and the expertise to move on to other titles.

The gaming industry is cutthroat and unless you have a successful title like GTA:SA, your company will struggle. The GTA series will continue to make the company millions and millions until we see PS3, and even then, I am sure they will make a GTA next-gen.

It is important to have a source of income like GTA:SA tiding you over financially whilst you work on your next big hit. Having the huge profits from the GTA series gives Rockstar the flexibility to make new innovative titles. Moreover, although the huge profits made on GTA:SA do not guarantee any new titles from Rockstar it certainly does not equate to them destroying themselves, at least not financially.

They may loose some credibility if they continue to milk the franchise for years and years to come, but they know they can get away with it, and if its making them money, why get rid of it? In fact it would be crazy to scrap the GTA series and replace it with an unproven genre. GTA was a very risky venture, which turned out good in the end. Why would they want to take risks again when they currently don’t need to.

**SessDMC** · 12-22-2004

They may loose some credibility if they continue to milk the franchise for years and years to come, but they know they can get away with it, and if its making them money, why get rid of it? In fact it would be crazy to scrap the GTA series and replace it with an unproven genre. GTA was a very risky venture, which turned out good in the end. Why would they want to take risks again when they currently don’t need to.

I compleately agree with you, Manhunt was quite sucesfull untill the horrible incident with Stefan Pakeerah, but id say that was the parents fault and is trying to find an easy way out of not beein named irriesopsible parents. any ways enough of that, id say that Rockstar are going to try and get the Midnight club franchise to take over Need for speed. And what happend to Sugglers run, i though that was an innovative game that could sell well.

**luxurys** · 08-08-2006

Hi Justin,

Thanks for your interest in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning! We'd be
happy to send you information and assets for the game. There are no plans
for a console release at this time, so I just want to make sure this is
relevant for PS3land.com, as I assume you specifically cover the PS3.

Looking forward to your reply,

Eddiemae

Eddiemae Jukes
Account Supervisor
Kohnke Communications - Ahead of the Game

So what should I do with this one?

**ps3 Wanna be** · 08-08-2006

hm...it would be strange to cover a game that is not appears on any console, let alone the PS3.

On the other hand, it seems a bit rude to turn him down after he offered to answer you questions...

**luxurys** · 08-09-2006

Well thats why its tricky....Its like Crysis...its being made for PC but many people say it will come to consoles as well. He even said it. They have yet to announce it for PS3, so does that mean that its a possiblity and that we should interview him or???

Or should I get info about the game and then the title can be about how eventhough many people say its coming to PS3 (even GameInformer) Mythic Games has not officilaly announced it.

**luxurys** · 08-10-2006

What should I do???

**ps3 Wanna be** · 08-10-2006

Well if you can come up with some good questions, then send them to him.

We'll see what to do depending on the reponses.

**Rebon** · 08-13-2006

Hmmm, email him back and say you really appreciate his willingness to help you out, but as he himself said it's not coming out for PS3, that it's probably not relevant enough. Ask him if he could contact you as soon as there is any news/change otherwise.