Tag Archives: Take-Two

GameQuarry is back, and instead of using Metacritic data to figure out consistency in publishers this time around, developers are under the microscope.

Scores were given a letter rating. A: 90 percent or higher (2 points), B: 80-89 percent (1 point), C:70-79 percent (0 points), D: 60-69 (-1 point) and F: 59 percent or lower (-2 points). Just like school.

At the top of the list of 1,700 companies? Visual Concepts, the Take-Two studio responsible for loads of 2K Sports titles, with grand total of 45 points. Ten of it’s games got an A, 40 were ranked B, 11 got C’s, 7 were given D’s and 4 were given an F.

The top twenty list is as follows:

1. Visual Concepts
2. EA Tiburon
3. Nintendo
4. EA Sports
5. Neversoft Entertainment
6. Konami Tokyo
7. Harmonix
8. Sports Interactive
9. Intelligent Systems
10. Valve
11. Rockstar North
12. BioWare
13. EA Canada
14. Criterion
15. Bethesda Softworks
16. Raven Software
17. Firaxis
18. Insomniac Games
19. Infinity Ward
20. Epic Games

Shame, that. We were hoping for something exciting. Instead, however, EA and Take-Two have both issued statements confirming that EA has put the kibosh on any further talks with Take-Two.

“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,” reads EA’s side of the story.

Quite the unsatisfying conclusion, huh? It’s kind of like cutting off the report right here and not posting EA and Take-Two’s full sta–

Kidding. They’re after the break.

By Nathan Grayson

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This Reuters report, quoting a source, has said that this story rumouring a £23 per share offer from Viacom to Take-Two is incorrect.

“Media conglomerate Viacom Inc is not in talks to buy video game maker Take-Two Interactive Software Inc, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday, disputing reports of an offer.”

The piece continued, “Reports on the Web and a video games trade publication Web site said Viacom had offered $1.5 billion for the maker of the popular ‘Grand Theft Auto’ games franchise, citing unnamed sources. Shares of Take-Two rose as much as 12 percent on Thursday on the rumor.”

Viacom has refused to comment on the situation.

“This is very unlikely,” Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson said of the speculation. “Video games are a hot space and media companies are interested in participating in the growth, but for Viacom, they are pursuing a completely separate strategy.”

“I don’t think any of those media companies has the appetite to get into a new business,” added super-analyst Michael Pachter.

According to this, Viacom boss Sumner Redstone has expressed an interest in buying Take-Two. The author of the report goes to lengths to assure readers this is a rumour.

“Viacom wants a piece of the game publishing pie,” said the piece. “They have been buying some gaming assets over the past couple of years and recently struck an interesting deal with Microsoft that included a gaming component. Not to mention Redstone’s personal investment in Midway Games.”

The author reckons Take-Two market fortunes are about to turn, and those shorting the stock should be wary.

“By the way, I’m showing a close to 40% short interest in TTWO,” said the writer. “With buyout rumors starting to swirl, I suspect at least some of the shorts will start feeling uncomfortable.”

Rockstar boss has pointed towards a more mature iteration of Grand Theft Auto in GTA IV in a demo here, saying the upcoming title’s plotline generation is to be a step beyond that seen in previous games in the series.

“We wanted to make the storytelling more sophisticated and more organic,” said Houser. “We give you choices to really recreate the experience of an immigrant moving to New York in the present time and emulate walking down the street and meeting the freaks that you meet. It’s largely streamlining and adding to the ideas that were there before.”

“If the graphics are slightly cartoony, we make sure the writing is slightly cartoony to match that,” he added. “Obviously, the graphics have gone closer to realism, so we wanted everything else to be closer to realism as well.”

GTA IV will release for both PS3 and Xbox 360 on April 29, and is expected to sell over six million units in six months. Even the confirmation of the game’s release date was enough to heavily boost Take-Two’s shares earlier this week.

According to this AP report about positive trading on Take-Two’s stock today, “the company’s contract with Sam and Dan Houser, the heads of its Rockstar Games studio, expires in early 2008, and has yet to be renewed.”

The news will certainly raise eyebrows considering the proximity to the launch of GTA IV, now confirmed for release on April 29. The Houser’s are the notorious drivers of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, renowned by those in the know for keeping a very tight hold on Rockstar’s reins and being fiercely protective of the brand and its properties. And their mother was in Get Carter. They told us so 10 years ago.

Maybe the big men are looking for a change? Sam and Dan were original Rockstar founders in 1998, along with Terry Donovan and Jamie King. Back then the Housers were touting the top-down GTA2 (we interviewed them at E3 that year) and everything was very bed-of-roses compared to the megalithic creation we see today in the 3D GTA. Is enough enough, chaps?

Don’t expect official comment any time soon.

Take 2′s stock has risen 4.9 percent to $16.51 today after analyst Eric Handler upgraded the company’s shares to “equal weight” from “underweight,” and boosted his target price to $19 from $17.

Handler’s move came after the publisher announced the release date of April 29 for GTA IV last week. He said earlier today that he thought the fourth instalment in the crime series could sell 6 million units in six months, adding $1.25 profit per share.