Take-Two's SEC filings revealed that a shareholder filed a class action complaint against the company for its response to a takeover bid by publisher Electronic Arts, Kotaku reports.

The suit, filed by Micheal Maulano on April 11, alleges that Take Two's responses to EA's buyout bid contained "misleading and incomplete" information, and that Take-Two's tactics constitute a breach of fiduciary duty.

In the suit, Maulano demands "declaratory relief, preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, damages, and reasonable attorneys' fees and litigation expenses." The report notes that it is unclear how many other shareholders are part... Read more

Following publisher Take-Two Interactive Software's recommendation that its stockholders deny a hostile takeover attempt by rival publisher Electronic Arts, EA has submitted a slightly amended offer to the company's shareholders.

Take-Two Interactive is the owner of numerous popular properties, such as Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, and BioShock, and development studios, including the various branches of Rockstar, 2K Boston, 2K Marin, 2K Czech, and 2K Australia.

While the basic premise remains the same--a payout of $26.00 per share--Electronic Arts extended the deadline by a week to reflect Take-Two's week-long delay of its annual stockholder meeting, which is now scheduled for April 17. The offer now expires on April 18, 2008.

According to EA, the offer of $26.00 per share represents a 64% premium over Take-Two's closing stock price on February 15, which was the last trading day before EA sent its revised proposal to Take-Two. As of this writing, Take-Two's stock is valued at $25.55 per share.

The other major shift in EA's offer concerns Take-Two's so-called "poison pill" plan, which adopted on March 24 to prevent a hostile takeover at what... Read more

Responding to Electronic Arts' attempt at a hostile takeover, Take-Two Interactive's board of directors has advised its stockholders to reject EA's buyout offer of $26 per share.

In a statement released today, Take-Two--which owns such beloved properties as Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, and BioShock--labeled the offer as "inadequate in multiple respects and contrary to the best interests of Take-Two’s stockholders."

Though this marks the second time that Take-Two has officially spurned EA's unsolicited attempts to acquire the publisher, the company revealed that it is interested in business agreements with EA and other parties.

While now open to discussing possible business combinations, Take-Two affirmed its intent to remain independent and stated that it will not enter into negotiations until after the release of Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, X360) on April 29.

Labeling Grand Theft Auto as "one of the most valuable and durable franchises in the interactive entertainment software industry," Take Two noted its belief that "the full commercial potential of [Grand Theft Auto IV] will not be evident until after its release."

Ubisoft has announced an agreement with Tom Clancy to acquire all intellectual property rights to the Tom Clancy name for use in video games and ancillary products like related books, movies, and merchandising.

The acquisition frees Ubisoft from the requirement of royalty payments for use of the Tom Clancy brand, which the company expects will help it save at least five million euros (roughly $7.87M) a year. Ubisoft did not disclose the price of the all-cash acquisition.

"The future of our industry lies in our capacity to create and develop brands that captivate consumers and that present myriad of opportunities for the full spectrum of entertainment, be it video games, books, movies or other media," said Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot.

"Capitalizing on the strong franchises that we’ve built over the past 10 years, we will take the Tom Clancy game brand to the next level of the global entertainment industry," he added.

Tom Clancy originally began working with video games when he co-founded Red Storm Entertainment in 1996, which developed and published the original Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon titles. The studio was later purchased by Ubisoft, and the Tom Clancy sphere of video games has since expanded to over 35 titles and expansions.

Rockstar and 2K Games parent company Take-Two Interactive is enacting a severance plan for employees fired in the event of a corporate buyout, reports Reuters.

The severance plan will give executives up to 1.5 times their salary with bonus for up to 18 months if they are fired within a year of a change in corporate ownership and control. Non-executive employees will receive up to six months in salary.

Late last month, Electronic Arts proposed an acquisition of Take-Two at a price of $26 per share, or approximately $2 billion total. Take-Two summarily rejected the offer, suggesting that the bid was "highly opportunistic," and made in an attempt to take advantage of the upcoming April 29 release of Grand Theft Auto IV.

"The bid probably created fairly large internal disruption and without a severance plan, employees are worried about losing their jobs," said Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey. "They want to keep people focused and give them some sort of support."

Atari's largest shareholder and parent company Infogrames has made an offer to buy the remainder of shares and make the company private, GamesIndustry reports.

