I think Activision is even worse. At least EA is now attempting some innovation. They have like ten new ips hitting the market this year: Boom Blox, Dead Space and Army of Two just to name a couple off the top of my head.

sorry didn't see it,!!!!!!!

haha,we will see ho have the more comment and view

I wrote my own editorial. It just happened to be on the same topic. Not surprising because after EA's attempt to get Take Two, this editorial was pushed up a few weeks. I had planned to write something else today but this seemed more pertinent.

Anyway, it's on the front page if you want to check it out. 

Here's the thing. If EA takes over Take2... (Take 2 is a big boy on it's own) Then we get the monopoly situation which occures in almost every sector after a few decades. Multibillion international companies take over and dead-lock eachother in a tied position (Microsoft in computer industry is an example of total domination)... Or Google vs Yahoo battling it out whom gets the most % of sitevisites out of all sites. (Google = 25%. Yahoo 15%. All the other sites in the world have the other 60%... You know what i mean, domination)

Same will occur in the gaming industry. Big companies will keep buying. Smaller independant teams don't get the chance to grow big. They will be taken over before that. Especially if they make a few good games in a row which makes 'em stand out of the croud. Now we have EA vs Activision-Blizzard. And in the consolemanufacturers Nintendo vs Sony vs Microsoft. EA is really dangerous. For they are taking over company after company and are always looking for new ways to enhance their team of developers. If EA gets the chance to take over a major developer/publisher we'll be in big trouble. For domination takes away originality and (r)evolution. Pushing a big boy in a corner however will revolutionize and speed up the way things are going and possibly, that company might make a comeback (Nintendo) Or die trying it (Sega or Atari)... 

i agree with you,its not just EA how is dangerous,the fusion with blizzard/activision too

yes they do need to be stopped i cant even remember any good quality titles they have put out recently...

mass effect,but it was before they buy studio behinde it,i dont except so much for mass effect 2 now

Got to head to work, so I can't post for too long...

Its all a simple cycle. EA will continue to "consume" developers - but will also continue to lose the core talent that is driving those studios. They can own brands, and own companies - but they can't own the creative developers behind those companies - unless they ARE doing a really good job.

The result is what we saw last year. Lots of EA franchises "flopped", Madden lost 20% of sales from the previous year, Activision overtook them (without Blizzard being included), and average review scores dropped 5%.

If this continues, EA would be forced to SELL off some of their underperforming franchises - like dead husks, with all the gaming lifeforce sucked out of them. Some other company would pick them up, and slowly revive them.

...

Its also worth considering from a business gamepoint, that the bigger they get - the greater the "risk" they have. Their revenue might be increasing - but their costs are increasing even faster, and overall - profit is tumbling.

There is a very good reason Nintendo do NOT adopt the "purchase and conquer" business strategy - its basically unprofitable. Instead they keep their core team to the same size - and just keep creating new IPs - and minimise any milking they do (note - Mario is a "brand", NOT a franchise - Mario Strikers is a franchise).

It will only take a company with 3-4 "mega" hits in a year (Activision?), to beat EA for a single year - they are carrying so much dead weight now. 

Even if EA gets EVEN bigger, which I'm sure it will...there will always be opportunities for indie developers. With the monopoly EA might have in a few years, gamers will welcome anything that ISN'T EA, so I don't think we have too much to worry about...other than EA killing our existing favorite franchises.

If you don't like EA, don't buy their games. I bought 2 EA games- NFS III for PS and Road Rash used for Sega Genesis. I may buy 2 more EA games in the next 3 years. The company just doesn't do that much more me. Really, it is that simple.