Think of big game publishers and EA is most likely to come to mind. The publisher is huge, but not so big that another games company wouldn’t try to buy them, and that’s exactly what is being attempted according to a South Korean newspaper.
In what must be a rather surprising turn of events, game developer and publisher Nexon has apparently put forward a takeover bid. So that’s a company that makes most of its money from free-to-play games attempting to buy a publisher that has made its money from paid-for titles.
EA’s shares spiked following the news, but there has been no official comment yet from either company regarding the offer.
Nexon is probably best known in the West for its game Maple Story, but it has a growing range of other free-to-play and online titles split across the desktop, mobile, and Facebook.
In a lot of ways the acquisition makes a sense for both companies. EA has the experience and development abilities to produce games across all the consoles, handhelds, and PC, as well as the Origin digital distribution service for PC. Its mobile and social gaming is growing, but is still a relatively small part of the business. Nexon on the other hand would benefit from having the means to get its games on consoles, flood Origin with free-to-play titles, and of course take advantage of the PopCap back catalog. Together they would have all bases covered with mature businesses in every sector of gaming.
For now, the takeover bid doesn’t hold that much water until one of the companies officially comments. If it turns out to be a serious offer, it could really shake things up for EA and we could see some unusual title carrying the EA logo in future.
via CVG
