Electronic Arts has executed a commitment letter for up to $1 billion in debt financing to prop up its bid for fellow publisher Take-Two, the company said Friday. EA said in an SEC filing that it has had more than the amount needed to cover the Take-Two acquisition, currently valued at around $2.1 billion, set aside as early as March 31 this year.
The Champ Is Back! EA Announces EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 4
Mike Tyson Featured in First Boxing Videogame in Nearly a Decade
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq:ERTS) announced today that EA SPORTS™Fight Night Round 4 is in development at EA Canada in Vancouver under the EA SPORTS brand. EA SPORTS Fight Night is back with the most realistic “in the ring” experience to date, featuring some of the greatest boxers in history fighting in their prime. Read More
The New York Times has reported that Grand Theft Auto IV pulled in more than $500 million in its first week, selling an astounding 6 million copies globally, 3.6 million of them on the first day alone. This morning Take-Two confirmed the report, adding some well-deserved back-patting to the numbers.
To put it in perspective Halo 3, the previous record-holder, earned $300 million in the first week. Read More
Blackstar is a highly stylized science-fantasy universe from developers of Wing Commander, Privateer, and Star Wars: Galaxies
AUSTIN, Texas - May 8, 2008 - Spacetime Studios, LLC announced today it has acquired the rights to the Blackstar IP from its previous publisher NCsoft. Spacetime Studios, an independent game development studio made up of industry veterans, now fully owns all the tools, technology and intellectual property from their previous publishing deal.
Codemasters today revealed it has acquired the Formula 1 licence, ending Sony’s four year ownership of the franchise and paving the way for a new series of current generation F1 titles across all major formats.
Chris Deering, chairman at Codemasters said, “[Our] success and recent innovations in the racing game space makes the company more than appropriately tuned for the challenge. The combination of FORMULA 1’s new momentum of expansion and Codemasters’ contemporary technology and past experience is the breaking of a new dawn for the sport, on the track and on the HD game screen.” Read More
Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith confirmed the development of two new Tony Hawk games during Activision’s quarterly earnings conference on Thursday. The first Tony Hawk game, arriving this year, is exclusive to the Nintendo DS and will introduce “new technologies not seen on the DS.”
It has been reported that the team behind Bioshock is behind the next X-Com game and i couldnt be happier. This isnt some news from left field as 2k bought the rights to the X-Com franchise in 2007. Who better to craft the next iteration of the turn based tactical alien invasion sim? Argh. I hope this is true.
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – May 6, 2008 – Avalon Style Entertainment, one of Russia’s leading developers of interactive entertainment, today announced that it has licensed Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3 to develop the latest installment in its popular “4×4 Off Road” off-road driving simulation series for PC, Xbox 360™ and PLAYSTATION®3. “4х4 Off Road III” (international title, “Off Road Drive”), will be published by 1C Company, a top Eastern and Central European publisher. Read More
It has been reported that publishing giant has canceled its ESA membership and will not have a presence on the upcoming E3 show floor and will hold its own offsite press event on the first night of the conference instead.
“After careful consideration, Activision has decided not to renew its ESA membership for business reasons and will not be participating in any official E3 activities,” Activision told IGN in a written statement. “We appreciate the work that the ESA has done over the years in promoting the interactive entertainment industry with state and federal governments and wish the ESA best of luck with the show.”
Gamesindustry.biz has an interesting feature up regarding the Grand Theft Auto series:
What did opportunistic politicians, fear-mongering media types and ambulance-chasing attorneys have to target before Grand Theft Auto? Oh, that’s right - they had Mortal Kombat, Night Trap and Carmageddon. But Grand Theft Auto has become so ingrained into popular culture - and into the ongoing debate over videogames and violence - that it is hard to remember when the controversial franchise wasn’t with us.
Games Industry Wire: Games industry news from b5media
Written by Kevin Codamon [email] for b5media.
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