Disney to buy EA?

[Explodingsims 3]

Has the hunter become the hunted?

Electronic Arts, which pursued GTA publisher Take-Two Interactive for much of 2008, may now be an acquisition target of Disney.

According to financial website The Motley Fool, the Wall Street Journal's Heard on the Street column suggested yesterday that Disney might be eyeing EA. The WSJ apparently based their speculation on comments made by Disney's Chief Financial Officer during a conference call on Tuesday. From the Fool:

Asked if Disney's focus would be on developing in-house games over buying more developers, [CFO Tom] Staggs responded, "I don't want you to conclude that those are in the long term mutually exclusive." He went on to say that a "strategic and attractive" purchase would be "a possibility" for the family entertainment giant.

Did he say Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS)? No. However, a combination of EA's battered share price and Disney's desire to ramp up its gaming presence dovetail nicely in the rumor mill.

The Motley Fool offers five reasons why a Disney takeover of EA makes sense:

• Disney has acquired game companies before (Avalanche Studios, Club Penguin)
• EA Sports and Disney's ESPN would have synergy
• Disney's MMOs haven't worked out so far, but EA has Warhammer
• Racing is a major theme is Disney's films and parks; EA has Need For Speed
• Convergence of Disney's theme parks with EA's strong IP

Still, The Motley Fool views the chances of a Disney-EA deal as slim. And, it's pretty clear that, when it talks about acquisitions, family-friendly Disney isn't thinking of Take-Two and GTA. quote>

---

Err..Yeah

I can't imagine what this would be like.

As much as it kills me to say this, it would work well for them. Disney gets to shell out more merchandise, and EA gets to make more causal games to copy-paste-and re-release every year.

Well, at least they might stop pestering Take-two if this happens.

 

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

Cadre Cola, anyone?

Swell. Which card in Madden 2010 will unlock the Disney team, you know, with the Mickey Mouse QB and Pocahontas as an, um, tight end?

This madness must be stopped, but I don't know how. I hope Disney fires 'em all, then goes bankrupt.

[panthersimcity4 162]

I get the feeling that somewhere out there God is laughing hysterically at how screwed up this is.

[Ntq€310 1]

i dont know which is worse, EA by itself, or disney buying EA

[Duke87 1,070]

I doubt it'll happen, but if it did it'd be pretty damn funny.

[simsider 4]

this is way to messed up. i mean the next Sim City will have micky mouse everthing and ea will have pushed us( sim city fans) to far

[Easy Bakes 253]

I wonder how much EA lost on Spore.

[duack 14]

Well if they do realese a simcity 6, it will be even more dumbified than SC societies.

[Deathtoall 28]

Oh now, the last thing we need is a evil co-oporation running an money-hungry EA.

I can see it now already, High School Musical 10, Build the School! The HSM theme runs well with EA's Need for Speed copy and paste approach.

This just leaves its self open to so many lame spoofs, Need for Speed Pluto Racing Underground, Duckhammer, Battlemouse 2142, GTM? (Grand Team Mickey, i know what you were thinking)

And Duack, you mean a simcity5, not 6, there isnt a 5 validating a 6.

[Terring 6,473]

If these news are really, we will have Red Alert 4 with Allies, Soviets and the Army of Micky Mouse. Or how about Command and Conquer 4: Tiberium Disney with G.D.I., Nod, Scrin and the army of Donald Duck :-D

[Ntq€310 1]

hmm a need for speed with the character from cars as the cars anyone

[Simcitymaster13 27]

Its the end of the World!!!!!

[Fresh Prince of Wmbg 44]

Why don't you burn the rest of my childhood as well you Disney-jerks!!!

[JakeMD 107]

All of the future EA games will be even more crappy than they are now. I really hope this doesn't happen.

[Simcitymaster13 27]

Disney would have the right to mod the future of Rock Band and add Hannah Montana,Miley Cyrus, and a bunch of other crap to the game.

Its a nightmare for all gamers

[N106 10]

I honestly think the video game meant for the intellectual is in decline. Smart people are being starved in their creativity by children and dumb people. Our only choices left seem to be A. Boycott EA and Disney, B. Move on... hope that Cities XL is good, and, if not, play Sim City 4 until computers advance too far, then just be forced to live with the fact that there will be no intellectually stimulating games anymore, or C. Switch to games of destruction, such as first person shooters... but those have been somewhat dumbified too....

[Jazzmaster 716]

Good god....the evil that is The Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus clashes with the evil that is the game-ruining Electronic Arts...

I would be more than happy to burn everything I've evered purchased from EA right now

[Simcitymaster13 27]

1987- maybe 2009 the End of EA RIP!

[Ntq€310 1]

EA and Disney would be like Dick Cheney, and George bush working together.......wait that already happend.

[SounderBruce 173]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jawzz 0]

Originally posted by: duack Well if they do realese a sim city 6, it will be even more dumbified than SC societies.quote>

LOL... Yes with Donald Duck all over the screen

[Haljackey 17,241]

lol if this ever happens I'll laugh my head off.

I hate to say it, but it would probably be good for EA, seeing as how they ruined the Simcity series. Maybe Disney will be better, who knows? Its worth a shot.

