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.
