Gaucho420

UBS Analyst: Activision Unlikely to Approach Take-Two

Forbes this weekend suggested UBISoft is currently looking at a merger with TTWO. Positives for this are complimentary games, the fact that both companies have licensed their games for movies (Bioschock, Prince of Persia), UBISoft has stated they would like to get into sports (TTWO has a sports stable of games) as well as the previously stated desire of UBISoft to have franchise games. TTWO has the biggest franchise of them all in GTA, while Bioshock looks to be a potential big franchise as well.

Negatives to this merger would be that UBISoft cannot buy out TTWO due to a lack of cash, and that EA actually owns 16% of UBISoft.

I would prefer this route for TTWO rather than the buyout as EA is inept for many differerent reasons, most of which its games are mediocre (at best), the offer price severely undercuts TTWO's true value and quite frankly, I don't care what Wall Street thinks, as most of them had TTWO rated a hold or sell prior to this and well, they were dead wrong then and they continue to be dead wrong on the value of the company now.

Let's hope UBISoft and TTWO can pull it together, as that company, with its talent and stable of games, would definitely challenge ATVI and EA in time. The games offered by those two have better stories, longer replay value and in the end, more interest and innovation than EA's tired sports and movie licenses or ATVI's Guitar Hero (how much longer can the popularity of this TRULY LAST?...I have GH and Rock Band...not too sure I need any more editions of either) or COD (its going to get old sooner rather than later and I love COD4...but every idea has its limits).

In the end, the future blockbuster franchises are clearly more prevalent with TTWO and UBISoft than the other two and these will be the games customers buy in the future. Guitar Hero is old, Rock Band's been done...I simply see a better future with more GTA's, more Bioschocks, Assassin's Creed, Rainbow Six, Tom Clancy's, Mafia's etc...than the latest Harry Potter Game, COD 35 or anything the other two have.

TV Looks in Rearview Mirror and Sees a Future Like Print’s

100% correct. With the web and broadband, along with videogames, movies on demand, etc...traditional TV viewing has only one way to go and that's down. But that happens always with any communication medium, something inevitably comes along to replace it.

I'm 32, a college graduate and a proffesional. I read the net on my free time about 50% of the time, use videogames 25% of the time and use TV 15% of the time. The rest is miscellaneous stuff, but my TV viewing has dropped and continuous to drop precipitously. TV is rather boring and network TV is god-awful.

Unless you're a woman, there's nothing on, and pretty soon they're going to discover its only women on network TV. Reality TV shows were the death of male oriented programing...dance contest, singing contest, contests versus third graders, Lets make a deal redone for a new generation...it doesn't take much to figure out why advertising dollars are leaving the TV medium with this crap on this medium all the time.

Thank god for the net and gaming.