An official statement from Take 2 has pointed out that an alternative course to the company’s sale has yet to be found, meaning that a potential gold rush will possibly be occurring over Take 2′s assets, namely GTA developer, Rockstar Games. An alternative seems unlikely at this point, with the statement going on to reveal that the board of directors believe that it is unlikely to present an alternative (to the sale) before the next general board meeting occurring March 29th, though discussions are ongoing. Time for Microsoft to open up that wallet, though the company has stated in the past it has no desire to purchase Take 2, I can see a healthy bidding war for the rights to Grand Theft Auto.

EDIT: I promise I’ll be brushing up on my native language (English) shortly ;)

Read more: Take 2 board has no alternative (yet) but sale

Take-Two announced recently that it is evaluating new strategies, including the possible sale of the company, as an investor group continues it’s power grab of the Rockstar Games publisher. The announcement, which comes after TTWO postponed it’s annual board meeting is causing a little jump in the company’s stock price, causing investors around the world to hover their finger over that little “Sell” button.

Read more: Take-Two considering alternative strategies

I swear this isn’t a JoWooD financed blog (they couldn’t afford me, har har!), but I just had to throw this one out. In a surprise twist of credibility which can no doubt be attributed to JoWooD’s recent acquisition of Dreamcatcher, JoWooD and Dreamcatcher’s The Adventure Company, have announced they will be partnerting with Telltale Games in publishing Sam and Max Season 1 worldwide. Telltale has been pushing episodic content for awhile now and have only recently been distributed online directly through Telltale’s store and through Gametap. Good for Telltale? We’ll have to see how that goes, I’d have expected a larger partner for an IP with as much credibility behind it as Sam and Max, and JoWooD doesn’t quite have a reputation for developer friendliness, so by means of association I assume that aura spreads off onto The Adventure Company / Dreamcatcher.

Read more: Sam and Max Episodes published by The Adventure Company / JoWooD

Proving yet again that JoWooD is at it’s core a feline and it has a handful of lives left, the Austrian-based publisher has announced that Gothic 3 has sold over 500,000 copies worldwide. In another in a long line of uncomfortably-written press releases, execs from JoWooD state they are pleased with the Gothic 3′s status as a “long-seller” and that their “expectations are still outnumbered”, whatever that means. What this means for the Gothic series is you can expect lots of expansions and sequels for many years to come, if JoWooD is able to keep things together for another 3 years.

Read more: Gothic 3 sells over half a mil

Austrian publisher JoWooD recently announced their relaunch and the announcement of the “JoWooD Group”, which will cover all of the brands currently owned by JoWooD, such as G-Stars, SilverLine Software, JoWooD and Dreamcatcher. The relaunch started with an updated web presence for the company as well as a very sterile rehash of their logo and identity, which has stuck with them for years.

“With the re-launch of our web appearance, we are able to show the structure of the JoWooD Productions Software AG clear and transparent,” explains Johannes Natterer, Senior Marketing Manager JoWooD Productions. “All of our target groups, gamers, investors and shareholders get their own information platform. The logo re-launch is the visualization and external communication of our brand reorientation.”

Read more: JoWooD

Eagle-eyed gaming fans have scrounged up some SEC filings pertaining to the recent assignment of John Riccitiello as Chief Executive Officer of EA, after former CEO Larry Probst stepped down after 16 long years. The offer letter paints quite a nice deal, offering Riccitiello $62,000 a month and a healthy stock options and benefits package. Funny to see the CEO having to attend a “Get in the Game” orientation meeting but depressing to know this gent is clearing more a month than I’ll see in oh, 10 years or so.

Copy of the letter after the jump..

EX-10.1 2 dex101.htm OFFER LETTER DATED FEBRUARY 12, 2007

Exhibit 10.1
February 12, 2007

John Riccitiello

Dear John:
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Electronic Arts Inc. (“Electronic Arts” or “EA”), I am pleased to offer you the position of Chief Executive Officer of Electronic Arts commencing on April 2, 2007 at a base salary of $62,500 per month [or $750,000 annualized], minus applicable deductions. As CEO, you will report directly to the Board of Directors. You will be appointed to the Board of Directors effective April 2, 2007.

You will also be eligible to participate in our discretionary bonus program. This discretionary bonus is typically determined by our Board of Directors at the end of our fiscal year. As the commencement of your employment with EA coincides with the beginning of EA’s fiscal year ending March 31, 2008 (“Fiscal 2008”), you will first be eligible to participate in this bonus program during Fiscal 2008. Your discretionary bonus target will be 100% of your base salary. To receive payment of your bonus you must be employed by Electronic Arts at the time any bonuses are paid.

The Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors has approved the grant of non-qualified stock options to purchase a total of 850,000 shares of Common Stock of Electronic Arts under our 2000 Equity Incentive Plan, to vest as follows:

• An option to purchase 300,000 shares that will vest as to 24% of these shares on April 1, 2008 and will then vest in additional 2% increments on the first calendar day of each month thereafter for the following 38 months;

• An option to purchase 275,000 shares that will vest as to 100% of these shares on April 1, 2010; and

• An option to purchase 275,000 shares that will vest as to 100% of these shares on April 1, 2012.

These options will be priced and granted at the close of market on the second trading day following public release of EA’s annual financial results for its fiscal year ending March 31, 2007. We currently expect this earnings release to occur on May 1, 2007, though this date is subject to change.

