Micorosft to buy EA ?
Rumours are circulating that Microsoft is making moves to buy out shares in EA, effectively taking majority control of the company.
Citing information from traders, a Reuters report said there was “unsubstantiated talk” that Microsoft is interested in buying the publisher of the Madden, Medal of Honor and FIFA series. Neither Microsoft or EA have made comment just yet, but reputable sources are quoting this story right now so it has legs.
Before anyone comments about EA being “too big” to be taken over, EA last year made negative $1.8 billion while Microsoft churned a $17 billion profit last year.
Though this would mean major franchises like FIFA and Battlefield would become exclusive to 360 undoubtedly, EA earlier this year said they make more money from their PS3 releases then 360 ones.
It’s also worth noting that Microsoft have yet to really make a profit from their Entertainment division, so taking a loss initially would be worth it if they undercut Sony and Nintendo in future with the franchises EA owns. The flip side being that, eventually, EA would lose it’s franchises because the xbox audience isn’t as big as the collective games console audience combined (i.e. FIFA license gets sold to Activision, etc.).
We’ll keep the site posted on this if anything develops, though it is likely that there will be “no comment” coming from both camps tomorrow morning.
I'd find it hard to believe MS would make FIFA exclusive if such a deal were to happen.
i doubt theyd let sony have a copy of fifa if microsoft owned it
But that would not make commercial sense, FIFA and such games are released on just about every platform. If MS want to make money from EA then they want to sell to as wide an audience as possible.
I don't buy into the MS/Sony hype too much. Do MS stop providing Sony Vaio machines with Windows? Nope course not.
A match made in hell,