Infogrames, which already owns a 51 percent stake in Atari, offered $1.68 per share in an effort to retain the company as a wholly-owned property. Atari said that the company's board of directors intends to give the proposal a thorough evaluation.

The news comes just days after the appointment of former Sony executive Phil Harrison as president of Infogrames. Harrison noted that shaping the future of the Atari was one of his major goals in his new position.

Late last year, Atari enacted a plan to restructure its corporate model in the wake of mounting losses and a $3.5 million settlement payout to FUNimation over royalties owed for properties associated with Dragon Ball Z.

It seems that Electronic Arts isn't the only company interested in acquiring Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive.

According to an SEC filing made by Take-Two, the company has received multiple "informal indications of interest in a business combination" since EA failed to acquire the company.

Last Sunday, EA went public with an unsolicited offer to acquire Take-Two for $2 billion. Take-Two rejected the proposal almost immediately, calling the large sum "insufficient." Rival publisher Activision spoke out a few days later, claiming that it had no plans to buy the company.

While no specific details on the interested parties were provided, Take-Two did note that it "has not received any written 'offers' and has not engaged in any substantive discussions with any party (including EA)."

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said that Take-Two did not meet his company's criteria for a viable acquisition, GamesIndustry reports.

"We've said that we need a history of profitability, good management, the proprietary technology for a franchise, history of multimillion unit sellers," said Kotick yesterday at the Goldman Sachs Technology Investment Symposium. "Take-Two didn’t fulfill those requirements. Maybe it does over the long-term for EA, but it doesn't for us."

Kotick went on to suggest that EA's recent $2 billion bid for Take-Two is a reaction to Activision's recent success, which saw the company claim the top of the US games publishing heap shortly after brokering a merger with Vivendi in early December of last year.

"You're going to start thinking about what you need to do to maintain your lead," Kotick added. "Without getting into too many of the details of Take-Two, we really like businesses where if we take the risk, we get the reward."

French video game developer Ubisoft may be the next target of an acquisition offer from mega-publisher Electronic Arts, according to details uncovered by GameCyte.

Earlier this week, Electronic Arts publicly revealed its intent to purchase Grand Theft Auto property holder Take-Two Interactive and launched EATake2.com, a website detailing that effort. Take-Two has since rejected EA's offer of $2 billion, prompting speculation of a hostile takeover.

The very same day that EA registered EATake2.com, EAUbisoft.com was registered as well. Though both registrations do not specifically mention EA, the WhoIs information for each site is identical, suggesting EA is also behind the Ubisoft domain.

An EA buyout of Ubisoft has been rumored ever since EA purchased a 20% stake in Ubisoft back in 2004. Both Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillmeot and EA COO William Gordon have chimed in on the matter in recent times, but EA has yet to take any further action. Meanwhile, Ubisoft has diluted EA's American holdings in the company down to 15.4%.

The strong perfomance of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed last quarter was believed to have reduced the chances of an acquisition. At the time, the company was valued at $4.3 billion, and it expected to sell more than 5 million copies of Assassin's Creed by March.

It is widely speculated that EA's renewed vigor towards acquisitions is a result of the unexpected merger between Activision and Vivendi Games, which replaced EA as the world's biggest third-party publisher.

Update: Take-Two's board of directors has rejected Electronic Arts' proposal.

"After careful evaluation, the Board has determined that EA's proposal substantially undervalues Take-Two's robust and enviable stable of game franchises, exceptional creative talent and strong consumer loyalty," said the company. "We believe EA's unsolicited offer is highly opportunistic and is attempting to take advantage of our upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto IV, one of the most valuable and durable franchises in the industry."

"Electronic Arts’ proposal provides insufficient value to our shareholders and comes at absolutely the wrong time given the crucial initiatives underway," added executive Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick.

In what Zelnick calls the "only prudent and responsible" course of action, the board has decided to consider EA's proposal again on April 30, the day after Grand Theft Auto IV's release.

Original story: Publishing giant Electronic Arts last Tuesday proposed an acquisition of fellow publisher Take-Two at a price of $26 per share, or approximately $2 billion total.

Electronic Arts claims the proposal is more than fair, quoting the $26 share price as a 64 percent increase over Take-Two's recent stock value.

"There can be no certainty that in the future EA or any other buyer would pay the same high premium we are offering today," said EA CEO John Riccitiello.

