Disney may be in talks to buy EA.

[epcotWSC]

http://kotaku.com/5075163/wall-street-journal-to-disney-buy-ea
http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/12/11/disney-might-buy-ea-says-wall-street-journal

It's purely speculation at this point. Nothing concrete has occurred to say that this is even a possibility.

 

[jeffk410]

The Worst? Lol they have the best sports video games series. They own many Online RPG that make alot of money. All i know is i love the sports games haha.

 

[erasure fan1]

Exactly right. While some of their IPs may sell well, they are pretty much universally hated by anyone into gaming.
Note: Playing video games and being into gaming are not the same thing.

I agree, "core gamers" do not have a lot of love for EA. While they have made some good strides, they have a very long way to go. I dont think this would be a good idea for Disney, EA is not known for its quality of games. Of course neither is Disney interactive. I could see one great thing if it did happen, a Mass Effect ride would be AWESOME!

 

[SirGoofy]

The Worst? Lol they have the best sports video games series. They own many Online RPG that make alot of money. All i know is i love the sports games haha.

The only "good" sports game they make is NHL. Madden is aweful, and the same year after year. NFL 2K was superior in every iteration when put up against Madden, so EA just went out and bought the rites to the NFL so 2K couldn't make a superior product, which was also offered at a lower price.

 

[wickedsoccer22]

The only "good" sports game they make is NHL. Madden is aweful, and the same year after year. NFL 2K was superior in every iteration when put up against Madden, so EA just went out and bought the rites to the NFL so 2K couldn't make a superior product, which was also offered at a lower price.

They make great FIFA games

 

[Underdog]

Technically, EA got the Burnout series after acquiring Criterion. I believe it was after Burnout 3: Takedown.

EA was terrible for the longest time but they have started to turn things around with more original properties like Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, and Burnout Paradise. They actually recently acquired Pandemic and Bioware the makers of some really RPG and action properties.

 

[Underdog]

Well, Nintendo has a very strong financial position unlike a lot of the developers today. Also, I think they still have some original family ownership that aren't currently looking for a merger. Back when Sony approached them about working together on the original Playstation, they considered it. However, looking at the history of that, I don't think they'll be looking at a partnership / merger / sales for the foreseeable future.

Why can't they just make a Nintendo/Disney deal?

 

[Underdog]

According to Wikipedia (yeah, I know it's wikipedia, yadda yadda yadda), 2012. 2K MLB series is very good. The presentation may not be as polished as EA's product, but some of their gameplay features are very slick and the games generally play well.

Does anyone know how long 2K sports exclusivity agreement is with Major League Baseball? I really miss the MVP baseball/Triple Play Baseball series, however MLB Front Office Manager is a decent substitute that was just released by 2K, it just doesn't have actual game play, just the GM/Manager stuff.

 

[Underdog]

As an avid gamer, the 'creativity' in games is a double edged sword. Many times the new franchises are funded with the revenue that come from the 'popular 'franchises that the avid or hardcore gamers hate so much.

One of the main complaints are EA are their sports games, but how much creativity can their be in a sports game? Football, basketball, hockey - how differently can you play them with a standard controller? EA got lazy when their was no competition, especially with Madden. 2K made great game and then that exclusivity deal came about. The 09 version of Madden was a much better effort than I expected from them, but there were still some missing features. However, to call the last version of Madden (& Fifa) bad is not right. Even Live '09 was an improvement but they're still behind 2K NBA's offering at this point.

Back on topic - I wonder what this would do to the current Disney Interactive studio. They recently released a critically acclaimed arcade racing game on 360 and PS3, Pure, and are rumored to have Warren Spector working on a Mickey Mouse Platformer to rival Nintendo's Mario offerings. http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/12/rumor-warren-sp.html

Oh, I realize that they have popular franchises, but EA produces the same crap every year. As an avid gamer I'm sick of the deterioration of the creativity in games.



Which are pretty much the same game every year. Madden hasn't impressed me in years, but it's the only NFL game, so EA can get away with making it the same crap every year.

 

[SirGoofy]

Mickey Mouse Platformer to rival Nintendo's Mario offerings. http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/12/rumor-warren-sp.html

Wow, I hadn't heard about that before. Sounds like it could be a winner if done right.

 

[Underdog]

I will preach to anyone about the superiority of NFL2K5 & it's playability aganist anything that EA released that year. However, Madden has gotten better. EA's presentation and franchise modes were always better than the 2K series anyway.

