Take Two accepts Electronic Arts buyout

Strauss Zelnick, chairman of the Take-Two board, responded with the following in response to the takeover, "After continued discussion, Take Two have shareholders are of the unanimous decision that a buyout of the company and integration into the Electronic Arts corporation is the best way forward for the company. We are aware of tensions this may cause amongst the loyal fanbase that has supported Grand Theft Auto and our other franchises of the year, but rest assured, there will be very little in the way of changes coming from this merger."

"Electronic Arts solid business models and high productions values will help us to expand our games and the Grand Theft Auto in exciting new directions, and we hope old and new consumers alike will stand by our future endeavours as we move in exciting new directions."

[HighDefinition]

is this saying what i think it is?

please, no.

Please be a April Fool Joke!

[Ghoul]

only site i accept such news are business sites and not seom random videogame newssite

aprils fools

[Bleucrunch]

This is a cruel cruel joke, I know this isnt true because Take-Two just rejected EA's bogus offer. Nice Try though.

[shine1396]

I was actually expecting this earlier today...oh well better late and found on april fools day then be late and be found on april second...

[IntelligentAj]

BS there is no other source for this and They just rejected the second offer on March 26th.

[BrianC6234]

It looks like this has to be an April's Fool joke. If it's true why isn't it all over the Web? I don't see anything anywhere but this one link. Is that proof enough? If it is true where are the other reports on the story?

[BrianC6234]

I see now after reading this link again it is an April Fool's joke. The real fool though is the guy who wrote it. Anyone who knows how to use the Inernet can tell it's a joke. Look at other sites. That one link is the only report on the story. And it's April 1st. You don't need more proof than that.

[gaffyh]

april fool's, why would such a high profile story be released on such a crappy site?

[ZeroXMD]

This is an april fools joke. God forbid E(vil)A(ssociation) taint our take2. EA is big enough, NO MORE G.D. BUYOUTS!!! NO MORE VG MONOPOLIES (not the game version of monopoly, i enjoy that) I don't want EA to bring another console in and I hate EA's ethics anyways. Honestly, I'd rather play a good KOTOR 3 and ME2 on 360 than a half-@ssed multi-plat sequel. Which is what I forsee from BioEA (lets hope not). Plus, i could just see the bully sequel if EA made it, a sea of (crap)pop-culture strewn so far into the game, everywhere you turn, you'd see a EA or Fubu or nike symbol (not racist, but fubu would prolly be on EVERY african person) (God the brands, THE BRANDS!!!!) Or more console centric multi-plat games. Remember their excuse for why Madden 08 didn't run perfect on ANYTHING but the 360? "We're going for the 'Larger' install base with the 360" yet ps2 and xbox had larger install bases at the time so that was damage control for the "ONLY ON 360" commercials (for those who don't get it, if you only saw tv adds for Madden 08, you didn't know it was ALSO on every other platform, yet they advertised it as 360 only without saying ONLY)

[Toolster]

The problem is when EA takes games to "in house development" they 9 times out of 10 suck bottom. lets hope the next GTA dose not suck

[decapitator]

Yeah.....Ok. I believe. One question though, of all the sites on the net, Videgamechats or whatever the hell it is got an exclusive on this story how ? OK. It all makes sense now.

Bullsh!t.

[patlike]

I'm assuming Strauss Zelnick knows how to punctuate.

[Fishy Fingers]

One story I really hope is an April Fools.

[WAR_MACHINE77]

Don't worry its. The proof is in this quote "Electronic Arts solid business models and high productions values will help us to expand our games and the Grand Theft Auto in exciting new directions, and we hope old and new consumers alike will stand by our future endeavours as we move in exciting new directions." Solid business models and high productions values are only in the sentence as EA when its a joke and I would have to believe a press release would have fewer spelling errors.

[j4gs14]

its soo obv BS. i mean what r the chanses after how long they bin trying they manage to get em on april 1st?...mind you there is a chance :| lol

[Alymon]

I concur.... seems very much like an April Fool's joke.

I checked cnn.com's business, tech and entertainment sections and got nothing.

Chances are, if this was legit, it would be much bigger news than some random site.

[cloud360-7th_account]

HAHAHAHA GTA sucks

but i want r* to go sony exlcusive

[fenderputty]

in the spirit of April Fools? Cause it sure stinks of BS.

LOL@ the disagree ninja troll.

[TrevorPhillips]

ok i had enough with these april fool jokes i think there taking it to far

[Gish]

Screw April Fools day.

[desolationstorm]

Yeah I really really hate being a gamer on this day, because its an industry based on rumors which is just all pissed all over by these bullshit leaks and exclusives.

Im all for the joke games and what not they are funny, but fake rumors are just a waste of time.

Though if I were to ever leak some legit info it would be on april fools because no one would beleive it. Could you imagine if nintendo leaked wii controls the april fools before the e3 they released the info? Or said the name of the console would be wii? No one would have beleived the info to be legit.

[Alcaponeyou]

april second!

[ChrisGTR1]

OMG NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Phish]

http://www.forbes.com/2008/...

[Ares84]

....we are going to pay for all the friggin' guns and cars and songs for the game....we will pay for everything....damn

[Jandre02]

It was horribly written. Its fake as hell

[jessehaysfl]

FAKEFAKEFAKEFAKEFAKEFAKEFAKEFA KEFAKEFAKE
41084108410841084108410841084 10841084108
FAKEFAKEFAKEFAKEFAKEFAKEFAKEF AKEFAKEFAKE
41084108410841084108410841084 10841084108
FAKEFAKEFAKEFAKEFAKEFAKEFAKEF AKEFAKEFAKE
41084108410841084108410841084 10841084108

[BigKev45]

FAKE, why was this approved?

