EA Talking to Apple and others

[Cmaier]

I may have obliquely referred to this elsewhere a few weeks ago.

Report: EA has held talks with Apple about potential acquisition

A new report claims that Electronic Arts is actively pursuing a sale or merger and has recently held talks with companies including Apple.

www.imore.com

 

[diamond.g]

I may have obliquely referred to this elsewhere a few weeks ago.

Report: EA has held talks with Apple about potential acquisition

A new report claims that Electronic Arts is actively pursuing a sale or merger and has recently held talks with companies including Apple.

www.imore.com

Nice, interesting that EA is avoiding other game companies for the acquisition requests. The sports franchises could be worthwhile for Apple.

 

[Cmaier]

Nice, interesting that EA is avoiding other game companies for the acquisition requests. The sports franchises could be worthwhile for Apple.

Especially if they pick up Sunday ticket, as has been rumored.

of course, EA and apple go way back. Makes me nostalgic.

 

[diamond.g]

Especially if they pick up Sunday ticket, as has been rumored.

of course, EA and apple go way back. Makes me nostalgic.

A sale to Apple could make Apple more relevant in the gaming space.

Battlefield, Need for Speed, The Sims, Mass Effect would also be big deals (from franchise perspectives).

 

[SuperMatt]

Especially if they pick up Sunday ticket, as has been rumored.

of course, EA and apple go way back. Makes me nostalgic.

Played this one a bit…

 

[DT]

Especially if they pick up Sunday ticket, as has been rumored.

of course, EA and apple go way back. Makes me nostalgic.

Yeah, same here, and I followed Trip Hawkins through his various companies, I even had a 3DO (Panasonic flavor)

 

[Colstan]

I very much enjoyed EA games, particularly from the 80s and early 90s, but I don't think I've played one of their games since Clive Barker's Undying, from two decades ago. I'd like to see this happen, just to have more options for Mac games, assuming Apple would even use them for that.

This is, of course, just a rumor. The MR crowd is already savaging it, as is tradition, and I'm sure they'll be in an even more unpleasant state once this doesn't happen. Even if it does, they'll bitch about it being the wrong studio, because EA doesn't have the right "AAA" games in its library. ("AAA" games being code for the game that the individual poster wants, but doesn't have a Mac version.)

Steve Jobs actually demo'ed numerous Electronic Arts titles for the Mac at WWDC 2007, and had an EA executive with him. I would note that they never followed up with future titles, so that tells you how many copies were sold. I'm sure Apple's executive team remembers this experience and that's why Apple hasn't done a major push for gaming on the Mac since then.

 

[Cmaier]

I very much enjoyed EA games, particularly from the 80s and early 90s, but I don't think I've played one of their games since Clive Barker's Undying, from two decades ago. I'd like to see this happen, just to have more options for Mac games, assuming Apple would even use them for that.

This is, of course, just a rumor. The MR crowd is already savaging it, as is tradition, and I'm sure they'll be in an even more unpleasant state once this doesn't happen. Even if it does, they'll bitch about it being the wrong studio, because EA doesn't have the right "AAA" games in its library. ("AAA" games being code for the game that the individual poster wants, but doesn't have a Mac version.)

Steve Jobs actually demo'ed numerous Electronic Arts titles for the Mac at WWDC 2007, and had an EA executive with him. I would note that they never followed up with future titles, so that tells you how many copies were sold. I'm sure Apple's executive team remembers this experience and that's why Apple hasn't done a major push for gaming on the Mac since then.

Another reason apple hasn‘t pushed for gaming on the mac is that gaming on ios devices makes a lot more sense for them. Aside from the fact that there are a lot more ios devices out there than macs, ios devices can provide a much more console-like experience (no mucking with drivers, different hardware configurations, overclocking, interaction between system components, etc.). And now, with Apple Silicon, Apple can deliver performance that‘s very competitive with most PCs for gaming on pretty much its entire product line. I know for a fact they have been making a major push trying to get AAA games onto their platform for at least a couple of years. And it wouldn‘t be surprising at all that they‘ve come to the conclusion that to make it happen they need to do it themselves. The question then becomes how they accomplish that - EA seems like too big a chunk to swallow, but anything‘s possible, and now they have Apple TV+ where they can synergize content.

 

[Colstan]

I know for a fact they have been making a major push trying to get AAA games onto their platform for at least a couple of years.

Tease.

Another reason apple hasn‘t pushed for gaming on the mac is that gaming on ios devices makes a lot more sense for them.

It appears that, thus far, Apple has put most of its effort behind Apple Arcade. The question that I've always had is whether they were satisfied with casual gaming on iOS, or was it a beachhead into establishing its platforms for a bigger push in the future.

 

[Cmaier]

Tease.

It appears that, thus far, Apple has put most of its effort behind Apple Arcade. The question that I've always had is whether they were satisfied with casual gaming on iOS, or was it a beachhead into establishing its platforms for a bigger push in the future.

I think Apple Arcade, as we now know it, is a first step. I think they’d like to do a lot more.

 

[diamond.g]

Buying EA would have Apple owning the Frostbite engine. Which could be a good thing? Especially if Apple included it in Xcode as the game engine of choice.

They would have to have BioWare use it though (they have been using Unreal Engine for their games).

 

[B01L]

Buying Unity could be a Smart Move; game engine & a whole bunch of tools, including the whole Weta Digital software suite thingie...?