Second, EA didn't buy out the rights - the NFL only wanted one product and both 2K and EA bid on the rights. EA's pockets were much deeper and there was no way 2K could have matched the offer. So, basically, what the NFL did was kill any competition their would have been in the marketplace for a second NFL licensed videogame product. Notice that the NBA hasn't followed down the same path - they have, however killed the 'street baller' games that had NBA players in them for the time being.

The only "good" sports game they make is NHL. Madden is aweful, and the same year after year. NFL 2K was superior in every iteration when put up against Madden, so EA just went out and bought the rites to the NFL so 2K couldn't make a superior product, which was also offered at a lower price.

 

[hrcollectibles]

I have a friend of Mine that works for EA in Orlando and he is a huge Disney fan.. I bet if this happens he will be stoked

 

[epcotWSC]

Has Disney ever put out a successful video game? I can't think of any. The only Disney game I can recall that I really liked was Duck Tales back on NES (and that was actually put out by CapCom).

BTW, interesting fact. Al Lowe, the guy who made the Leisure Suit Larry games (1-3,5-7), actually made games for Disney through Sierra back in the early 80s
http://www.allowe.com/More/download.htm

I wanted to try some of them, but the 80s graphics is a little too cheese for me. I need at least mid 90s.

 

[Underdog]

I think most of the games that were based on Disney licenses were successful (esp. Duck Tales) which is when they went in-house with their development. Things turned for the worst then.

Like I said earlier, Pure (http://disney.go.com/disneyinteractivestudios/product.html?platform=x360&game=pure), which is a Disney Interactive game, has gotten some good reviews and might be a sign they're turning the corner.

Has Disney ever put out a successful video game? I can't think of any. The only Disney game I can recall that I really liked was Duck Tales back on NES (and that was actually put out by CapCom).

BTW, interesting fact. Al Lowe, the guy who made the Leisure Suit Larry games (1-3,5-7), actually made games for Disney through Sierra back in the early 80s
http://www.allowe.com/More/download.htm

I wanted to try some of them, but the 80s graphics is a little too cheese for me. I need at least mid 90s.

 

[SpecJoe Magic]

Does anyone know how long 2K sports exclusivity agreement is with Major League Baseball? I really miss the MVP baseball/Triple Play Baseball series, however MLB Front Office Manager is a decent substitute that was just released by 2K, it just doesn't have actual game play, just the GM/Manager stuff.

The best available baseball series by far is MLB: The Show on Playstation 3. Last year's version was spectacular, and this year's version looks like it's shaping up to be even better. Sony is able to make it for their own system because the MLB licensing agreement with 2K doesn't prevent video game developers from making a baseball game using the MLB license for their own systems. So, Microsoft could conceivably make a baseball game using the MLB license for Xbox 360, and Nintendo could make one for the Wii, but Sony is the only one doing it. If you are a die-hard baseball fan, you should definitely look into buying a PS3, so that you can play MLB: The Show. The 2009 edition is set for release in early March.

 

[DisneyMusician2]

Has Disney ever put out a successful video game? I can't think of any. The only Disney game I can recall that I really liked was Duck Tales back on NES (and that was actually put out by CapCom).

BTW, interesting fact. Al Lowe, the guy who made the Leisure Suit Larry games (1-3,5-7), actually made games for Disney through Sierra back in the early 80s
http://www.allowe.com/More/download.htm

I wanted to try some of them, but the 80s graphics is a little too cheese for me. I need at least mid 90s.

The BEST Disney video game ever was Adventures in the Magic Kingdom. It was an NES game where Mickey had lost his keys to the main gate and you had to go into the attractions and help him find them.

It was awesome, I used to play for quite awhile when I was a kid. I even downloaded it via emulator for my PC.

Try here for a great review and some screenshots and also try the Wikipedia article.

 

[dave2822]

Though this rumor did have some serious substance to it when the article was published in early December, it is unlikely now ...

Particularly because Disney has gone in a different direction and is on the verge of making a deal with Dreamworks SKG (6 years, 30 films according to most reports) ... like seriously any minute now ...

And IMO the Dreamworks deal will yield a much higher benefit to Disney than EA.

 

[erasure fan1]

And IMO the Dreamworks deal will yield a much higher benefit to Disney than EA.

I agree. Disney interactive lost 45 million last quarter and EA lost 641 million. A movie deal would make more sense because of the cross promotion in the parks. You dont see a lot of video game anything in theme parks, although I think that there should be.