The Take-Two umbrella includes the publishing labels 2K Sports, 2K Games, and Rockstar Games. Together the labels encompass such hit properties as Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto, BioShock 2K Boston's Bioshock, and Firaxis' Sid Meier's Civilization.

The potential acquisition would put sports studios 2K Sports and EA Sports under the same roof, possibly eliminating the already-waning balance of sports franchise competitiveness.

The proposal also reveals that Take-Two recently declined an offer of... Read more

Commenting on recent speculation that Microsoft may buy Unreal Tournament and Gears of War developer Epic Games for $1 billion this summer, Epic Games VP Mark Rein quipped that such an acquisition would be much more costly.

A recent editorial in GamePro suggested that Epic would be purchased by Microsoft for $1 billion by the summer. In a response emailed to Develop, Rein did not comment directly on the rumors of an acquisition but noted that his company was much more valuable than the suggested amount.

"I have not seen the actual GamePro article but if they're going to make predictions about us selling Epic we would prefer if they started at $2 billion because we don't want anyone thinking that we're cheap," joked Rein. A smiley affixed on the end of the statement was omitted in several reportings of the quote, leading ... Read more

A feature film based on Crytek's platinum-selling sci-fi FPS Crysis (PC) is in the planning stages, reports Kotaku. "A Crysis movie is definitely planned," revealed Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli. "We are in active talks already. I think we will close this topic before the end of this year."

A film based on Crytek's previous title, Far Cry, is currently in post-production. It was directed by the ever-reviled Uwe Boll before he resigned from big-budget projects, and guest stars Anthony Bourdain, the world-traveling maverick chef.

Though Boll's past efforts have transformed Sega's House of the Dead and Gas Powered Games' Dungeon Siege franchises, among others, into poorly received box office releases, Yerli is still eager to see the film.

"Unfortunately, we have not been involved in the film since very early when it was a script," explained the CEO. "However, I think the script changed and improved radically since then, at least I hope it has, since I can't wait to see the movie."

Other topics discussed by Yerli included the possibility of Crytek being acquired by a larger publisher--"If it were a cultural fit, yes, but we would have strong... Read more

Publisher Take-Two Interactive Software may be the target of a $1.5 billion buyout offer from entertainment conglomerate Viacom, according to "industry rumors" reported by MCV.

If true, the move would mark the latest in the recent rash of video game buyouts and mergers, the most notable of which was Activision Blizzard, the unexpected $18.9 billion combination of major publisher Activision with Blizzard Entertainment owner Vivendi Games.

The Take-Two umbrella encompasses multiple successful franchises and their respective developers, including the crime-life simulator Grand Theft Auto, underwater story-driven shooter BioShock, turn-based city builder Sid Meier's Civilization, along with the Midnight Club and Carnival Games properties.

The company also publishes titles based on the Go, Diego, Go! and Dora the Explorer brands, which are owned by Viacom subsidiary Nickelodeon. The varied... Read more

Strong sales of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed (PS3, X360) may have staved off the long-rumored EA acquisition of the publisher, reports the Financial Times.

EA bought a 20% stake in Ubisoft back in 2004, a move many regarded as a precursor to an eventual merger. Though the topic is a constant source of discussion, with both Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillmeot and EA COO William Gordon chiming in on the matter, EA has yet to take any further action, while Ubisoft has diluted EA's American holdings in the company down to 15.4%.

Now, with sales of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed exceeding 2.5 million copies and estimated to hit 5 million by March, the French company's worth just shot up again, making a possible acquisition all the more expensive. At present, Ubisoft's market value is pegged at $4.3 billion, and PC and DS editions of Assassin's Creed are due out next spring.

Earlier in the month, Activision and Vivendi Games unexpectedly merged, creating what it claims to be the largest third-party video game publisher. The move triggered a rash of speculation about the possible acquisition targets of other companies, especially EA, as it previously held the mantle of the world's largest publisher.

After two buyouts in 2005 and one in 2006, Sega slowed down its previously nonexistent acquisition activity. But that may change soon, as Sega Europe exec Mike Hayes told MCV the company is prepared to expand, both in terms of staffing and acquiring new studios.

"Like most other publishers we are always on the look-out for new signings--product or company," Hayes said. Sega has ramped up its internal hiring in recent years--a trend Hayes says will continue.

