Game industry business news

Although many of the points raised by Take-Two’s Board are entirely true, we are somewhat amused that they are raised as negotiating points. Our point-by-point thoughts: 1. EA’s offer represented over a 50% premium to Take-Two’s closing price, and to its 200 day moving average share price. Take-Two shares have …

Brash might not be the biggest name in games publishing at the moment, but the new outfit has some big ideas and even bigger aspirations. Founded last June, Brash is unique in that rather than simply dedicating a large portion of its business to licensed games, it’s devoting its entire …

Shortly before Take Two clarified its stance concerning EA’s proposed takeover, Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Wienkes stated that he believes EA will up its $26 per share offer for its publishing rival. He also upped his recommendation of EA’s shares, stating that he believes they will soon be on the …

In a new official response to the recent approach for the firm by rival EA, Take Two has said that it is prepared to consider entering into discussions with third parties about a possible business combination” – but not until after Grand Theft Auto IV is released next month . …

Leading US movie rental firm Netflix has surveyed a number of its members about their interest in streaming movies from Microsoft’s Xbox Live service, Reuters reports. A spokesperson for the firm said that the move didn’t necessarily indicate a forthcoming agreement between itself and Microsoft, though it did add that …

Indie darling readying Darwinia+ for August release

Third person mafia-based adventure outing Yakuza 2 is to be released on PS2 in Europe some time in 2008, Sega has confirmed. The game was released in Japan in December 2006, and received some rave reviews from the Japanese consumer press. It had been presumed that a Western release had …

Shares in Ubisoft rose the most in two months yesterday, after the firm announced that it had bought the complete rights to the Tom Clancy franchise. According to Bloomberg, shares rose as much as 5.91 euros, or 12 percent, to 54.98 euros. Before yesterday’s rise, shares of Paris-based Ubisoft had …

Ubisoft’s chief executive Yves Guillemot has said that the firm has the capacity to develop its own movies – and has its eye on a film based on the Tom Clancy franchise. However, Guillemot ruled out the possibility of a Rainbow Six movie – and said that any Ubisoft-created cinema …

NCsoft plans to build two new online titles using Epic’s Unreal Engine 3. The two firms have announced a licensing deal for the engine which discloses that NCsoft will gain access to all the latest updates to UE3 which make it "the best possible offering for cross-platform game development for …