david.dakota Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 According to Contagious Vice Gnomes Apple is said to be considering a buyout of EA. Apple is said to be keen to bolster its iPhone platform, while its said EA would benefit from the growth of the business.
Noku Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 http://gonintendo.com/?p=81476 “To say that it is idiotic would be an insult to all idiots.” - Wedbush Morgan analyst, Michael Pachter discussing the Apple/EA buyout rumor
Emasher Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 Pachter isn't always right. I wouldn't count this out yet.
Tellyn Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 How would EA possibly agree? They make so much from developing for just about every platform out there, they'd surely suffer if Apple made them create games for the iPhone and a new, untested (and not to mention unnecessary) games console?
Zechs Merquise Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 I doubt anyone picks up an iphone for gaming. It's not really a viable platform for gaming.
Will Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 they'd surely suffer if Apple made them create games for the iPhone and a new, untested (and not to mention unnecessary) games console? Where did anyone mention this? IF Apple did buy them there's no way they would be stopping their cross-platform development. I doubt anyone picks up an iphone for gaming. It's not really a viable platform for gaming. What makes you think this? There is a LOT of money to be made from iPhone games.
Tellyn Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 Where did anyone mention this? IF Apple did buy them there's no way they would be stopping their cross-platform development. What makes you think this? There is a LOT of money to be made from iPhone games. A) The rumours accompanying this rumour suggest that Apple will be creating its own Apple-branded games console. B) If you can make your product stand out from thousands of crap filler games.
Will Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 I'd be amazed if Apple come out with a console, games have never been at the forefront of their strategy and I really don't see that changing anytime soon. I don't think it's something Apple have the ability to do successfully. Second point I agree on, though if you're making a crap (cheap) game then you don't need to sell much to turn a profit. There IS a market for games on iPhone and there's a lot of money changing hands over it.
david.dakota Posted May 6, 2009 Author Posted May 6, 2009 I'd be amazed if Apple come out with a console' date=' games have never been at the forefront of their strategy[/quote'] There was a time neither Sony or Microsoft had any interest in the market. And look what happened there.
Will Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 So what's the rule here? Any company that has never had an interest in games may at some point in the future release a games console? You can't use a minority of examples as reason for someone else to act on something. Both Sony and Microsoft had been heavily involved in games/consoles before launching their own efforts. As far as I can tell (happy to be proved wrong on this it would be quite interesting) Apple don't really have any useful history in this area.
Shino Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 LOL, can you imagine an Apple console? An overpriced high end console? Just imagine if Sony decided to charge for PS3's manufacturing price, development costs and snob branding. It would be 1500€/£/$. The more serious implications of this would be not having EA games on Windows! Its non sense I tell you, NON SENSE!!!
lostmario Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 There was a time neither Sony or Microsoft had any interest in the market. And look what happened there. Yeah, Sega stopped making consoles and went Third Party. Wheres my Dreamcast 2 Sega? where is it!!!
Pit-Jr Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 Didn't Apple already release a tiny, minimalist, overpriced white iconsole? Oh wait that was Nintendo
Noku Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 Didn't Apple already release a tiny, minimalist, overpriced white iconsole? Oh wait that was Nintendo ... to combat low profits from piracy-infatuated Chinese market... Besides, it was all N64-ports and stuffz.
Emasher Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 Ok, time for my opinion on this. Note, this is just my opinion, don't flame me. Apple has made quite a bit of money with iTunes and iPods. They also have a poorly selling product called the Apple TV. And the reason it doesn't sell, its almost $300 and doesn't do much more than streaming stuff from your computer to your TV. Look at the 360 and PS3, they do that and sell much better than the Apple TV. The thing is, they actually do stuff to justify the cost. And I think Apple also sees the ability to buy and rent media on them (such as with Net flix on the 360) as a threat to Movie Rentals on iTunes (which are much bigger than most people think). Creating a console, that plays games through digital distribution only, in a similar vain to the App store could be huge for them. Apple's brand is quite strong right now, and Sony is quite weak. This is Apple's chance to release a console if they want to, there's the chance now to push someone else out of the industry, an industry that probably can't support 4 consoles. One problem though is, Apple doesn't really make games. Buying EA could potentially do that for them, and since EA is in awful financial shape right now compared to other game companies, and EA has always been one of the best publishers to Apple over the years, It would make sense.
STOOPIDDITTIES Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 If this did happen, and apple were to release a console that was as successful as the ipod has been, which wouldn't be hard were they to have EA and all those liscenses and franchises to themselves, it would certainly shake things up a little. The industry certainly needs a change in my opinion, an Apple seem like the best canditate to make that happen. But we shall see, i'll just take this with a pinch of salt for now.
Nolan Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 There was a time neither Sony or Microsoft had any interest in the market. And look what happened there. According to Wikipedia Microsoft Gaming Studios has been publishing/developing games since 1990. Sony use to publish/develop games(92-94 I think) on the SNES as Sony Imagesoft. They(sony, not sony imagesoft) also created the SNES sound chip. Apple buying EA is so very unlikely though, they have nothing to offer EA who are one of the largest publishers in the world.
darksnowman Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 Apple buying EA is so very unlikely though, they have nothing to offer EA who are one of the largest publishers in the world. Yep. I can't think why it would be beneficial for EA to be tied solely to one console. If Apple want into computer games they should buy Sega.
Tellyn Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 But why would they do that when they're doing well enough as it is?
Emasher Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 But why would they do that when they're doing well enough as it is? EA had (last year I think) the second biggest losses in the industry. Thats not what I'd call "well enough as it is". Fair enough if it was an odd year and they start turning profits, but I have a feeling EA isn't going to recover right away. And if Apple didn't release a console, I'm sure they'd still let them develop for all the platforms, even Windows probably. It would just force them to release all the games for the Mac.
Will Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 But why would they do that when they're doing well enough as it is? Did you miss EA's financial results this week?
Shino Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 Is Apple even capable of this? I have the idea that EA is as big a company as them.
Emasher Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 Is Apple even capable of this? I have the idea that EA is as big a company as them. This is something I've been wondering as-well.
Meo Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 Is Apple even capable of this? I have the idea that EA is as big a company as them. Not even close. Apple's market value is of aproximately 118 billion dollars; EA on the other hand has a market value of 7 billion dollars.
Recommended Posts