The video game market is booming, and the electronic arts are shaking up like everyone else. Battlefield and FIFA makers have recently sought to merge with NBCUniversal and are discussing possible acquisitions with Disney, Apple and other companies, according to a new report from Pak. Although a deal isn’t currently working, it doesn’t look like EA plans to give up anytime soon.
“In recent years, as media companies have become more interested in the fast-growing gaming industry, Wilson and Electronic Arts have consulted with various potential suitors, including Disney, Apple and Amazon,” said Dylan Bayer, a veteran media reporter in Pakistan. Several sources familiar with the discussion say EA was adamant in pursuing a sale, and has only become more courageous in the face of the Microsoft-Activation Agreement. Others say EA is primarily interested in a merger that would allow Wilson to remain chief executive of the joint venture. ”
But it was apparently a deal with NBCUniversal that got the most distance. According to Bears, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts wanted to spin the entertainment company into a separate entity with EA, a version of the deal that put current EA CEO Andrew Wilson in charge of the new mega-business. However, discussions about the price eventually fell apart.
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“We do not comment on rumors or speculation about M&A,” EA spokesman John Resberg told Kotaku in a statement. “We are proud to be able to work from a position of strength and growth, built around powerful IPs, built by incredibly talented teams, and with a portfolio of amazing games with a network of over half a billion players. We see a very bright future ahead. ”
There was a frenzy of video game studio acquisitions over the past year, sent to overdrive in January when Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two announced it was buying Ginga for $ 12.7 billion, and Microsoft announced plans to buy Call of Duty maker. 69 69 billion activation blizzard. Sony last week struck a deal to buy Destiny 2, the studio behind Bungie for 3.6 billion, which some analysts see as massively inflated and perhaps a sign of a new crazy rush to consolidate among the biggest players in the gaming industry.
In an earnings call in February, Andrew Wilson explained that the company was focused on acquisitions rather than acquisitions. As evidence, EA spent $ 5 billion last year to buy the studio to increase its size. But now it seems publishers are aggressively pursuing other ways to scale up. Bears reported that Wilson had recently approached Disney in March “following sources described as a ‘more meaningful relationship’ than a licensing deal.”
The news comes as EA has lost or abandoned some of its largest existing licensing agreements. Although the publisher has recently released three new Star Wars games, including a new Star Wars JD: Yield Order which will be released in early 2023, its exclusivity agreement with Disney for the Star Wars license will not be renewed until it expires in 2023. Will be This has allowed competitors like Quantic Dream and Ubisoft to announce their own big Star Wars projects. EA announced last week that it was ending a similar 10-year exclusivity agreement with FIFA, and would rebrand its blockbuster soccer franchise EA Sports FC starting in 2023.
Whatever the future of the EA, a major concern with the merger is how it will ultimately affect the employees of these companies. Even as EA reports another lucrative year, Kotaku recently learned that an estimated 200 customer service workers are being laid off. According to the four affected employees, their work is being outsourced to cheap third party vendors in Romania and India.