TL;DR: A brand new report claims that Digital Arts has been floating itself on a market that’s churning via recreation publishers. It is talked to Amazon, Apple, and Disney a couple of potential acquisition, and even pursued a merger with NBCUniversal.
About $100 billion has been spent on recreation studios and publishers up to now yr. Microsoft spent the vast majority of that selecting up Activision Blizzard and Bethesda’s mum or dad firm Zenimax, and Sony responsively grabbed Bungie and different smaller builders.
Now, the few publishers nonetheless on single-player mode are reconsidering their positions. Ubisoft expressed curiosity in being acquired in February, and Puck studies that EA has been approaching potential consumers and negotiating mergers.
It got here fairly near merging with NBCUniversal, in response to Puck’s trade sources. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts thought-about handing management of NBCUniversal over to EA CEO Andrew Wilson in a deal that might’ve seen the 2 corporations kind an leisure large. However the negotiations finally stalled when the 2 events could not choose a value.
At its present market cap of just about $37 billion, EA can be the second-largest writer to ever be acquired, if that does occur. Microsoft’s $69 billion Activision Blizzard deal is the most important acquisition of its form thus far, and it is at the moment being stalled whereas underneath scrutiny from the FTC.
EA has additionally been buying new studios and franchises. Within the final 18 months, it is spent $5 billion to accumulate two cellular recreation studios in addition to Codemasters, the racing sim developer. However its traditional IPs at the moment are in hassle: EA’s unique license to provide Star Wars titles won’t be renewed in 2023, leaving the door open for different builders to create video games for the franchise.
Maybe in response, EA approached Disney in March to inquire a couple of “extra significant relationship than licensing offers,” Puck’s sources say. Disney apparently did not specific a lot curiosity.
EA additionally confirmed this month that it might be ending its 25-year partnership with FIFA beginning subsequent yr. It can launch yet another recreation within the FIFA franchise later this yr earlier than rebranding its soccer video games as EA Sports activities FC in 2023.
