Activision CEO: Take-Two doesn’t meet our criteria for acquisition

Bobby Kotick from Activision - Image 1If anyone who’s been paying attention to the video game industry is to name the big publishers, we’ll probably hear Activision and Electronic Arts for good reason. While both have enjoyed success and displayed how much they’re willing to pay to acquire development studios, they seem to have different views. For one, unlike EA, Activision doesn’t believe Take-Two is attractive enough for acquisition.

More details at the full article.

Bobby Kotick - Image 1

After the gigantic video game publisher Electronic Arts stood up to offer Take-Two Interactive a huge sum of money for acquisition, many industry watchers and commoners wonder why Activision hasn’t displayed the same interest in Take-Two as much as EA has. For Activision chairman and CEO Bobby Kotick, the company behind the successful Grand Theft Auto franchise simply does not meet Activision’s criteria.

For a company to be an attractive acquisition, Kotick stated that “we need a history of profitability, good management, the proprietary technology for a franchise, history of multimillion unit sellers.” He added, “they would have to be non-dilutive and operating margin accretive.”

Take-Two, according to Activision’s head honcho, failed to meet the requirements. Kotick said, “…for us, Take-Two didnÂ’t fulfill those requirements. Maybe it does over the long-term for EA, but it doesn’t for us.”

Electronic Arts, which line of sports games has seen competition from Take-Two’s 2K Sports camp, apparently has a reason strong enough to take over the company on a 60% premium. Kotick noted that EA has some unique insight in the business of expansion. “I’m sure they have a good sense of what its prospects are for the future,” he concluded.

After Activision sent shockwaves around the globe by merging with Vivendi Games, we all have a fairly good idea what superstars the big player wants. Before that deal, EA’s purchase of BioWare and Pandemic Studios was the biggest talk of town. Meanwhile, it is believed that Rockstar North may part ways with Take-Two when its contract ends in February 2009, so we could see another hefty buy-out in the near future.

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *