EA gets bigger - invests 19/9% in UbiSoft!

[Kraig]

(For all you geeks out there)

EA Invests in UbiSoft Entertainment; Acquires Approximately 19.9 Percent Equity in Global Game Company

http://www.ea.com

Burnaby, BC, December 22, 2004--Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS) today announced an investment in international game developer and publisher UbiSoft Entertainment, headquartered in Rennes, France. The investment represents approximately 19.9 percent interest in the company -- shares purchased as a block from Talpa Beheer B.V. to be completed upon obtaining antitrust clearance from the U.S. government. Financial terms were not disclosed.

--- For those that don't know, UbiSoft produces games like Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, Ghost Recon series and Rainbox Six to name a few.

This type of investment is reflective of EA's intent to want the RPG market as well as they own the sports-game market.

[G-Style]

Yeah they also recently signed an exclusive contract with the NFL so EA's having a great year right now.

[galaxie]

Does this mean there will be job openings?

Translation = I WANT A JOB AT EA!

[Lee]

EA also purchased the rights to NFL.

[stephen_c]

Originally Posted by galaxie

Does this mean there will be job openings?

Translation = I WANT A JOB AT EA!

u absolutely do NOT want to work for EA. trust me.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/11...s_6112998.html

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/04/11/12....shtml?tid=123

[Cdn_Brdr]

GREAT...now EA can ruin Ubisoft too. Last time I checked Ubisoft made great games.... not so much for EA. :(

[omega_image]

working for ea for almost 2 yrs now has changed my "perception" of the largest gaming company in the world

listen to stephen...........

[ppcock]

I agree with Adam

Been working there since Mach of 03.

[ppcock]

they also tried to sign the exclusive rights to the NBA

that failed.

[G-Style]

Credit where credits de there stockholders are happy!

[dj_soo]

Originally Posted by Kraig

This type of investment is reflective of EA's intent to want the RPG market as well as they own the sports-game market.

I think it's more indicative of EA's intent to own the videogame market in general. Ubisoft was one of the few non-Japanese publishing companies left that is doing well and has good and original titles and marketable franchises.

I wouldn't be surprised if EA does what they always do and attempts a takeover bid a couple years down the road, secures the marketable franchises, alienates the actual talent coming form the Ubisoft to the extent that they leave, and is left with another cash-cow franchise that they churn out every year of sub-par game quality but with great production value until the gamers turn on it and they can find another company with talent to buy.

I worked at EA for nearly 4 years. You do not want to work there. Read this:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/ea_spouse/274.html

and this:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/joestraitiff/

This is not exagerration or hyperbole - it's exactly the conditions of working in EA - I was lucky enough to be one of the few that got paid overtime but when you're only making $11/hour (I started at $8.50) you kind of need that overtime to survive.

And on top of the mad endless overtime hours (my worst stretch was going 6 months of "crunch time" working some 75-80 hours a week) the mad politics and beauracracy is just insane to deal with.

[miss.myra]

I think the 'wow' factor of working for a big name company disappears after spending some time there.

/IBM employee of two years :(

[stringbeans]

everyone has the dream of playing video games for money, but it loses its magic after about a week. you dont play the game for fun, you play it to WORK. and you get stuck playing with only certain features of the game too, not the entire game. so for example you might spend up to a month just testing something like the menu system in a game.

ive been in quality assurance for about 3 years now and its really not all that great. if it wasnt for the high pay, and slack supervision, i'd be gone in a second.

[AGROculture]

My father is the Vice President of EA

[sungoo]

"When you make your profit calculations and your cost analyses, you know that a great measure of that cost is being paid in raw human dignity, right?"

heh, wow.

[trance4life]

anyone know their first rpg release?/

[Cdn_Brdr]

Originally Posted by AGROculture

My father is the Vice President of EA

What a coincidence!!! My best friend's, uncle's, sister's boyfriend cleans the toilets at EA!

[stephen_c]

^
vice president could be anything.
vp of sales, vp of operations, vp of ...
on the other hand, his dad could be vp of sanitation,
in which case your best friend's, uncle's, sister's boyfriend is in BIG trouble.

[Séguin]

I wanted to work there at one point... and I sorta did at one point as well. But not really.

[e_BoY]

rumors of ubisoft making a headquarters in bc as well.

[lildonkey]

i remember a couple of my friends applying there thinking that it would be the best job in the world...

[lildonkey]

uhh anyone know the stock symbol for ea ?

only thing i found was EA industries INC.... but that seems to be a penny stock...

[miss.myra]

Nasdaq:ERTS

[lildonkey]

cheers :)

[lildonkey]

holy shit... from dec 1st till dec 23rd it rose from 49.70 to 62.46.... and it's been a steady rise all year long...

anyone here actually do day trading or anything??

seems really interesting... kinda feel like investing 500 in a discount brokerage account just to experiment with...