According to many new sources, Electronic Arts is actively pursuing a merger or sale, and has lately held conversations with corporations such as Comcast subsidiary NBCUniversal.
Puck described a deal to potentially merge with EA and spin NBCUniversal off into another entertainment media behemoth in a piece about potential acquisitions for Comcast CEO Brian Roberts amidst the entertainment space’s content battles. This possible agreement was said to have progressed the most before collapsing.
EA CEO Andrew Wilson would have led the new media firm, according to Puck media reporter Dylan Byers, and this isn’t the only company EA has approached. Wilson was in talks with Disney “as recently as March,” according to Byers’ sources, to negotiate “a more meaningful relationship” than prior licencing deals with the company’s properties, such as Star Wars.
“In recent years, as media companies have taken greater interest in the rapidly growing gaming industry, Wilson and Electronic Arts have held talks with a number of different potential suitors, including Disney, Apple, and Amazon, sources with knowledge of those talks told me,” Byers said. “Several sources familiar with these talks say EA has been persistent in pursuing a sale, and has only grown more emboldened in the wake of the Microsoft-Activision deal. Others say that EA is primarily interested in a merger arrangement that would allow Wilson to remain as chief executive of the combined company.”
The Disney discussion makes sense because the firm is collaborating with outside companies to generate more games based on its IP, and EA previously had an exclusive licencing relationship with Disney to create Star Wars games.
Apple and Amazon have been putting their toes into the games industry in recent years, and EA has a big archive of products and teams to work with if it is acquired. Byers, on the other hand, claims that no agreement is currently in the works.
When Kotaku contacted EA about the rumours, a business spokeswoman responded with a usual answer about a possible merger and acquisition.