Analysis: THQ might be eyeing Take-Two, too

There has been nauseating levels of acquisition talk in the videogame industry the past couple of months. Although EA hasn’t yet been successful in acquiring Take-Two, another major publisher is getting ready to go shopping for game companies. According to Reuters, game publisher THQ is contemplating a takeover. This leaves us to the question, is it among the mysterious “other bidders” that Take-Two talks about very often?

THQ CEO Brian Farrell told Reuters on Thursday (May 3, 2008) that there are some acquisition opportunities in the market “given the two transactions going on.” He was alluding to the Activision-Blizzard merger and EA’s takeover bid for Take-Two. He seemed to implicitly convey that THQ is feeling the heat due to the two major deals. However, Farrell was quick to repel any such inferences and said that THQ can grow without making acquisitions.

He said that THQ is looking at all kinds of buying opportunities: “We are actively looking at every developer, every license out there and with our size now we can be more aggressive than larger, slower firms.” The company has made a few acquisitions already this year including Big Huge Games (Rise of Nations) in January 2008 and last week bought casual game developer Elephant Entertainment.

The possibility exists that THQ is one of Take-Two’s secret admirers as it has been talking of many game companies (besides EA) being interested in acquiring it. So these game companies have to exist somewhere unless, of course, Take-Two is lying. Also, only those game companies that covet Take-Two and are just big enough to acquire it must have approached it.

Now that THQ CEO Brian Farrell has conveyed the possibility of his company making an acquisition, and it can certainly gain by taking in Take-Two, the possibility seems to exist.

Read [Reuters] Via [GameDaily]