No Interest in Take-Two

Chris Kruger

Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision, claimed yesterday at the Goldman Sachs Technology Investment Symposium that Take-Two did not fit his companies' idea of a suitable acquisition, GamesIndustry.Biz reports.

"We've said that we need a history of profitability, good management, proprietary technology for a franchise and history of multimillion unit sellers," said Kotick. "Take-Two didn't fulfill those requirements. Maybe it does over the long-term for EA, but it doesn't for us."

Kotick continued by to suggesting that EA's recent $2 billion take over bid of Take-Two is a reaction to Activision's recent successes, one which saw the company take to the top of the United States games publishing heap after brokering a merger with Vivendi in December 2007.

"You're going to start thinking about what you need to do to maintain your lead," Kotick proffered. "Without getting into too many of the details of Take-Two, we really like businesses where if we take the risk, we get the reward."