Games Industry Wire

It look like EA really wants Take-Two badly. EA has just announced it has extended for a fifth time its unsolicited offer to acquire all of Take-Two’s outstanding shares untill August 18, 2008. The extension comes, as previously rumoured, after approximately 11,741,339 shares of Take-Two had been tendered in by the previous deadline of July 18, accounting for around 15 per cent of the total.
“Take-Two’s Board continues to be 100 per cent committed to maximising stockholder value and remains unanimous in continuing to recommend that our stockholders not tender their shares to EA,” responded Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two’s chairman.\

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Rebellion has announced that it has acquired Empire Interactive’s former internal development studio, Razorworks, and it’s 30 staff will move across to Rebellion’s own Oxford set-up.
CEO Jason Kingsley revealed that Rebellion had been keeping tabs on the progress of Razorworks for two years, since the company’s previous acquisition from Empire of Strangelight: “We heard some very good things about the set-up, the team and their approach, which is very similar to our own,” he said. “So, when we had the opportunity to buy the studio, we seized it with both hands.”

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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.

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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.”

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After Electronic Arts lowered its offer to acquire Take-Two from its original offer $26 per share to $25.74, Take-Two still has rejected the offer.
“[EA's proposal] undervalued the company at $26 per share, and it certainly undervalues Take-Two at $25.74,” chairman Strauss Zelnick, said in a statement Friday following the revised offer.

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The Walt Disney Co.’s video game arm has reportedly agreed to buy a Chinese game developer as the U.S. entertainment company seeks to expand its presence in China. Disney Interactive Studios plans to buy Chinese company Gamestar, the gaming affiliate said in a statement seen Tuesday. Terms of the deal were kept confidential.
Founded in 2002, Gamestar employs more than 90 staff members and runs offices in the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Wuhan, according to the statement.

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The EA-Take-Two saga continues as Electronic Arts (EA) has extended its offer to buy Take-Two from midnight on April 11 to 11:59 p.m., April 18. EA says the extension is in response to action taken by Take-Two on March 26, including putting a “poison pill” in place and pushing its 2008 annual meeting of stockholders back to April 17. Investopedia describes a “poison pill” as a method companies use to discourage hostile takeovers. The goal is to make its stock less attractive to the buyer. The two types of pills include:

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EA is now turning to Take-Two’s shareholders to divest them of their share at $26 USD, The same amount offered by EA to Take-Two’s board of governors. EA big boss John Riccitiello says:
This is a great opportunity for Take-Two shareholders. We believe Take-Two investors will see our tender offer as the best way to maximize the value of their investment in Take-Two. This tender offer provides a clear process to complete the proposed transaction. For EA shareholders, the combination would add additional intellectual properties to our already strong portfolio and welcome Take-Two’s talented creative teams to the great development organization …read more

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Dear Team:
Last week we informed you of EA’s unsolicited proposal to acquire Take-Two, which our Board rejected. Although there is no update on the proposal, we have been working to substantively address the understandable concerns that some of you may have as a result of the proposal. Therefore, we have established a formal severance plan for the benefit of our employees, and are publicly announcing that plan today.
Please note: we are not assuming that any change in control will occur or, if there were a change, that any positions would be affected.

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Only hours after Electronic Arts had proposed a $26/ share (approximately $2 billion in total) offer to buy out Take-Two Interactive, the Take-Two board have responded with an absolute “No.”
According to Reuters, Take Two has said that the offer was at a “devaluation” of what the company has done and is trying to do and that it came at “absolutely the wrong time.” Additionally, Take-Two called the bid “highly opportunistic” on the heels of the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto IV on April 29.
Take-Two has offered to enter discussions with EA the day after GTA IV’s release, on April …read more

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