The word from Next Generation today is that Electronic Arts (EA) is indeed going ahead with its plan to take over Take Two (T2). This would put EA firmly back on top as the #1 video game publisher (in terms of sales), a status currently being contested by the Activision/Blizzard merger. With the mostly-corporate coming together of Activision and Blizzard, gamers didn’t really need to worry about some of their favourite franchises suffering. Tony Hawk as a human pally in WoW? Unlikely. Guitar Hero: Starcraft Edition? Probably not…although it would be better than Aerosmith. The EA/T2 deal is altogether different, mostly, of course, due to the fact that T2 is resisting the takeover. They feel their share prices will be worth a lot more after GTA IV is released and that EA is undervaluing the company and yadda yadda Wall St. blah.

The real losers in this might be us, the game adoring public. Here are three reasons why:

• The End of the Game: EA Sports used to have it sweet. They were the only real sports game in town. For a long time, if you wanted to play football, you played Madden. Anything else was a train wreck unworthy of the gridiron. Then, EA Sports got lazy. Why innovate when you can iterate and still make money? Then Take Two’s 2K Sports entered the fold, created quality sports franchises and forced EA to improve. If EA takes over 2K Sports, it wouldn’t be ridiculous to think that many of the studios that work on 2K Sports games will be dissolved along with any form of competition. I’m sure much of the talent would be appropriated into various other EA stables, but the end result of the torpid magnate could still happen.

• Another One Bites the Dust: There’s already a lack of publishers out there. Sure, Take Two was never a company to run out and invest a ton of capital into new intellectual properties, but what few do come out are usually pretty solid (i.e. Bioshock). One less publisher means one less outlet for game funding and ultimately fewer new and interesting games.

• Simsilization: I love Civilization. Love. It may be my favourite game series of all-time. EA has been known mash franchises together with mixed reaction and results (see: SimCity Societies). With the acquisition of T2, EA would also nab Firaxis which now owns the Civilization brand. If my tribe of Persians are forced to trade in the currency of Simoleans, I may give up gaming forever. This is but one example of what inbreeding we might have coming our way.

I’m sure there are upsides to the merger but as of right now I’m kind of at a loss to think of any, save one. Multi-platform Bioshock anyone?

I’m not usually the kind of person who pays attention to things like this. Developers, publishers, etc don’t really interest me that much. I love games, but I couldn’t tell you who made most of them. Just like I know every lyric to every song by my favourite band, but I’d be hard pressed to name a single band member. That said, I don’t really like the idea of a giant conglomerate squashing down/buying out all the competition so they don’t have any motivation to try anymore. I don’t really want anyone to be the Wal-Mart of game publishers. Variety is the spice of life.

I also feel I should mention the fact that I liked SimCity Societies much more than I have ever liked SimCity.