There had been rumors circling around recently regarding Sony’s intentions to acquire Sony Ericsson. Today, those rumors have been made official. Sony has bought out Sony Ericsson’s shares and will soon integrate the mobile phone maker into the Sony empire as a whole. Sony will pay Ericsson €1.05 billion (approximately $1.47 billion) in a deal that’s expected to close in January 2012. It still has to be approved by executives in both companies, but that’s customary in transactions such as this.

The talks are (mostly) over and it is now confirmed that Disney is buying Playdom valued at $763.2 million (US).

According to the New York Times, Walt Disney Company will pay $563.2 million and $200 million more later if Playdom “achieves growth thresholds that were not made public.”

As part of the deal, Playdom Chief Executive John Pleasants become a Disney Executive Vice President, reporting to Disney’s Interactive Media Group.

This also coincides with…

We are sorry to interrupt (or at least emotionally hijack) CES coverage but our earlier report about UGO acquiring the 1UP network has been officially confirmed.

Properties sold include: 1UP.com, Mycheats.com, Gametab.com and GameVideos.com. Filefront will reportedly become part of the PCMag Digital Network.

Unfortunately, however, things won’t be going over as smoothly as we first thought. Gamasutra got a hold of an internal email in which Ziff Davis CEO Jason Young says that “more scale is necessary to effectively compete in this market segment”.

To start with, Electronic Gaming Monthly, better known as EGM, will officially cease printing…

Joystiq is reporting through “multiple sources” that the UGO network is currently in “advanced talks” with Ziff Davis over the purchase of the 1UP network.

Neither 1UP, Ziff Davis, or UGO has yet to comment on the situation, so as of writing, Joystiq is our only source of information. The buyout will supposedly include websites 1UP, GameVideos and MyCheats. Meanwhile Electronic Gaming Monthly, the remainder of Ziff Davis’ gaming publications, and FileFront will probably not be…

With Take Two’s board rejecting EA’s takeover offer, EA has softened its stand, though only a bit. It had previously set April 11, 2008, as the deadline but has deferred it by a week and reset it to April 18, 2008. Despite the extension, it still is keen to close the deal before the April more »

The board of directors of Take-Two has once again dismissed EA’s offer and termed it “inadequate in multiple respects.” But it remains open to other possibilities like a merger with a third party or EA. It has advised the company’s shareholders not to offer their shares to EA.

The board has ruled out the possibility of any mergers before the release of GTA IV (April 29, 2008). However, before the game’s release, it is ready to…

They say that everyone has their price, well apparently Tom Clancy has found his, as he has signed away not just his entire universe that is based around his international hit books, but even his own name. And who did he sell out to? Well the French of all people.

Ubisoft announced March 20, 2008, that it has acquired all intellectual properties (IP) centered on and around the entire Tom Clancy universe. Ubisoft and Red Storm Entertainment (a subsidiary of Ubisoft), created by Tom Clancy back in 1996, have had a long-standing relationship when it comes to the development of video games based around the…

A SEC filing from Take-Two Interactive indicates Electronic Arts isn’t the only company putting offers on the table for the publishing house that owns the Grand Theft Auto and 2k Sports franchises.

The filing suggests that Take-Two occasionally gets word that other firms are interested in putting up a buyout bid and, since EA made their offer, there’s been no dearth of such interest. The filing included documents for an annual stockholder meeting to be held April 10, 2008…

EA has decided the best way to preserve its ascendancy by making a big acquisition – or, at least, try to. The publisher announced on Sunday (February 24, 2008) that it has placed a $2 billion acquisition-bid for Take-Two Interactive at $26 per share. Take-Two rejected the offer, posting a response on its site.

EA also released excerpts from the offer letter (dated February 19, 2008) written by its CEO John Riccitiello to his Take-Two counterpart Strauss Zelnick:

Videogame analysts have time and again clamored about a possible take over of Take Two. It seemed that Take Two chairman Strauss Zelnick’s denial of any such possibility had silenced all those analysts. But that is no longer the case, as Janco Partners’ analyst Mike Hickey has broken the brief silence over the issue with more »