Electronic Arts ends talks with Take-Two: merger no go

It’s like a love story gone wrong. Electronic Arts, who’ve been hounding after Take-Two Interactive all year for a merger, finally got into closed talks with them earlier this month. And now they just decided to back off. Kinda anticlimactic.

It’s like a love story gone wrong. Electronic Arts, who’ve been hounding after Take-Two Interactive all year for a merger, finally got into closed talks with them earlier this month. And now they just decided to back off. Kinda anticlimactic. Sigh of relief, anyone?

After all that trouble, you’d think EA wouldn’t just give up, not after extending their deadline for the merger five times this year. According to their official announcement, they ended the negotiations after seeing what T2 has to offer:

While EA continues to have a high regard for Take-TwoÂ’s creative teams and products, after careful consideration, including a management presentation and review of other due diligence materials provided by Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. EA has decided not to make a proposal to acquire Take-Two and has terminated discussions with Take-Two.

I wonder if that previous rumor that EA walked out from the negotiations was really true, and this just formalizes the matter. Anyway, far from being tearful, T2 has quickly moved on, and has released a response to EA’s announcement:

We remain actively engaged in discussions with other parties in the context of our formal process to consider strategic alternatives.

Now how about… Square Enix and Take-Two? Grand Theft Auto: Zanarkand?

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