For your information, I have enclosed several documents that will provide an introduction to life at EA, including an overview of our benefits programs and EA’s Global Code of Conduct. Other EA policies and procedures are on EA’s intranet and will be reviewed with you at orientation. As an officer and member of the Board of Directors of EA, you will be covered by the insurance policies applicable to directors and officers in effect from time to time and will be indemnified against certain liabilities and expenses in accordance with EA’s standard indemnity agreement for officers and directors. If you have any questions about this offer or about your eligibility to participate in or to be covered by any of the described benefits, please call me.

John Riccitiello
February 12, 2007

———————

Page 2
In the course of your work, you will have access to proprietary materials and concepts. Our offer is contingent on your signing Electronic Arts’ New Hire/Proprietary Information Agreement. Two copies are enclosed for signature (please keep one for your own records).

This offer letter contains the entire understanding between you and Electronic Arts as to the terms of your offer of employment and specifically supersedes (i) all previous discussions you may have had with anyone at Electronic Arts regarding those terms and (ii) any previous written offers you may have received.

Should you accept this offer, please plan on attending the Get in the Game Orientation to be held on your first Monday at 9:00 a.m. Please complete and bring the forms in the attached package.

This offer of employment is made contingent upon your providing Electronic Arts with proof that you have the legal right to work in the United States. This will be handled as part of your orientation process.

In addition, EA will conduct a background check pursuant to a written notice you will receive under separate cover, and this offer of employment is contingent upon the results of such check being acceptable to EA.

This offer of employment is valid through Wednesday, February 21st, and if not accepted by then, we will assume that you have declined the offer. If you accept this offer, please sign below and return both pages of the original offer letter to me in the enclosed envelope, and we can begin your orientation to EA. Please keep a copy for yourself.

Please join our team and help us be the place where GREAT people create and deliver GREAT games.

If you have any questions regarding this offer, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,
/s/ Lawrence F. Probst, III
Lawrence F. Probst, III
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Electronic Arts

Snoop more: EA’s offer letter to Riccitiello

According to French-language news channel Canoe, Eidos / SCi Entertainment have chosen Montreal as the location for a new Canadian development studio. The rumor, learned through job postings, is saying that Eidos will announce a decision on the studio formation next week, followed by a round of hirings which will no doubt displease Ubisoft, EA and A2M who are also located in Montreal. Eidos spokespeople have gone on record as being unable to confirm or deny the rumor.

Horrible Babelfish French to English translation after the jump..

Tempting Lara Croft should unload soon in Montreal. Its editor, Eidos, should announce during next weeks the opening of a new studio of video games in Montreal. According to what the Newspaper could learn, the editor SCi Entertainment Group, better known under the name of Eidos, would have chosen Montreal to establish a new studio. The rumour of the arrival of Eidos started to circulate there are a few weeks near employees of some other studios of video games. It made also much jaser with the North-American registered office of Eidos, in San Francisco. It is however with the registered office of London that the decision returned and it was taken recently, it was possible to learn. The name of Eidos is especially recognized in the world of the video game for the series Tomb Raider, which puts in the high-speed motorboat the character of Lara Croft. Born in 1996, the series Tomb Raider is one of most popular of the history of the video game. Inter alia by-products, it inspired two films putting in the high-speed motorboat Angelina Jolie in the role of Lara Croft. The series Hitman and Commandos Strike Forces, inter alia, are also published by Eidos. Currently, the principal studios of Eidos are located in California, in Denmark and in England. It was impossible to know which width would have the new studio montréalais. It would constitute however the fourth large pillar of the local industry of the play, with the studios of Ubisoft, Electronic Arts and A2M. A spokesman of Eidos joined yesterday in San Francisco was not able to confirm or deny the news.

Read more: Rumor: Eidos opening development studio in Montreal

Europe’s game industry trade outfit, the ELSPA, have announced a program aimed at reorganizing the body, resulting in some job losses, mostly in the body’s software forensics division. The outfit, funded by games publishers based in Europe, is seeking a greater role for London in the games industry and culture, though why London would be a good choice is beyond me, considering the extremely high costs of living, the large number of European developers and publishers through ought mainland Europe, the relative dreariness of the environment and the hyper-inflated British Pound insuring costs would stay quite high. The group’s 5 year plan focuses on piracy, as well as emerging technologies.

Read more: ELSPA wants London to be ‘global games capital’

7 months after the closure of Rockstar Vienna by Take-two, former founders Hannes Seifert and Niki Laber have announced the formation of their new company, Games That Matter. Working together with Jürgen Goeldner, founder of Funsoft, later acquired by THQ and mobile developer Mobile Scope, later acquired by IN-FUSIO, their team will present a “visionary game production business model” to the industry. What that visionary model will be or why exactly it’s visionary in the first place hasn’t been announced yet, but founder Hannes Seifert has held talks in Vienna discussing the shift towards “movie industry style” production methods in the past. One would assume that would involve a small core team focusing on production and design aspects, while outsourcing whenever and wherever possible for content, development and testing. The official press conference for Games That Matter takes place on the 25th of January where more information will be presented to the gaming press, possibly including information on their first title.

Read more: Games That Matter | Rockstar Vienna entry @ Wikipedia

JoWooD has announced a new distribution agreement with Eidos Interactive, which we all know is one of the world’s leading developers/publishers. The agreement is for Eidos to cover the distribution of JoWooD’s titles in Southern Europe, territories which include Spain, France and Benelux., starting with the upcoming action-FPS “The Mark”.

Read more: JoWood | Eidos Interactive