Breaking: We use the so-called breaking procedure to produce this breaking news. This means that we will publish all information as soon as possible so that you can follow all developments live. Of course, this can also mean that sections are sometimes not finalized – we update the message continuously throughout the day as soon as something happens.
A little while ago we brought the message: That’s right, Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard
. Well, and today the next candidates are just around the corner: Allegedly, today, August 26, 2022, Amazon will publicly announce its intention to put Electronic Arts in the shopping cart. Okay, I promise, from now on no more jokes that FIFA will only appear on time with Prime in the future.
The rumors have been circulating for a few weeks, now reported USA Today with reference to anonymous sources GLHFthat the official announcement should take place today. Industry veteran and gamescom host Geoff Keighley also shares the info via Twitter:
link to Twitter content
For several years, Amazon has been trying to get a foot in the door of the gaming world through its own game studios. New World has been able to make the biggest waves here, but hasn’t really anchored itself in the charts in the long term. With EA, the most lucrative gaming sports brands in the world would migrate to Amazon’s portfolio, namely FIFA (or EA Sports FC), Madden and NHL.
Plus, of course, the ongoing (but no longer exclusive) Star Wars projects from EA, Bioware’s Arsenal (Dragon Age, Mass Effect), Need for Speed, and all the other brands Electronic Arts has been producing for years.
In any case, our colleague Michael Graf has just exploded through half the editorial teambecause for months he’s been predicting on the GameStar podcast that Amazon will take over a gaming publisher – and Electronic Arts would be a logical candidate.
For example here in our talk about Microsoft’s Activision takeover (listen from 1:20:50):
link to Podcast Content
In his notes on the podcast at the time, Micha found at least this meaningful snippet:
Of course, the big price question arises: For how much money would such a deal go through? With 70 billion US dollars, Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision has so far been unbeaten in the top position.
Update: CNBC denies the rumours
According to the business and financial news channel CNBC, there is nothing to the rumors. Taking to Twitter, David Faber attests that none of his stock market sources can confirm:
link to Twitter content
We’ll keep you posted on all of today’s developments, stay tuned.