[SL1M DADDY]

... I have decided that April 1st is the worst day of the year.

[Harry190]

deluge of fakes were getting today.

[chrstphr567]

Today is not the day to be beleaving any articles on n4g unless it's from the first party websites.

[jessehaysfl]

you guys should check out virgle. right up your alley.

41 http://www.google.com/virgl...

[Bill Gates]

There goes the GTA series down the toilet.

MS's plan is becoming a reality. This step in what they are trying to acomplish is VERY significant to them.

Expect a buy out of EA's game division by next year.

[TheExecutive]

lol... still made my heart skip a beat. The same thing happened last year on this site, it was completely flooded with this hogwash. I believe one of them was that Sony was throwing in the towel with the PS3... what a difference a year makes.

[Shortstop]

Lighten up people. It's only one day of the year. Or is the internet serious business?

[TheExecutive]

serious biz bro. dont f*ck with the gaming community ;)

[JD_Shadow]

some of you guys need to really learn how to take a joke.

[eddispider]

I read in the latest EDGE magazine that gta 4 is smoother on the ps3 and had more polygons.

[sleepyk]

This better not be true. If it is, expect GTA to be released every year.

[nirun]

this is a cruel joke =\

GET YOUR DIRTAY HANDS OFF MY GAMES EA

[techie]

haha funny

[ChrisGTR1]

if EA owned t2... that would be the absolute worst thing ever for ps3 owners. EA ps3 ports are amongst the worst ever.

[BeaArthur]

Hopefully this is an April fools joke because I would hate to watch EA ruin the GTA series.

[Bill Gates]

HAHAHA...I posted on the other side thinking it was real, but I was just informed that it's April fools day.

The BABOONS are still BABOONS so that'll never change.....AHHAHAHHAHA

[DailyAddict]

It's obviously fake and the poorly written article with grammar errors all over the place backs that up.

However, I'm one that I think this WILL happen eventually. But, I think it'll happen shortly after GTAIV releases. EA is being hostile at the moment because they want to take ownership before the game hits so as to sneak in on the money train. It's not like they have helped build the game in its current form and I think Take 2 is just stalling the buyout until after GTAIV hits so as not to give EA a single dime that they haven't earned.

[BeaArthur]

DailyAddict...I agree but that could also back fire on them. EA could only be doing this for the GTA 4 royalties and if they wait until after the games release EA might take the offer off the table. That is of course assuming they are actually interested at all. Personally I have hope this never happens regardless of when.

[BigBoy2000]

But if not... sh!tty future GTA ports here we come!!!!!!

[supremacy]

this is not a funny joke, man im starting to hate april thats for sure.
this is not funny! i guess TONIGHT WE DIE IN HELLL!!! lol just kidding just wanted to get that out of my chest man too much 300 for me. lol carry on fellas.

[ChrisGTR1]

he says dine , not die

[brothersimon]

a failed april fools.

[Adamalicious]

As far as April Fool's day jokes go - this one is pretty weak. Not nearly funny enough.

[Gravitons]

Lol lame joke. The instant I saw the headlines I knew it was april fools.

BRING ME MORE

[Strife Lives]

Are those that believe,crazy insane things that happen today are real ! ! Couldnt they accept it yesterday? Or maybe tomorrow?

[Teh-Venom]

zomg the interwebz mightz explodez?

Pfft! yeah right, funny though :P

[whoelse]

Oops i need to turn my BS monitor back on!

[Diabloz]

Fake, April Fools.

[ravenguard88]

It's full of spelling and grammatical errors...

[LONEWOLF231]

I hope this isnt true!!!!
EA would only F$%^ the games up rather than make them better!

[BlackIceJoe]

Nice April Fools joke and so glad that it is. Because if Take Two was bought out by EA then life is going to suck.

[Rob4Vendetta]

didn't fool anybody....not working

[Microshaft]

f*cking better be

[kalel333]

he end of gaming as we know it if its true ...

[aftrdark21]

man i can't wait until tomorrow...April 2nd can't come fast enough for me.

[Microshaft]

I was going to cancel my GTA IV order, phew its a April fools though im not giving filthy EA my money.

[ohnoTheRancor]

i registered on that crappy site just to publicly call him out

[shysun]

damn they had me for a second! lol

[Figboy]

the fact that Take Two has repeatedly turned down EA's advances, or the horrible grammar and spelling in the "press release."

nice try, however, and until i read the post, it had me going for a second (i mean, it's not completely irrational to think that it's possible for EA to succeed; this is business after all).

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

I'm kind of getting sick of April fools jokes. It is not funny when everyone is doing it. This is a waste of my time.

Next thing I know, the whole freakin site is full of April fools joke and I can't even discern what is real news and what is NOT!

[buddyro]

I am a stock holder for take two if you don't believe me go to o well. What I am saying is I have not received an e-mail about this buy out but I did receive the e-mail EA sent for the buy out. I denied the offer F EA they screwed me over on my Madden purchase and now I screwed them over ha ha ha ha. PAY BACK IS A BITC.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

You might have screwed them over one (my guess) insignificant vote. However, if EA does not buy TTWO your stock value will likely plummet to around half. Good luck with the company, but TTWO is a broken company with a broken managment.

Broken companies are next to impossible to fix. Once you get a group of bad apples, they keep bringing in more bad apples on their team that supports their own agenda. It is just easier to start a new company fresh....

[bioshock]

but im not buying the crap story.....

[TurdStationPee]

Jesus Christ, this is just too obvious. lmao @ anyone who thought it was real.

[GCO Gamer]

you have to be playing right.

[Dante8205]

if true gta 4 is the last good gta game

[Snarko]

This is the only april fool today that had me going for a few minutes. Very glad its a just a joke though!