Take Two Selling???

[K_GUN]

Re: Take Two's pending sale

Whoever buys Take Two may own the brand but they do not own the people who work for 2K games.

actually they might. if the TT people have personal services agreements then they would transfer to the new ownership (EA)

if they don't have PSA's then they'd be out of work with no company to work for

[TIm]

Re: Take Two Selling???

I wouldn't care if Ea bought out 2k. As long as they let the 2k team create a generic game and release in the football off season or 3/4's through the football season.

But if they would buy 2k out and kill the company that's where I draw the line. Lord knows what will happen in the near future. I am just looking foward to this years APF 2k8...I'll worry about the other stuff when and if it happens and then decide accordingly what I will do

[DaveDQ]

Re: Take Two's pending sale

2K


IBM is the old man talking

they had a 27% market share in PC's in 1984....they went on to have a 97% market share in 95


2K Vs EA

I gotcha...When you point out the market share of PCs. It's almost unstoppable, isn't it? I mean, EA is huge and they are getting bigger.

We come here and talk about how terrible their games are, but it doesn't really matter. They are growing and the majority of consumers have bought into their branding.

If Take 2 splits off 2K Sports to sell, EA could buy them like a 25 cent lollipop.

[jmood88]

Re: Take Two Selling???

Wasn't there a former EA employee here who basically called out Thomas for being an idiot at times?
I think there was a story where Thomas didn't care about gameplay improvements but rather wanted to focus on 'back of the box' additions (see Fluff). So that's the direction the team took. But then their competitor was showing off their new and improved gameplay so Thomas went back to his team asking them why they were working on Fluff components.

I'll try to find it, but I think that was the gist of the story.

I've never heard anything like that.

[jmood88]

Re: Take Two Selling???

LOL, not for me. The only sports games I really care about every year are baseball and soccer. The best baseball game out there isn't even produced by 2K. Factor in that EA made a very decent baseball game before they lost the license, plus the improvements in their FIFA series PLUS the option to play WE/PES, and it's hardly the doomsday scenerio you're describing.

It is for anyone who doesn't like baseball or soccer video games, which includes most people in the US.

[DaveDQ]

Re: Take Two Selling???

Wasn't there a former EA employee here who basically called out Thomas for being an idiot at times?
I think there was a story where Thomas didn't care about gameplay improvements but rather wanted to focus on 'back of the box' additions (see Fluff). So that's the direction the team took. But then their competitor was showing off their new and improved gameplay so Thomas went back to his team asking them why they were working on Fluff components.

I'll try to find it, but I think that was the gist of the story.

Think about what 2K Sports has done because of Greg Thomas.

All of their Sports titles offer rich online capabilities (Leagues, Tournaments etc.)

Their games have historicaly have taken advantage of the current consoles potential (custom soundtracks, smooth framerates, excellent graphics)

When you compare the content of EA Sports and their lineup of games to 2K Sports, you can hardly say 2K takes "fluff" approach to their development philosophy.

[mjb2124]

Re: Take Two's pending sale

actually they might. if the TT people have personal services agreements then they would transfer to the new ownership (EA)

if they don't have PSA's then they'd be out of work with no company to work for

Yep. It's not like those developers would say "Nope, I refuse to work for EA and refuse to take their salary. I'm just going to quit and not have a job to pay my bills.".

Of course they could venture off to form their own start-up company, but that would be a HUGE leap of faith. Not to mention money is very hard to come by in any start-up.

[jmood88]

Re: Take Two Selling???

Think about what 2K Sports has done because of Greg Thomas.

All of their Sports titles offer rich online capabilities (Leagues, Tournaments etc.)

Their games have historicaly have taken advantage of the current consoles potential (custom soundtracks, smooth framerates, excellent graphics)

When you compare the content of EA Sports and their lineup of games to 2K Sports, you can hardly say 2K takes "fluff" approach to their development philosophy.

Even little things like tracking half sacks and stuff. EA said that it wasn't possible to track half sacks and assisted tackles and yet again a competitor's game showed that it was possible.

[sroz39]

Re: Take Two Selling???

The more and more I think about it, the more I think that if EA does buy 2K Sports, we will get our 2k NFL game back. It would cost EA alot of money to buy a company to kill it off and would be difficult to track to see if they would be more profitable than before. Put simply, tough to justify to the shareholders.

Now, look at the AFL license as a perfect example. They bought that license for relative peanuts, but have put out two games in two years. Is it because they think there's a huge AFL market that has yet to be tapped into? Uh, no. It's because they paid for the license and the only way to make it feasible is to get SOME of that money back by putting out games.

If they buy 2K Sports with intentions of killing the company off, there would be more than the sticker price to pay. I'm thinking severance packages, pensions etc. Very tough to make shareholders think that this is a good idea. If anything, I think the dev teams would be put to work. Maybe they wouldn't get alot of the money and resources, but relatively speaking, the 2K teams get very little of that now.

I think that you would see two of each game every year. When a car company buys out another, they don't stop producing cars under the bought brand. They shuffle management around and continue making cars, in hopes of turning a profit.

It may not be as bad as it seems...