Best,

-Haljackey

[Zelgadis 638]

Though it's unlikely, it would be absolutely fascinating if it happened. And for more reasons than you might think.

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc., owns more than 30% of Disney as a result of the contract forged when Disney bought his Pixar Studios. That puts Steve Jobs in near total control of two extremely important media companies, Disney and its subsidiaries (ABC, Buena Vista, ESPN, Pixar, etc.) and Apple Inc., maker of devices that deliver said media to the masses (Mac, iPod, AppleTV), thus making him, according to Fortune Magazine, the most powerful man in media. Add video games to that list and... whoa...

So... SC4 for iPod in the future?

ISF

[Hamish 1,369]

Originally posted by: Zelgadis So... SC4 for iPod in the future?

ISF

quote>

Actually there is a "Simcity" game rumored to be coming out for the iPhone/iPod touch sometime in the near future...

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: Fresh Prince of Wmbg Why don't you burn the rest of my childhood as well you Disney-jerks!!!quote>

If you think Disney is burning your childhood, maybe I ought to introduce you to this little thing called Rule 34.

[Jazzmaster 716]

Originally posted by: Zelgadis Though it's unlikely, it would be absolutely fascinating if it happened. And for more reasons than you might think.

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc., owns more than 30% of Disney as a result of the contract forged when Disney bought his Pixar Studios. That puts Steve Jobs in near total control of two extremely important media companies, Disney and its subsidiaries (ABC, Buena Vista, ESPN, Pixar, etc.) and Apple Inc., maker of devices that deliver said media to the masses (Mac, iPod, AppleTV), thus making him, according to Fortune Magazine, the most powerful man in media. Add video games to that list and... whoa...

So... SC4 for iPod in the future?

ISF

quote>

Haha actually, I've already seen Apple getting a little cozy with EA...they released Spore Origins on ipod/itouch/iphone, and they WERE going to put Need for Speed Undercover but I'm not so sure what happened with that...

Though, if SimCity came on the ipod...even if it was as basic as SC3K I would love it

[djrules5454 5]

Originally posted by: Ntq$310 i dont know which is worse, EA by itself, or disney buying EAquote>

Definitely the latter, by far. EA would have no free reign really with its games, unless they included Disney characters (side note: I REALLY hate Disney-made stuff, aside from Pirates of the Caribbean, which was decent).

[Explodingsims 3]

Originally posted by: Zelgadis Though it's unlikely, it would be absolutely fascinating if it happened. And for more reasons than you might think.

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc., owns more than 30% of Disney as a result of the contract forged when Disney bought his Pixar Studios. That puts Steve Jobs in near total control of two extremely important media companies, Disney and its subsidiaries (ABC, Buena Vista, ESPN, Pixar, etc.) and Apple Inc., maker of devices that deliver said media to the masses (Mac, iPod, AppleTV), thus making him, according to Fortune Magazine, the most powerful man in media. Add video games to that list and... whoa...

So... SC4 for iPod in the future?

ISF

quote>

---

That would be a lot of power for one man.

Perhaps then more games would be made for Macs than PCs?

Once again, this would be profitable for both sides.

Seeing as how EA is a casual gaming company, working with Disney would be a move in their favor. It would certainly give them a larger kiddie demographic,  and perhaps expand their teen demographic too, in things like Kingdom Hearts. And seeing that casual gaming makes up 90% of gamelandia, Disney would turn a healthy profit from having such a large contributer to that demographic Also, if Disney did buy them, they wouldn't have a lot of regulation over game content. Touchstone pictures is an example of how this works. As much as it kills me to say this, it would work out nicely for both sides.

Also, since Disney likes to spin out sequels so often, this is a perfect role for EA. Since most of EA's core programing consists of CTRL-C and V, this would fit well with Disney's excessive sequel making.

Originally posted by: Duke87

If you think Disney is burning your childhood, maybe I ought to introduce you to this little thing called Rule 34. quote>

I was wondering when someone would mention that.

[ArchangelMichael 51]

Originally posted by: Duke87

Originally posted by: Fresh Prince of Wmbg Why don't you burn the rest of my childhood as well you Disney-jerks!!!quote>

If you think Disney is burning your childhood, maybe I ought to introduce you to this little thing called Rule 34. quote>

Duke87 is absolutely correct.  Without going into too much detail, I used to work in the adult industry.  Something Disney tries to keep quiet is the fact that it happens to own Vivid Entertainment!  Plus I'm sure many people remember controversies surrounding the original box cover of the 'The Little Mermaid,' a supposedly subliminal message in 'Aladdin,' and a scene from 'The Lion King' where the word s-e-x is spelled out by a cloud of dendelion puffs.  Walt Disney himself, it is rumored, had some bizarre fetishes, though I cannot currently dig up the links to where I originally read this years ago.

Add to this the fact that they charge an arm and a leg to enter their parks, then stand in line for six hours to ride three rides and one must conclude that Disney is pure evil.

Just my two cents.

[GMT 389]

I doubt it'll happen, but if so, all I gotta say is:

there's always a higher level in the food chain, mr. EA...