Apple to buy EA? [RUMOR]

shrike4242

shrike4242

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Now, this one truly sounds like a weird story:

http://consumerist.com/5240247/will-apple-gobble-up-electronic-arts

[quote name='From Consumerist article']CNBC's Guy Adami said on CNBC's Fast Money TV show that there's talk that Apple may try to take over video game goliath Electronic Arts.

Such a merger could have colossal implications for gamers. An Apple-controlled EA could tip the handheld game market toward the favor of the iPhone/iTouch, keeping its handheld titles off its rivals, Nintendo's DS and Sony's PSP. Apple could shut Microsoft out of Xbox 360 exclusives. Steve Jobs could name himself the next Madden cover athlete.

Time will tell if Apple's bite matches Adami's bark.[/quote]
 
Steam is to PC, as... iTunes is to Mac???

From music to movies and television shows to most recently iPhone applications, iTunes is already established as a solid distribution engine.

Also, if Apple is really serious about becoming a big time player in the handheld gaming market, why not?

Surprising as it may be, it makes sense.
 
It would be a huge culture shift for the company. Taking EA and making it into an Apple platform developer to the exclusion of profitable non-Apple platforms would be complete madness. It would be to completely squander what EA is all about. But for Apple to become so heavily invested in supporting other company's platforms would be very odd, unless there was a huge lack of confidence in the future of Apple's own platforms. That seems unlikely.

If Apple was just looking to become a bigger player in the gaming sector and enjoy a few first party hits, it would make far more sense to buy up developers who have no particular attachment to any platform. This would be far more effective and far cheaper if the primary goal is to bolster Apple as a game publisher.

I get the feeling that this is an idea conceived by an analyst who really doesn't know much about either company and just likes how the numbers combine.
 
I suppose it's possible, but I don't quite see how it makes sense for Apple in the long run. While the handheld market is expanding because of the iPhone/iPod Touch, I feel like this sort of move would set Apple up for its own console. The Twitter move seems to make more sense.
 
As much fun as it was to shit on EA for the crap they spewed out, ending with the abomination that was the PS3 port of The Orange Box, I have to say that they gave us some good games in 2008: Burnout Paradise, Rock Band 2, Dead Space, a decent PS3 football game, Army of Two, ect. Of course the annual sporting exploitations were in place and crap like Facebreaker and NFS:UC slipped through, but in general they haven't been too bad and I hope a management shakeup doesn't ruin things.
 
Well, my guess is if Apple bought EA it would be with 1 of 2 intentions.

1) To continue having EA pump out titles on the home consoles. They would only be exclusive to Apple on portables

or, far jucier

2) Apple is thinking about making a home console. Apple already making Macs and Itouch's, etc has the distribution network and the manufacturning capabilities. Having 3 consoles out there that are selling relatively well, they would need a huge splash to get in, buying EA would do that. The timing wouldn't be bad either, current games would come out on current consoles, but all non started games would go to the new console for either a late 2011 or 2012 launch (2010 may not even be out of the realm of possibility).
 
I think this would benefit apple much more than EA. Although both companies excel at raping their loyal customers. So this would be like Jack the Ripper and Charles Manson combining forces then being unleashed on an unsuspecting populous.
 
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