Activision, as we all know, is the new EA. They’ve taken over from Electronic Arts as the greediest publisher out there, milking everything from Guitar Hero to the obvious World of Warcraft in a bid to suck the money from our wallets as effectively as a vacuum cleaner. However, before being dethroned as “The Bigass Publisher Of The World”, EA had one last shot at global gaming market dominance with an attempted bid on Grand Theft Auto publisher Take Two.

And it didn’t end too well. Read all about it after the break.

To put it simply, EA pretty much sums up capitalism in two letters. The concept of a free market, of competition between businesses and of takeovers of each other can be seen in the ways that EA has operated over the years. They’ve dominated the sports game market with the plethora of EA Sports titles, have taken on license after license and spewed out whatever they could come up with, and along the way have sucked up franchises from other publishers like there’s no tomorrow.

Admittedly, they’re getting better at what they do in some ways: FIFA 09 is the only soccer game I’ve enjoyed in a long time, and the lack of restraint they’ve had over Burnout Paradise’s free DLC is admirable. Aaaand they’ve screwed up in places too: all the recent Need for Speed games, for instance.

However, they’ve never really held the market when it came to action adventure games. Certainly, we’ve had Dead Space and a couple of others, but they’ve quickly slid down the charts into gaming oblivion. They’ve never sold as much as, say, Grand Theft Auto IV. What’s more, EA’s sports games have always had a rival in the form of Take Two’s 2K Sports range, including the NBA 2K, NHL 2K and Major League Baseball 2K series.

So then, as capitalism would dictate, it was time for a takeover. In February this year EA put in a $2billion offer for Take Two Interactive in its entirety. They did everything they could to push the deal along: after Take Two rejected the first bid, EA threatened to take the bid to the publisher’s shareholders in what would become a hostile takeover. All sorts of spin was spun: Take Two’s share price if it were to be acquired by EA would shoot through the roof; in comparison to EA, Take Two are amateurs in the publishing field. EA boss John Riccitello (BBC):

“[Take Two] is a company that had large number of travails…financing issues, regulatory issues, legal challenges…EA is a bastion of stability in comparison. We have a strong global publishing organisation that…can do a better job of selling the games of those great creators.”

Of course, Riccitello was quick to deny that the destruction of the 2K Games brand was the issue – “Sports games are secondary consideration here” (BBC) – but wouldn’t deny that the main interest was Rockstar Games, who are owned by Take Two. That the bid was coming just 2 months before Grand Theft Auto IV’s release was no mistake, and Take Two were smart enough to see right through it.

That the bid fell through past April is no surprise, but EA continued to actively pursue Take Two with an offer of $25.74. By comparison, Take Two’s share price at the time of the bid sat at around $16 (NASDAQ), so the offer was somewhat attractive. At the time of GTA IV’s release, Take Two’s shares rocketed to $26, effectively nullifying EA’s offer.

To-ing and fro-ing occurred, until EA dropped the bid in September, when Take Two’s share price began to plummet. Too little, too late for Take Two? Maybe they needed the offer, in retrospective. Or maybe they just need the next Grand Theft Auto. I know EA does; but that’s capitalism for you.

EA’s attempt (and eventual failure) at gaming market dominance falls in at #70 in our Top Gaming Moments of 2008.

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