EA wanted to pay over $1 billion for Valve, says report

According to a report published today in the New York Times, Electronic Arts offered more than a billion dollars in an attempted buyout of Valve, but was ultimately turned down by the PC gaming company.

The sources asked to remain nameless, but both confirmed that EA had made a billion dollar pass at the Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress, Dota 2, Counter-Strike, Left 4 Dead and Steam creator. Valve figurehead Gabe Newell was quoted as saying he'd rather let the company disintegrate over time than sell out to a mega corporation. 

“It’s way more likely we would head in that direction than say, 'Let’s find some giant company that wants to cash us out and wait two or three years to have our employment agreements terminate'.”

There is no word on when this attempted buyout may have taken place, but Valve is apparently currently valued at $2.5 billion. Which seems to indicate this was an event that took place some time ago before Steam became such a runaway success. It's possible (though entirely speculation) that EA sought to buyout the market leader in PC digital distribution before developing their own solution, Origin. 

Source : gamesradar[dot]com

Report: EA Sought to Acquire Valve

Electronic Arts was apparently prepared to pay up to $1 billion in order to acquire Valve, according to a new report.

The New York Times claims to have seen a report which lists the various opportunities Gabe Newell has had to sell the company in the past.

"Valve has been pursued over the years by Electronic Arts, which would very likely have valued Valve at well over $1 billion had the talks progressed that far," it explains.

The article goes on to say the claims come courtesy of "two people with knowledge of the discussion who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were private".

Why said talks broke down isn't clear, especially given that EA's COO Peter Moore recently voiced his support for the company, describing them as being "on the cutting edge of the future of this industry". It may have something to do with Valve co-founder Gabe Newell, who has apparently long been convinced that the company would "disintegrate" if it was ever bought by another company.

"It’s way more likely we would head in that direction than say, ‘Let’s find some giant company that wants to cash us out and wait two or three years to have our employment agreements terminate,’ he said.

Had the deal gone through, EA would have gotten quite the bargain; Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter estimates that Valve would today be valued at around $2.5 billion, mainly thanks to its Steam digital distribution service. The company is also believed to make far more money from Steam than it does from actual sales of its own games.

This number only looks set to go up, especially with the recent news that the company will be "jumping in" to hardware development.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

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G4TV reportedly changing direction away from gaming programming

According to a report going around today the G4 television network could be in for a big editorial shift soon as they plot to move the network away from "geek" oriented programming.

Anybody who watches the network regularly knows that they have already undergone a more subtle transformation over the past five years, transitioning away from gamer-specific shows to more mass-market fare like Cops and Ninja Warrior.

The next transformation is said to be to a more "upscale" style, catering to the modern man. The best comparison we've heard so far is that it may be a more "GQ"-style, referencing the popular upscale men's lifestyle magazine.

As of right now this is just a rumor as reported by Variety.

Source : gamesradar[dot]com

Activision Blizzard Sale ‘Still Under Consideration’

A new report suggests that Vivendi is still interested in selling its majority stake in Activision Blizzard. According to CVG, a credible source says the sale "absolutely remains under consideration" and that Vivendi is exploring its options.

CVG also reports that negotiations between Vivendi and Microsoft, who was once considered as a buyer for Activision Blizzard, “have not advanced,” while Sony “immediately ruled out” the idea of a purchase.

Vivendi owns a 61% stake in Activision Blizzard, which it acquired in 2008. Activision Blizzard’s value is currently estimated at $13.4 billion, making Vivendi’s stake worth approximately $8 billion. Due to Vivendi’s current debt, it’s been considering a sale since early June, but was later said to be finding “little enthusiasm” from buyers including Microsoft, Disney, Tencent and Nexon due to the massive amount of cash required to make the purchase.

Later reports suggested that Activision could partner with investors to buy itself back from Vivendi. Activision has only publicly commented on the sale during its second quarter 2012 earnings call last month, when CEO Bobby Kotick said “While we're unable to comment on Vivendi's behalf, we continue to remain focused on strong execution, the delivery of great games and the provision of superior shareholder returns as we have for over 20 years. Our strategy has served us very well in the past and will position us very well for the future.”

The future of the sale is uncertain for now, but while we wait for concrete information to emerge, read our thoughts on what would happen if Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

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Capcom President: New Strategy Ahead

Capcom's annual financial report has been released, and it contains some interesting information concerning how the company will make games going forward.

