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Analysts: EA disrespectful to Rockstar

Posted Mar 18, 2008 at 2:26PM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: Tags: David Cole, Electronic Arts, John Riccitiello, Mike Hickey, Take-Two Interactive

For those of us keeping up with Electronic Arts' attempts to buy out Take-Two, here's a little bit of analyst-driven news: it seems that the digital entertainment media giant is being quite a bit rude to the company that made the Grand Theft Auto IP into what it is today. At least, that's what some of today's game industry analysts think so - and if things go wrong, we might just be seeing a future Grand Theft Auto title that Rockstar won't have a hand in making. Ouch.

But where did the mud start to fly, we ask? Analysts point to EA Chief Executive John Riccitiello's comments about Rockstar, recently published in the New York Times. In the interview, he asserted that Electronic Arts "represents a white knight" to Rockstar in many ways. The comment itself was made in the context that EA could offer Rockstar a stable company that can distribute GTA and other IPs to a broader audience, much like how its sports titles are embraced by all audiences.

Janco Partners' Mike Hickey and DFC Intelligence's David Cole agreed that such a comment coming from EA was pretty much uncalled for, saying that the statement itself was disrespectful to the developers and the new management team of Take-Two Interactive. But Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter, while optimistic that it was just a missed attempt by John Riccitiello to "sound clever," has a scarier prediction: that while Rockstar could potentially hack it on its own (i.e. away from Take-Two), they wouldn't be able to make any more GTA games, as the IP itself is owned by Take-Two and ownership would pass to whoever controls Take-Two stock.

This in itself presents quite the bleak future to the Grand Theft Auto franchise, if this takeover bid does take place and Rockstar does separate itself from Take-Two. Hopefully, though, it won't happen, and we'll still be playing Grand Theft Auto games with that classic Rockstar feel. Updates as we get them.

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"much like how its sports titles are embraced by all audiences."

So in other words if GTA gets in EA's hands it's just going to be another one of their yearly release ***** games

I'm sure all the 8+ year olds will be looking forward to GTA 2009, GTA 2010, GTA 2011, GTA 2012 on their Nintendo DS's, PSP's, PS2's, 360's, PS3's

# EA is disrespectful of... — TristanMike 2008-03-19 03:33

Everybody...end of story. Let the boycott continue !

# BOYCOTT!!! — auronvi 2008-03-19 07:29

hell ya, i have not bought an EA game for 2 years now and I will keep it that way!

# I wouldnt worry — mercue1 2008-03-19 11:33

Grand Theft Auto is simply a name, as well as everything in the grand theft auto universe. Just because Take-Two owns the "names" to everything GTA related, doesn't mean that the actual game has to suffer at R*. Just change the names, start a new story arc, let EA ruin the GTA name, because thats all they can do. R* is still the talent behind the games, and as long as thats there, I wouldn't worry.

# Agreed — imapterodactyl 2008-03-19 14:44

I think this whole thing could be a blessing in disguise for Rockstar. If they lose the GTA IP, it will free up the development team to work on a new IP that could equal, or possibly even surpass GTA. As it stands, I'm sure there are quite a few within R* who are sick to death of the franchise, but you can't just let a cash cow as huge as that one die. I think a clean slate would give them a lot creative sparks with which to start a new fire.

# Well — hush404 2008-03-19 16:54

If the EA buyout becomes that of reality. I hope TT offers R* freedom and the rights to GTA and such, as well as release the 2k teams to continue their sports tittles. Just screwing over EA

# well... — HienekenIsYummy 2008-03-19 17:05

whats the point of having it in a different name? eveyone fell in love with GTA. it has become a household name in the game industry. but if EA gets GTA does that mean they get the engine that runs the game? i dont know. all im saying if EA gets it till be another True Crime... haha

# that would be nice.... — imapterodactyl 2008-03-19 19:01

... but it will definitely never happen. There's absolutely no way Take Two would give up a huge IP like GTA; financially, they need it to survive. EA only wants Take Two for GTA, so if they let Rockstar have the IP, there would be no merger. No merger and no GTA IP spells death for them. The only way Rockstar will continue making GTA games is if either this merger doesn't happen and R* chooses to stay on with TT once their contract is up (which they almost surely would), or if ther merger does happen and R* decides to develop for EA (which is highly doubtful). Personally, I'm not too concerned either way. If they make more GTA games, cool. If they do something else entirely, cool. If they decide to carry on the series "in spirit" with a different name, people will certainly catch on and buy it in droves. Folks love their Rockstar, and will surely follow them wherever they go next. R* and GTA are tied together pretty well in consumers' minds. If this whole mess involved any other IP with an amazingly talented but lesser known developer who's logo isn't burned into everyone and their grandmother's skulls, I'd be more worried for them. All the controversy R* has generated over the last several years has really worked to their advantage. They're certainly the most well-known, high profile developer in the biz; moreso than Bungie even.

# Wrong... — Hawkins2k4 2008-03-20 05:40

Rockstar is the publisher, regardless of who owns the title. Take Two doesn't have the resources to publish and mass produce their own titles themselves, therefore they need a publisher.

If Rockstar decides they don't want to publish on the 360 or PS3, then TakeTwo has a choice whether or not they want to publish with Rockstar or find another publisher.

Only problem is the board members have to have a meeting over it, and since Rockstar is the majority share holder among publishers with any stake in TakeTwo, they have the most votes among publishers at said board meeting, they probably also friends on the board, therefore the only way TakeTwo would have any say in whether or not the game gets published to all consoles or some consoles is to out vote Rockstar through cooperation with other shareholders, or for another publisher to takeover the majority of the company, such as EA. but even then they don't make the calls with EA either, they enter into a contract, they provide EA with a game, EA publishes them, and as part of the contract that will include ports for certain consoles.

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