Microsoft to buyout EA?

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 24th September 2009
Comments (24) Stumble
Microsoft to buyout EA?

Rumours are flying that Microsoft is set to buyout Electronic Arts, despite emphatic denials from both groups.

Rumours are currently flying all over the blogosphere and financial pages that Microsoft is preparing to swoop in and wholly buy-out Electronic Arts, the second largest publisher-developer in the business.

Before we go any further though, it's worth pointing out that Microsoft has emphatically and clearly denied all such rumours, saying plainly and officially that it has absolutely no plans to buy-out Electronic Arts.

Still, it's a juicy rumour and it's been picked up by a number of financial journals, according to Reuter. Electronic Arts' stock has also shot up in value as the chat continues to grow.

"There's talk that Microsoft might be interested in acquiring Electronic Arts. It's unsubstantiated chatter, but it's out there," said an options strategist at WhatsTrading.com in a comment to Reuters.

Electronic Arts' stock value has soared in the wake of this unsubstantiated and apparently nonsense nattering, climbing 8.1 percent to $20.01 on the Nasdaq in the last 24 hours.

Microsoft has benefited from the chatter too, with stock on the Nasdaq climbing by 1.1 percent to $26.05 in the same period. Obviously, people think it's better for EA to be bought than it is for Microsoft to buy.

Electronic Arts has yet to offer any official comment, but Microsoft has reaffirmed it's lack of intent several times. Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
Quote steveo_mcg 24th September 2009, 11:04
Can EA really be made worse by being bought by MS? I honestly doubt it, worst case scenario is they stop publishing crappy buggy badly supported PC games entirely, though i doubt it since it still a large earner.
Quote Rkiver 24th September 2009, 11:04
Microsoft would then own.....a lot. An awful lot. Mythic, Bioware etc etc.
A frightening thought.
Quote Dosvedagna 24th September 2009, 11:05
Oh god, windows live on all the games EA churns out??

*cries
Quote perplekks45 24th September 2009, 11:11
GFWL plus EA's awful download manager combined? Sure mayhem.
Quote mi1ez 24th September 2009, 11:15
Who's looking to sell their EA stocks then?
Quote cjoyce1980 24th September 2009, 11:35
if that does happen, then nintendo and sony would be screwed

games like dead space, mirrors edge, fifa, madden all being a xbox & pc exclusive...... thats just crazy
Quote Krikkit 24th September 2009, 11:35
Quote:
Originally Posted by perplekks45
GFWL plus EA's awful download manager combined? Sure mayhem.

QFT. Two of the biggest culprits in the stupid destruction of easy PC gaming... Combined!

Surely that's like moron2?
Quote Thedarkrage 24th September 2009, 11:35
If that happens say good bye to pc gaming cus we all know microsoft is just f**king the pc gaming market up in favor of its 360

Where they can even make money charging you for a profile pic lol
Quote Fod 24th September 2009, 11:36
woah, who will develop the multiplatform games then?
Quote l3v1ck 24th September 2009, 11:45
Please, please, please, please tell me this would lead to the end of SecuROM (ie Malware) in games.
Quote crompers 24th September 2009, 11:46
really hope this doesnt come to fruition, this would be disasterous for the market
Quote tejas 24th September 2009, 12:21
PC gaming is finished if M$ buy EA.
Quote Xir 24th September 2009, 12:36
Quote:
Electronic Arts, the second largest publisher-developer in the business.
Who's the biggest then? Microsoft themselves? Or are we talking GAMES publisher-developer?
Quote Fod 24th September 2009, 12:37
I'm pretty sure it's ubisoft. scratch that, they're the third largest. It's actiblizzard.
Quote perplekks45 24th September 2009, 12:46
Maybe if they then bought the company behind SecuROM they could kill PC gaming in less than 1 year.

****, better not give them any ideas...
Quote yakyb 24th September 2009, 12:49
although i may get abuse for this EA are getting a whole lot better recently
Quote rollo 24th September 2009, 13:06
Ea are biggest games publisher

Ms Sony and nintendo publish very few games
Quote Combinho 24th September 2009, 13:11
Quote:
Originally Posted by rollo
Ea are biggest games publisher

Ms Sony and nintendo publish very few games

*Ahem* I think Activision-Blizzard might have something to say about that.
Quote TreeDude 24th September 2009, 13:25
MS still puts out PC games. I don't think this would hurt the PC game market. It would however hurt the Wii and PS3 badly. Does this mean EA sports games would end up exclusive to the 360? That is not good for anyone.
Quote Combinho 24th September 2009, 13:32
I doubt they'd restrict their business like that. The amount they would gain for exclusivity would be far exceeded by what they would make by keeping games multi-platform. It just wouldn't make financial sense to make all the EA games PC/ X-Box exclusive.
Quote l3v1ck 24th September 2009, 13:36
Killing PC gaming would kill any future Xbox. If GPU manufactures can't sell cards and develop new ones constantly because PC gaming is dead, then they would have to spend even more on R&D for consoles as the technology wouldn't be there already.
Quote B3CK 24th September 2009, 13:57
If it happens, I expect to see M.U.L.E republished; as EA won't do it on their own.
Quote DXR_13KE 24th September 2009, 23:39
It would be evil x evil.... the devil would become afraid of this event.
Quote LordPyrinc 25th September 2009, 03:44
E-veryone A-ssimillated... I mean Electronic Arts being bought out?? Not likely. Nice rumour though if it boosts both companies' stock prices. I doubt either one will complain about that side-effect of the rumour.
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