[mercalnd]

Re: Take Two's pending sale

Yep. It's not like those developers would say "Nope, I refuse to work for EA and refuse to take their salary. I'm just going to quit and not have a job to pay my bills.".

Of course they could venture off to form their own start-up company, but that would be a HUGE leap of faith. Not to mention money is very hard to come by in any start-up.

And the fact that they couldn't take their source code with them as it would belong to whoever purchased 2K/TT. They'd have to basically start everything from scratch.

[jmood88]

Re: Take Two Selling???

The more and more I think about it, the more I think that if EA does buy 2K Sports, we will get our 2k NFL game back. It would cost EA alot of money to buy a company to kill it off and would be difficult to track to see if they would be more profitable than before. Put simply, tough to justify to the shareholders.

Now, look at the AFL license as a perfect example. They bought that license for relative peanuts, but have put out two games in two years. Is it because they think there's a huge AFL market that has yet to be tapped into? Uh, no. It's because they paid for the license and the only way to make it feasible is to get SOME of that money back by putting out games.

If they buy 2K Sports with intentions of killing the company off, there would be more than the sticker price to pay. I'm thinking severance packages, pensions etc. Very tough to make shareholders think that this is a good idea. If anything, I think the dev teams would be put to work. Maybe they wouldn't get alot of the money and resources, but relatively speaking, the 2K teams get very little of that now.

I think that you would see two of each game every year. When a car company buys out another, they don't stop producing cars under the bought brand. They shuffle management around and continue making cars, in hopes of turning a profit.

It may not be as bad as it seems...

Do you really think that ea would let two games out? The closest we would get to seeing a 2k nfl game is maybe having people from VC going to EA, assuming that they don't all just leave and make their own company.

[murry]

Re: Take Two's pending sale

If they are really having financial problems, which they are, would it be logical to assume that they did/do not have the money to invest in the production of APF 2k8 (to produce a quality game). Then on the other hand, NBA 2k7 was great. I hope they did not spend all their money producing and marketing the basketball games. Anyway, I will hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

First you guys get my hopes up by telling me that we are finally getting the 2K football series back, and now I hear that they may have to sell off the majority of their stock/shares.

[sroz39]

Re: Take Two Selling???

Do you really think that ea would let two games out? The closest we would get to seeing a 2k nfl game is maybe having people from VC going to EA, assuming that they don't all just leave and make their own company.

Like I mentioned above, the more I think about it, the more it seems like it could be. EA has money, but they also have shareholders to answer to. I can't fathom the majority of shareholders endorsing for the company to get into a bidding war (EA won't be the only player) to buy a developer to kill it off.

[quietcool72]

Re: Take Two's pending sale

I gotcha...When you point out the market share of PCs. It's almost unstoppable, isn't it? I mean, EA is huge and they are getting bigger.

We come here and talk about how terrible their games are, but it doesn't really matter. They are growing and the majority of consumers have bought into their branding.

If Take 2 splits off 2K Sports to sell, EA could buy them like a 25 cent lollipop.

If thats the case- It would be bad overall due to lack of competition..

But in the short term:
It might not be so bad for baseball and Hockey. I'm a big MVP fan, and NHL 07 leapfrogged NHL 2K7 IMHO due to some good work by EA Canada. (Again, this is short-term thinking).

Basketball would be bad. EA is in love with their LIVE/MM engine, I doubt they would adopt anything from 2K basketball. (Why they love the LIVE/MM engine is beyond me- especially with those awful ball physics and player AI)

Football- well, it depends. If they got Natural Motion and the brand new mo-cap studio that 2K built, who knows what would happen. There is some pressure on Tiburon currently due to low reviews if industry talk is correct. We assume the worst, because its EA though...because the worst is what usually happens.

The "White Knight" in this may be UbiSoft. But I don't doubt for a second that EA could out-bid Ubisoft if they so desired.

The MLB exclusive 3rd party license makes the 2K package probably makes them VERY attractive to EA.

IF EA does buy 2K, I hope 2K is smart enough to release APF2K8 BEFORE that happens, so the fans see it, and if the game is all that, it could be a bit pressure point for EA to adopt its engine, physics, and nat. motion.

Because if there is a buyout before APF2K8 hits shelves, and EA scoops up 2K Sports, then we may never see APF2K8.

[Methlab]

Re: Take Two's pending sale

I am glad to see others who see it my way. There is no need to continue to entertain EA sports if they have a monopoly on all sports games. It is over for sports gamers. They have already ruined sports games enough, and I am not going to play the game anymore.

Video games used to be such a great thing. But with stuff like this happening, I may be done. I can spend my time doing other things that are much more productive anyway, and I have been lately. I played the hell out of my xbox when I was on tour, and my old band was even on some game soundtracks. But now it's like we just have to settle for what EA makes. ESPN already hypes them with those stupid shows about Madden tourneys and NBA guys playing each other with geeky guys coaching them. It's a huge corporate festival of crap, and I hate it.

Look how much systems costs now. And games..and for what? Just look at IGN ratings of 360 or PS3 games and you can see how low the quality of the games are compared to before. And everythiing costs more too.

And then you read about how EA can become a sports monopoly - GREAT!!! Just what we needed. What a joke this all has become. I miss my stinking Dreamcast...seriously.