i've always liked 2k for some reason, and i hope they gain more studios

psn id: gingo... i'm hoping the long term 2k start overtaking EA in the sports games department but they have a long way to go

Take it to the Bank!  2K

Go 2k!!! Baby steps!

2k has MLB license, and the NBA game always gets better scores right?

Does this mean there'll be a cross over between GTA and Mafia? wait, that's just crazy redundant.

@ DaveW: If 2K can produce sports games that play and look way better than EA or Konami even without the biggest players included, then eventually those licenses will come off EA if profits goes on a downhill for the associations! (providing that 2K games become more popular and are top choices for the majority of gamers!).

"Nothing is impossible....in the gaming world!"

Told you so. 6 weeks ago.

T2 is an easy target themselves right now. The share value is hovering around the 14 dollar range but there are a few things that might force down the price to its last low point between 10 & 11. At that point its a certainty that T2 will get eaten.

Right now they have a temporay Chairman as shareholders booted out the entire board last year. The Rockstar split and the temporary management has opened the door for a hostile bid. The only thing saving their share price at this moment is the unexpected level of success for Bioshock and the potential for GTA 4.

This is a good move, more power to them.

Now for an Activision/Blizzard & 2K merger to take down EA.

The merged Activision / Vivendi entity,  would not buy Take2 as it would be earnings depletive. That business is set as far as US & EU territories are concerned. They might want to get a bigger footprint in Asia though...

EA will make some very carefull purchases - a good chance for one in Japan (a well known one possibly two). EA themselves will be purchased by Microsoft at some point. The rumor is EA is doing the shopping on behalf of Microsoft. Once Ubisoft & Activision get some weight on themselves with some more consolisation in the industry, Microsoft will pickup all the necessary studio's in one acquisition of EA. This way they get around the Competitive watch dogs in the US & EU who would have objected to the mergers of some studio's. Microsoft would be happy to support Nintendo and the PC platform as well as the Xbox 360 so it would have little impact if Playstation was not a focus. IE: it would not impact on EA's revenue too much. The only gamble (and it will be a big one) would be with the Japanese studios if they go ahead. The reason being they are well known on the Playstation platform.

Back in the late 90's Square set up a joint venture with EA. The partnership (called EA Square) proved very profitable for Squarte because EA did a great job promoting Square into the US market. That relationship ended when Enix acquired Square five years ago. Today Square Enix finds itself in a similar position and is announcing it would consider possible partnership acquisition maybe merger to expand into western markets...

Disney are trying to strongarm THQ right now and that is why THQ are seriously looking at buying niche Euro developers to give themselves leverage (up the price) else allow them to remain independent. Right now Pixar licenses accounts for 80% of their revenue.

Eidos (if the Midway merger falls through) will need to find a new owner. They might partner with Take 2.

Google and DreamWorks are buyers and both are being mighty coy about it. DreamWorks is apparently using BlueBay to do their shopping for bargain buys whilst Google are being very very selective & strategic - offering quiet cash via a subsidiary and keeping the shareholdings below radar (under the 15% mark). No one knows what they are up to.

i hope they dont destroy illusion software i own all the hidden and dangerious games and mafia those games were ahead of their time and very fun to play just hope they dont transform them into a "GTA" style game company would piss me off