Securing an exclusive release (three to six months ahead of everyone else?) of GTA6 might also be a Good Thing...?

 

[diamond.g]

Buying Unity could be a Smart Move; game engine & a whole bunch of tools, including the whole Weta Digital software suite thingie...?

Securing an exclusive release (three to six months ahead of everyone else?) of GTA6 might also be a Good Thing...?

I wonder how much money they would have to pay Take Two for that.

 

[Herdfan]

of course, EA and apple go way back. Makes me nostalgic.

Any chance Apple could try and compete with Sony & Microsoft and build their own console?

 

[Colstan]

Thinking about this topic further brings me to another two questions for @Cmaier: you've mentioned previously that you believe Apple will introduce ray-tracing with the M2-series. I don't know if you base that upon any insider information, and even if you did, you couldn't say. Regardless, does that notion come from your belief that Apple has an interest in pursuing the so called "AAA" gaming market, or do you think that they see this as a feature for generalized computing? Most of the noise from Nvidia and AMD about ray-tracing has been targeted at the gaming crowd. That is, assuming Apple will ever bother with hardware accelerated ray-tracing.

Second question, how serious do you think Apple is about pursuing gaming beyond casuals? As we've seen before, Apple has tried to entice large gaming studios to develop for the Mac, but that ultimately went nowhere. Do you think that it is as case of them deciding that they'll need to do game development in-house, or do you think that Apple hasn't gotten to the point of making a serious push into gaming beyond simple iOS casual titles?

 

[Cmaier]

Thinking about this topic further brings me to another two questions for @Cmaier: you've mentioned previously that you believe Apple will introduce ray-tracing with the M2-series. I don't know if you base that upon any insider information, and even if you did, you couldn't say. Regardless, does that notion come from your belief that Apple has an interest in pursuing the so called "AAA" gaming market, or do you think that they see this as a feature for generalized computing? Most of the noise from Nvidia and AMD about ray-tracing has been targeted at the gaming crowd. That is, assuming Apple will ever bother with hardware accelerated ray-tracing.

Second question, how serious do you think Apple is about pursuing gaming beyond casuals? As we've seen before, Apple has tried to entice large gaming studios to develop for the Mac, but that ultimately went nowhere. Do you think that it is as case of them deciding that they'll need to do game development in-house, or do you think that Apple hasn't gotten to the point of making a serious push into gaming beyond simple iOS casual titles?

I think the ray tracing pursuit is more for generalized computing and their VR goals, than for games. I think they’d really like it for AR, too - put a fake thing in the real world and it jumps out at you if the lighting is a little off. I don’t know if it will be in M2 - I thought it would, but everything has gotten so distorted by the supply chain issues caused by the pandemic that it’s anyone’s guess at this point.

As for the second point, I think they see services as more and more important to the heart of their business, and they see AAA gaming as potentially their biggest service. I don’t think they want to do it in house. I know they’ve been talking to major studios for a couple of years trying to get them on board whatever it is they want to do. But I think if they are hitting a dead end, and given that they have seen that in-house can work (see Apple TV+), I think they‘ll go that way (or buy someone, if they can).

 

[Colstan]

As for the second point, I think they see services as more and more important to the heart of their business, and they see AAA gaming as potentially their biggest service. I don’t think they want to do it in house. I know they’ve been talking to major studios for a couple of years trying to get them on board whatever it is they want to do. But I think if they are hitting a dead end, and given that they have seen that in-house can work (see Apple TV+), I think they‘ll go that way (or buy someone, if they can).

Thanks for the response. Thus far, there haven't been many "AAA" titles for Apple platforms, but I see this as an encouraging sign. On occasion, I've considered building a side PC, just for gaming, but really don't want to do that. I left the PC world behind many years ago, and don't want to have to deal with x86 or Windows ever again. If Apple is able to successfully enter this market, then that would solve my dilemma. I don't need access to all Windows-only games, just enough quality titles, and it would be great if Apple can achieve that goal.

There's no guarantee that will happen, but this is a good initial overture within Apple, and I appreciate you sharing it with us.

 

[throAU]

EA = cancer


But at least if Apple bought them maybe their employees wouldn’t be so maltreated

 

[DT]

It seems like EA would give them control over some major titles, including most of the sports industry, plus a game engine, if one of the blockers for Apple gear being a legit gaming machine is software, this solves that issue ... if it's really an issue to solve I also like the idea of acquiring Unity (I realize that's a side discussion to the possible EA acquisition ...), basically creating a studio, tools, publishing infrastructure for high quality Mac gaming, which I'd assume would continue with the larger volume gaming platforms (Winders™, XBOX, PS).

Maybe they should acquire Sony, or least their gaming business, then I can put an Apple Station 6 on my 2024 Xmas list

 

[diamond.g]

It seems like EA would give them control over some major titles, including most of the sports industry, plus a game engine, if one of the blockers for Apple gear being a legit gaming machine is software, this solves that issue ... if it's really an issue to solve I also like the idea of acquiring Unity (I realize that's a side discussion to the possible EA acquisition ...), basically creating a studio, tools, publishing infrastructure for high quality Mac gaming, which I'd assume would continue with the larger volume gaming platforms (Winders™, XBOX, PS).

Maybe they should acquire Sony, or least their gaming business, then I can put an Apple Station 6 on my 2024 Xmas list

Why buy Sony when Nintendo is "cheaper"?