A new rumor is going around that Disney’s CEO is getting advice to buy Electronic Arts.
Video Game Chronicles picked up on this detail from a Bloomberg report that also stated that EA was shopping itself around for merger or acquisition by other companies. EA actively talked to Disney, as well as Apple, Amazon, and Comcast-NBCUniversal about such a deal.
EA’s interest in this is seeing the flurry of other merger acquisition deals going on in the industry. While all eyes are currently on Microsoft closing their deal with Activision Blizzard King, Microsoft actually completed a similar blockbuster deal with Zenimax/Bethesda.
The benefits for this move to EA are apparent. Even as a blockbuster company that releases annualized games, EA could still use more financial backing from a bigger company. While they are a huge success as it is, in particular thanks to their sports games, and the aggressive monetization they utilize, they are still beholden to gamers. That does mean they fortunes still rise and fall as they fall in and out of favor with their core audience.
On Disney’s side, things are a bit more complicated. Iger was CEO in his original run when Disney made the giant acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, LucasFilm, and most recently, 20th Century Fox. Disney has seen partial success from all those acquisitions, to varying degrees.
While the company has yet to fire on all cylinders with all their projects, the sheer weight of their collective IP gives them an overwhelming presence in the entertainment sphere.
Disney hasn’t had a proper hold on the gaming industry for some time. While they have been there licensing their IP since the original Nintendo Entertainment System, their more recent moves have included duds like Marvel versus Capcom Infinite, Disney Infinity, and Marvel’s Avengers.
Owning a game company with their own IP would be about more than having an internal studio to make Disney IP games. Disney would be properly exposed to how the game industry works. Even better, if they bought EA, Disney would see how the game industry successfully utilizes different monetization models, including making annualized games.
Disney need not close the door to other companies using their IP either. There’s a lot Disney can benefit from if they actually pursue such a deal.
With all that said, of course, these are all unconfirmed rumors for now. Don’t get your hopes up, or alternately, don’t get too glum, because we are far from seeing this get confirmed and actually happening.