"We have taken staff on at a rapid rate simply because we have been building our infrastructure," he told MCV. "For the most part this 'establishment' strategy is complete. However we are still looking for several key staff to continue our growth."

The company's last acquisition was the 2006 buyout of London-based developer Sports Interactive, known for its Football Manager series of games.

Eidos parent company SCi Entertainment Group has confirmed that it is engaged in "extremely preliminary discussions" that could result in a possible acquisition by an as-yet-unspecified company.

In a statement made to the London Stock Exchange, SCi revealed that it has been approached by an interested party, but that no offer has been made nor is there any guarantee of an offer.

Following SCi's lacking declaration, This is Money reported that the company could go for more than EUR 300 million. According to the site, possible suitors include Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, which recently discussed plans to become a "fully-functional publisher" and invested in a 10.3% stake of SCi.

SCi's properties include such fan-favorite series as Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Carmageddon, Hitman, and Kane & Lynch: Dead Man, the latter two of which are currently in the stages of being transformed into feature films.

Of course, with the whole 3dfx buyout story, developers have their own opinion about it too. Voodoo Extreme got in contact with The Carmack, who had this to say

.. It was painful to watch 3dfx slip from the archetypical kick-ass technology start up to where they wound up.
I think I would have been happiest to have the PC market divided up between three strong players that all had their act together, but at this point, I'm not too unhappy with the market simplification resulting from 3dfx exiting.

Evil Avatar has posted the thoughts of Epic programmer Tim Sweeney

... 2. This shows the huge importance of keeping up with competition, in terms of cost, features, and product schedule. From a gamer's perspective, the Voodoo's are approximately as good as the GeForce's on average. The GeForce had T&L but few games took advantage of it; the Voodoo had a fill rate advantage. But this was NOT enough. NVidia's cards outsold 3dfx's by a huge margin (especially to OEMs) because of cost advantages, feature advantages (even though no games took advantage of those features at the time), and predictable product schedules.
3. This shows that a company can't "market" its way around core deficiencies -- at least, not for long. The 3dfx guys did an admirable job of hyping up the T-Buffer and FSAA, and if you read the typical magazine reviews, you might have concluded that 3dfx was on par with NVidia's products. But marketing isn't reality -- they were getting their butt kicked by T&L and 32-bit color ...

Well guys, remember a little while back we posted a story about a possible NVidia buyout of 3dfx? People balked... (Jack was wrong) Hell, I thought no way. I figured ATI or someone else would step in. Then yesterday it happens, 3dfx gets gobbled up by the mighty NVidia. Well here are a couple of interviews on it at FiringSquad and GamersDepot 

What exactly have you bought from 3dfx, and do you now own Gigapixel?

A: Their core assets, which includes their patents, patent pending applications, trademarks, branding, and inventory related to the graphics business. Gigapixel was a company who was purchased by 3dfx. We have purchased 3dfx's core assets, so that means we have access to whatever technology might've been developed by either company.

update Jack - In my defense, a lot can change in a quarter. For instance, this quarter, gross profit was -$21.7 (that's right, a loss). Their net loss for the quarter was $178.6 million. That means for 2000, 3dfx had lost a total of $291.5 million. With losses like that, it became easily affordable for nVidia to get some good IP, maybe pluck some key 3dfx people from the company, and just get 3dfx out of the market for good.

Word from this morning (dunno why we missed it) is that CNET is buying out ZiffDavis. (Gamecenter buys GameSpot basically) The deal is for a wimpy 1.6billion dollars. Not sure where this leaves Microsoft in the whole thing (They had a big share of CNET) but if we're lucky... well.. yeah. Also, a few people have sent in word that there is some whispering going on about NVidia looking at buying up what is left of Aureal. More word on that when I can find it. Lastly, Maarten had a bad experience earlier this week. Poor guy.

For all you publisher watchers out there, according to the business publication MCV UK, French publisher Ubi Soft is in early negotiations with Activision and RedStorm Entertainment for a buyout. The stock shares of Activision have been in a slump recently despite recently publishing Vampire from Nihilistic and having Return To Wolfenstein on the table. Its also interesting to note that Activision doesnt look like they will be publishing the new Doom title from id. Thanks to AVault for the story. The folks at Activision refused to comment.