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Rumors of Amazon acquiring Electronic Arts cause confusion

By George Yang August 26, 2022

Consolidation surrounding the video game industry has been happening more frequently, and the latest rumor involves Amazon and Electronic Arts. GLHF and USA Today reported that Amazon would announce a formal offer to acquire Electronic Arts later today. However, CNBC refuted those rumors stating that it would not be happening. It’s a confusing scenario, but it appears that EA and Amazon will stay as separate entities for now.

“I have talked to some people who would actually know if there was something going on, and they say, there’s nothing going on,” said CNBC’s David Faber to Joe Kernan. “These are people who would be involved, who in fact, were involved when our parent company, Joe, was talking to Electronic Arts.”

Faber is referring to the report earlier this year that NBCUniversal and Electronic Arts were in discussions to merge. Faber now confirms this report and mentions that Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson would’ve run the combined entity but also that he wanted voting control. However, negotiations fell through, reportedly due to disagreements around the price of the merger and how it would be structured. GLHF has since updated its story “it’s unclear whether that will happen” in regards to the acquisition.

Amazon is not going to make a bid for Electronic Arts, sources tell CNBC's @DavidFaber. Shares of $EA surged earlier on a report citing a "rumor." pic.twitter.com/k7wk0Fy7xv

— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) August 26, 2022

EA also reportedly spoke with other companies aside from Amazon, including Disney and Apple. EA and Amazon would’ve made an interesting pair given that the latter hasn’t really established a strong foothold within the games industry yet aside from its Luna streaming service, the live streaming platform Twitch, and Lost Ark.

Amazon has had mixed success in its game development ventures. In 2018, Amazon Games canceled a multiplayer game called Breakaway. In 2020, it also shuttered Crucible, another free-to-play multiplayer game, after only five months from its release. However, the company found some modest success with its MMO games New World and Lost Ark. For now at least, it doesn’t look like EA will become part of Amazon Games.

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George Yang is a freelance games writer for Digital Trends. He has written for places such as IGN, GameSpot, The Washington…

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Amazon repeats its Lost Ark playbook to bring another international MMO to the West

A cloaked character stares out at a village in Throne and Liberty.

Amazon Games announced today that it will publish NCSoft's fantasy MMORPG Throne and Liberty in North America, South America, Europe, and Japan. This cements a unique niche that Amazon Games has found for itself as a publisher: bringing Asian MMOs to the west.
[NCing] THRONE AND LIBERTY - Official Trailer | Work in Progress | 엔씨소프트
Throne and Liberty is an ambitious MMO in development that includes fast-paced action combat, features large-scale PvE and PvP battles, and lets players transform into different creatures and control the environment during battles. The game has been in development for several years, but we didn't know if it'd get a Western release until now. With Amazon's backing, Throne and Liberty will now come out for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X in the West with full cross-play support.

While MMO fans will be happy at this announcement, this also demonstrates that Amazon Games has found a niche for itself as a game publisher by bringing Eastern MMOs to the West. For years, Amazon struggled to gain solid footing as a game developer and publisher, with multiple games canceled and titles like Crucible failing to gain traction. While MMOs aren't as popular as they used to be, Amazon has found a successful niche in trying to make the genre thrive again. It released New World to somewhat positive success, but really found a hit with the release of Lost Ark in February 2022.
Now, it's backing Bandai Namco's Blue Protocol and NCSoft's Throne and Liberty in hopes of repeating this success. Amazon Games Vice Preisident Christoph Hartmann explained what makes these kinds of games appealing in a press release.
"Publishing games that live and grow over time remains a critical piece of our strategy, and delivering games of the highest quality from the world’s most talented developers is one of the cornerstones of our business," Hartmann writes. "The last year has taught us a great deal about publishing and managing a successful live-service game on a global scale, and we’re ready to bring Throne and Liberty players an incredible experience at launch."
It remains to be seen if either of those games will reach Lost Ark's level of success and if Amazon Games plans to do this with even more Eastern MMOs. Outside of the MMO space, Amazon Games will also be publishing the next Tomb Raider game.

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Amazon Games will publish the next Tomb Raider title

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God of War TV show officially ordered to series by Amazon

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Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures Television will move forward with developing a live-action television series based on the God of War series of games.
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