EA Rumored for sale

EA is reportedly looking to sell after several recent commercial failures. The question everyone wants to know is: What will it mean for the future of games? Having a Giant crash (Even if it is self caused) like this cannot be good for the market

I think it goes without mentioning that we do NOT want to turn this into a EA bashing thread Lord knows we have enough of those

Disney will buy them. Or Activision. Or Capcom.

But Activision itself is being sold off, so it can't buy EA.

edited 20th Aug '12 4:40:42 PM by burnpsy

...I actually hope that it would be Disney out of those three. If only because the other 2 would make EA worse if anything.

edited 20th Aug '12 4:41:32 PM by unnoun

So who could actually buy them? EA is one of the biggest companies out there so there's not a whole lot to pick. So far it would have to be one of the big three or...Ubisoft...maybe?

edited 20th Aug '12 4:41:49 PM by Kostya

Irony aside, this would be... interesting. EA falling would probably have a profound effect on the commercialism and status of the industry, at least stateside. Something would likely take its general place, however - probably Valve.

I actually wouldn't mind if Ubisoft bought EA.

So what happens if one of the big three acquires EA? They'd be pretty much guaranteed to have a bunch of new exclusives to sell (at least a dozen, maybe almost two!). They'd also get exclusive rights to Mass Effect and The Sims which would probably be a nice boost.

edited 20th Aug '12 4:56:21 PM by Kostya

If EA goes indie, I'll be laughing. Not to bash them, but they really need to suffer by themselves instead of leeching out of buyers

I'd like to say, dear Athe, no, not Disney. From the perspective of copyright lay, Disney is the Devil. They're largely responsible for why copyright extends 75 years after the death of the creator.

That's bad why?

It's an absurdly long time and for major companies it's basically forever.

Let's not derail into copyright laws, but suffice to say, a lot of people have problems with it lasting so long for various reasons.

Also, based on that, I'd expect some nasty DRM from Disney.

True. I wasn't thinking about the copyright law perspective. Well, now I have no idea who EA should go to. Maybe it should be broken up, and all the different parts of it given to different people.

edited 20th Aug '12 5:05:11 PM by unnoun

As long as Microsoft doesn't get its hands on EA I'm fine.

I swear if Nintendo gets EA it would basically be the ultimate fuck you to the previous management.

But...but why is long copyright so bad? What's the downside to it?

Break 'em up and parcel 'em out.

Stifles creativity by keeping things from functionally ever entering the public domain. Copyright is meant to give incentive to the content creator to come up with new things by giving him exclusive rights to his creation, but you might notice that dead men tend not to create things any more.

edited 20th Aug '12 5:09:24 PM by Balmung

So...why's that bad? Wouldn't that promote creativity by forcing people to create more original content?

It means companies have possession of certain properties for far longer than they have any right to. The original creators frequently have no control over them anymore, it's just a corporate entity now. There's also the argument that if they didn't have their damn I Ps for so long they'd actually be forced to make some new stuff once in a while.

How? If Disney can keep using Mickey Mouse why should they ever try and create another star?

edited 20th Aug '12 5:09:59 PM by Kostya

Well, there's no upside for starters.

Imagine if norse mythology was copyrighted. Or the music of Beethoven and Bach and Mozart. Or pretty much any story or work ever. Copyright is supposed to exist to protect the intellectual property rights of artists, not corporations.

edited 20th Aug '12 5:12:09 PM by unnoun

Say someone wants to make a game based on The Lord Of The Rings. The books are in the public domain, but thanks to the movies, you'd need the film studio's permission for about as long as it will continue to be relevant.

This is getting off topic...

edit: I really do hope someone with sense buys EA.

edited 20th Aug '12 5:11:27 PM by Kostya

I say EA be split up to 3 big pieces, each going to a major console manufacturer (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo). Just for the hell of it.

Because people will get sick of it eventually? I mean people will only watch so much of a single thing. Honestly Mickey Mouse doesn't really star in anything anymore, he's just a mascot.