With the imminent completion of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, EA is poised to take its place as the largest independent developer and publisher in the industry. Which, of course, has raised a lot of questions about whether EA could ever be acquired.
One such rumor surfaced last May in a disk report which revealed that Comcast CEO Brian Roberts had approached EA about a possible acquisition, but fell apart due to disagreements over price and structure.
Although EA has repeatedly declined to comment on “rumors and speculation,” CEO Andrew Wilson answered a question about the acquisition issue during today’s first-quarter earnings call, reiterating that he didn’t think the publisher could “be in a stronger position as an independent company.
“Our… goal is always to take care of our people, our players and our shareholders,” he continued. “If there was ever a way for us to do it differently than we do today, of course I have to be open to that, but I would tell you today that we feel very confident and excited about our future.” “
In fact, it was a successful quarter for EA, with F1 22 sales in double digits compared to F1 last year, and overall net income of $1.78bn (vs. $1.55bn year on year). year) driven largely by live service gaming, which now accounts for more than 70% of its business in the last 12 months. And unlike several of his classmates, he doesn’t seem to have been too affected by the delays (or at least not a lot of delays). In fact, his The next three quarters look quite promising between the Dead Space remake, all the usual sports games, Super Mega Baseball, and two other unannounced games coming in early 2023.
However, it’s worth noting that this is the kind of boilerplate statement almost every CEO has made regarding acquisitions of late. Ubisoft has said as muchY so has Take-Two. Statements like this when faced with questions about acquisitions are fairly standard, as they prevent the CEO from lying if an acquisition is being discussed, but they also don’t invite too much speculation given the numerous legal and business reasons executives can’t confirm. .or deny until the deal is almost sealed.
And what is more, Companies like EA are constantly discussing acquisitions., both in terms of what they might want to acquire, and whether or not they could be acquired. The talks happen several times a year; they usually just fail because the two sides often can’t fully agree on a deal that works for both of them.
Will EA ever be acquired? Maybe, maybe not. What is certain is that it is likely to continue to be approached with offers and at the same time make its own offers, and with Activision-Blizzard bought, EA is in one of the best positions in the industry to reject deals or make an extremely lucrative a.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @patovalentine.
