Pulling the digital rug out from underneath, EA swoops in at last moment
On its run to the 2004 NBA Championship, the Detroit Pistons had an almost insurmountable Indiana Pacers team standing in its way. In Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Pistons were up by 2 points with 20 or so seconds left, when the legendary Reggie Miller got the ball back at half court with no one around him. His path to the rim, and a tie game, was a given. He ran down the court, went up for the easy layup and then… THEN.
Then the Pistons’ Tayshaun Prince somehow caught up to Miller and dropped one of the most impressive physical maneuvers in NBA history, not only blocking the ball but also managing to keep it inbounds, letting the Pistons maintain the lead and eventually send them to Finals, where they beat the LA Lakers in the infamous 5-game sweep.
That’s what just happened with EA and Take Two. What seemed like a completed deal was swatted away at the eleventh hour, the giant EA running up the court to block Take-Two’s purchase of racing game developer Codemasters, and managing to keep the ball in court (ha!) with a $1.2 Billion purchase. The company now owns a monopoly of some of the biggest racing brands and developers on the market, bringing Codemasters to the same studios that develop Need for Speed and Burnout Paradise.
What a way to end 2020, eh?
Source: EA
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