Should Nintendo buy Take Two?
Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 at 6:21pm by Staff
Take Two Interactive, the company behind GTA, is in trouble. Microsoft was floated as a potential buyer, but today Infendo reader Gaumer asks, why not Nintendo?
Gaumer’s email to the Infendo Tip line:
I assume you have heard of the probable (and from what I have read as recently as today, inevitable) sale of take 2 interactive the great publisher/developer of games like GTA and Bully and Table Tennis. I was thinking about who might purchase this company and I wanted to get your guys’ opinion to an idea of mine and maybe an insight of what company you think will or should snatch them up.With TakeTwo’s current situation of being bashed by gamer-hating lawyers and having their stockholders bale on them because of it despite having terrific sales I think Nintendo would be a perfect company to buy them up. Nintendo’s stock, considering what they have done with the Wii and DS, i dont think anything sort of a nuclear disaster could hurt nintendo right now. Nintendo has also fell into a stigma in the past few years (mostly of their own doing) of being the ‘kiddy game company’. Owning the license to perhaps the most mainstream adult game ever created would sure help end that problem for Nintendo.
Plus we would get all the great cameos in our Mario games and maybe even a new SSB character
My response, via the secret intertubes of the Infendo back end (gmail):
My thoughts, and my thoughts only — not all of Infendo — is if it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it.Nintendo, for all the supposed negative press out there about their kiddie image, is doing gangbusters. To take on the legal risks associated with Take Two right now would be an unnecessary risk. I’m all for taking risks, but I think we should see how more mature titles like Project HAMMER, Godfather, Sadness, and Resident Evil do on the Wii before we start talking about acquisition.
Plus, who’s to say the GTA ship hasn’t sailed? Is it going to be just another open world GTA with “new content” or is it going to be something completely innovative worthy of my additional $10? Is this pending sale going to affect game quality?
I think all Nintendo needs to do is wait and see, get Take Two to make a great game for it in the future like all the other third party guys are trying to do, and stay out of the legal mess surrounding it. It’s just the wrong type of risk for them to be taking right now.
Again, just my opinion
thanks for reading
-jack
Now, what say you?
March 27th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Plus, GTA, Table Tennis and Bully are not IPs from Take2, but from RockStar. Take 2 has only bought the rights to distribute the next GTA version, nothing more than it.
So, if Nintendo is interested in buying some “mature” franchises, it should by Rockstar instead of Take 2.
March 27th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
All valid points, but how powerful would it be to have the next GTA on Wii only? Although Take-Two doesn’t own Rockstar, they own the rights to distribute the next title, and that’s still huge.
If it was on the Wii only, then the wii would be sound as a pound.
I’m not for it, as TakeTwo comes with a lot of baggage, but GTA would be a huge plus for the Wii, in any way, shape, or form.
March 27th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
We can wish for it, but it’s not going to happen. Take Two just doesn’t fit into the philosophy that Nintendo has. Why do you think they’re so stubborn about friend codes?
Take Two is just too hot for Nintendo. It’d be great if they did, but I don’t see it happening. So only way Nintendo buys Take Two is the day the world ends.
March 27th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
I don’t think being the “kiddie game company” is a problem at all. I know quite a few people, and I include myself, who stick with Nintendo because their game licenses are generally very safe for kids. A lot of people prefer throwing turtle shells and bananas at people rather than beating the snot out of them with a pipe or what have you. Games like GTA are for Playstation and X-Box.
March 27th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
…and Godfather is for Wii. After playing that game on Wii, playing it on traditional platforms doesn’t feel right.
March 27th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
I hope Microsfot buys the company so that Sony losed GTA and any other franchise.
The big N does not really need this comapany, the games will not sell that well on the Wii.
So, I hope that Microsoft take the comapny and not Sony.
March 27th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Right now, Nintendo has enough money to take risks. They can throw their weight around. I mean, why NOT buy them? It can only mean good things.
March 27th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
Anyone who’s ever read anything Iv’e posted here on Infendo knows I’m a Nintendork, but I’ll be the first to admit that Nintendo isn’t rolling in as much money as you think.
The GameCube did well enough to keep the company afloat, but I’d put a bet up saying that if it weren’t for the DS, there would be no Wii. Yeah, the Wii and DS have made them a lot of money.
But not enough to be taking major risks.
And to be sure, the “kiddie” image has actually helped Nintendo on many fronts. Parents would rather buy their kids a system where they can play as plumbers, legendary heroes, and pocket-sized critters as opposed to the system where you get to bull whip hookers and play the infamous “hot coffee” mod with the right tools (and the right version of the game, mind you).
As soon as parents (and lawyers with nothing better to do) find out that Nintendo has bought a company that has had a large hand in that type of interactive entertainment, that “fun and safe” type image is tarnished, and I’m pretty positive it would hurt sales, something Nintendo is not in position to do right now.
Essentially, I’m saying Nintendo is probably in less of a “red zone” now and in more of a “yellow zone,” but it’s too early to say they are in a “green zone.” I think hurting their family image would put them into the “red zone” faster than you would think.
March 27th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
Is this a joke? Pigs will fly before Nintendo buys Take2.
March 28th, 2007 at 1:44 am
Ahh.. I get what Andrew G. was saying…
I can read it now. Front headline of a newspaper: “Kid-friendly Nintendo buys Creative Studio behind Grand Theft Auto: are videogames still safe for your child?”
Even though I agree with you, I still think Nintendo should try to take advantage of this somehow. Maybe hire some of their developers? who knows. It’s still a great business opportunity but I guess the blunt Microsoft-esque “just buy them and buy them now” wouldn’t work with good ‘ol Ninty.
Hmm.. It’d be a shame if someone snatches this up and Nintendo is left with nothing… just as T2 announced it’s first support for Nintendo in years…
March 28th, 2007 at 2:07 am
I say they should just do it. Honestly, it’s not like it can hurt Nintendo to have the next GTA in their stable.
March 28th, 2007 at 2:21 am
Take2 isn’t worth a penny. they just publish games other guys can affort to publish themselves. If it was worth anything everyone would be fighting for it. Microsoft knows it and buy rockstar after the contract expires.
March 28th, 2007 at 7:44 am
I don’t have anything against the idea, but personally, I don’t find any of Take-Two’s IP to be that interesting to warrant a buy-out from Nintendo. If there’s a company I’d like Nintendo to save money to buy, Capcom or Konami would be it (Square-Enix and Namco-Bandai are too big being two companies in one).
March 29th, 2007 at 6:57 am
Just thinking out loud here, but you know who the true Nintendo fans are?
They’re the ones who would never want to see Nintendo align with a pitiful American pile of waste such as Rockstar. Surprisingly (gasp!) they agree with Shigeru Miyamoto on many things, such as:
“People often talk about Grand Theft Auto. But I am not sure whether that sort of extreme subject matter is always appropriate. They also talk about the future of games being a kind of virtual reality. But I am not convinced that being more realistic makes better games.”
One might call himself a Nintendo but is only talking the talk and not walking the walk until he begins to think like a Nintendo fan.
And I’m just staring in disbelief at some of the bull that’s been posted here. Be real, folks. Nintendo is Nintendo. Rockstar…there aren’t enough fouls words in the English dictionary to condemn this corporate entity. Keep checking the Weather Channel to see if Hell has frozen over yet if you think a company like Nintendo would ever give a second’s thought to making Rockstar a second-party company to sit alongside the ranks of HAL Laboratories and NST.
March 30th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
I totally agree with Jack! Well written, Jack!