In the report, Capcom president and COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto said:

"We launch sales of popular series titles held by the Company approximately every 2.5 years. This is because the development of a single major title usually requires 3-4 years; in the event that there are few hits, it will be difficult to create a series title every year and earnings will be adversely impacted.

"For this reason, it is important either to maintain a large number of popular titles or shorten the sales cycle to ensure stable earnings. Among the multitude of major titles held by Capcom - such as Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Lost Planet, Dead Rising and many others - we will promote shortening of the sales cycle in pursuit of further earnings stabilisation and growth."

Tsujimoto went onto to describe how this increased productivity will be achieved. Firstly, Capcom will limit development teams to 100 members, with "multiple sequel titles [being] developed at the same time". The Japanese publisher will additionally strengthen its in-house development, increasing its staff by 100 graduates each year. It will also attempt to increase the number of titles released in a single year, "using a hybrid development model whereby the core portions of the project aredeveloped in-house by Capcom and the process-work is outsourced to outside development companies".

While he didn't have much to say about the next generation of home consoles, Tsujimoto did say that Capcom will be allocating around "20 per cent of development investment " into creating new products, including a "new popular next generation franchise".

So we'll get more Capcom games each year, and there will be less time between sequels for its more popular titles.

Are these announcements something to be happy about or do they inspire a creeping fear that quality standards could slip? Capcom seems to be making the right noises, reassuring fans that's its strengthening in the areas it needs to in order to execute this new strategy. But let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Daniel is IGN's UK Staff Writer. His development cycle was roughly nine months. Follow him on IGN and Twitter.

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Facebook Making Its Employees Use Substandard Android App

Facebook's new and improved iOS app is live, but employees at the social network aren't reaping the benefits. According to a report from Business Insider, the company's worker-bees have been encouraged and in some cases outright ordered to switch to Android phones, precisely because Facebook's Android app is so bad.

Apparently not uncommon at tech companies, "dogfooding" (as in "eat your own dog food") is a clever way to incentivize product improvements.

And it totally works by the way: I worked at a summer camp once driving this pontoon boat that broke down every single day, forcing me to row grumpy kids back to shore against the wind. One day the owner of the camp came out on the lake with me: I killed the motor on purpose and offered him the oars. Boat was fixed that week.

So rejoice Android users! Facebook's design team feels your pain, because their bosses are making them. A platform-native update similar to the one iOS users got yesterday should be on its way soon.

Stoked? Let us know in the comments.

Jon Fox is a Seattle hipster who loves polar bears and climbing trees. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.

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Report: Details of New Modern Warfare Leak

A possible new Modern Warfare title in the Call of Duty series has been revealed thanks to a leak from Neversoft.

The report, which appeared on Se7enSins, doesn't make it clear whether the game would serve as Modern Warfare 4, or instead slot elsewhere in the series as a prequel.

“

It’s another MW game. There’s something called, ‘Drone Survaillance’ [sic]. They’re working on ‘HALO’ jumps (High Altitude; Low X.) There is a level under ice. There is cloaking tech. Something called a ‘Dominator UAV’.

It's also important to note that the report is completely unverified and should be taken with a huge pinch of salt.

Despite this, the Neversoft source has made notes on what they saw, explaining, "It’s another MW game. There’s something called, ‘Drone Survaillance’ [sic]. They’re working on ‘HALO’ jumps (High Altitude; Low X.) There is a level under ice. There is cloaking tech. Something called a ‘Dominator UAV’."

Though it's not a lot to go on, if we don our speculation hat for a minute there's a fair amount to be gleaned. Drone Surveillance seems to tie in with the technology on show in Modern Warfares 2 and 3, especially in the storyline of the latter. HALO jumps are fairly common set-pieces in games these days, but could point to a mission where we're tasked with going behind enemy lines. The fact there's a level under ice really doesn't tell us much... other than one mission could take place anywhere from Russia to Canada.

An alternative to this is it's set during nuclear winter and the game isn't a Modern Warfare title at all, instead moving even further into the future after Black Ops II. The last reported item, a cloaking device, lends credibility to this idea as we've certainly never seen invisibility in the Modern Warfare series so far.

Remember, all of this is just speculation based around an unverified report at this stage, though it's interesting to think what it could mean for the series if true. We've reached out to Activision for comment, and will be sure to update the story once we hear anything.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

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