Electronic Arts said today that it will not acquire publisher Take-Two until after the Federal Trade Commission finishes reviewing the acquisition for potential antitrust concerns (via Reuters). The FTC has until August 21 to complete its probe and we're betting they won't finish early.

After an innumerable amount of extensions, EA now says, because of the investigation, its offer to Take Two shareholders has been extended to July 18, the last day of E3 Media and Business Summit. We suspect there'll be some thrilling behind the scenes action going on next week.

Stockholders have approved the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games to form the goliath Activision Blizzard. GameDaily reports the deal officially closes on July 9 and the new company will trade on the Nasdaq under Activision's ATVI ticker. This instantly makes Activision Blizzard the new alpha dog in the industry with a value of $18.9 billion -- EA now trails with $14.1 billion.

Without getting into the nitty-gritty details, Activision Blizzard is expected to have the highest profit margins in the industry. Activision Blizzard should also continue to enjoy bagiggles of cash flowing into its coffers unless franchises like World of Warcraft and Guitar Hero suddenly self-destruct.

Each week Mark Methenitis contributes Law of the Game on Joystiq, a column on legal issues as they relate to video games:

I have a great deal of respect for fellow Joystiq columnist and GamePolitics.com Editor Dennis McCauley, but I have to disagree with his most recent column on the EA Take-Two situation. Or at least, while I agree in spirit with his assertion that EA is trying to eliminate the competition in the sports games market with this buyout offer, in practice I don't think EA absorbing Take-Two will have any actual effect on the sports games market. This is in part why I think the Federal Trade Commission's recent inquiries are likely just routine investigation. However, I'm getting ahead of myself. Before explaining why I think this is the case, I should explain the basis for the complaints about the merger: anti-trust.

Anti-trust deals with the law of competition among businesses. In a capitalist economy, there are proven economic detriments to having monopolies or unfair competition, and therefore the government has seen fit to place restrictions on certain practices that can be injurious to a capitalist economy. In fact, the first US law dealing with anti-trust was the Sherman Act of 1890. Of course, this is not universally approved of, nor is the act universally welcomed; even economists as notable as Alan Greenspan have found fault with the Sherman Act, but I digress. The important point to note is that anti-competitive and monopolistic practices are regulated.

The European Commission has given permission to the games division of French telecom and media group, Vivendi, to run free into the arms of Activision. This is one of the final loose ends left in the $9.85 billion deal spawning the behemoth known as Activision Blizzard (or by its street name: Actilizzard? Blizzavision?). Vivendi will procure a 52% stake in the EA rival and is expected to have annual revenue of $3.8 billion.

The Commission essentially needed to approve that there weren't any antitrust issues in the mega-merger. In its report the group stated that there are several effective competitors in the market, such as EA and the game console manufacturers. Guess it's time to start ordering the office stationary.

Whatever last remnants of identity clung to by both Shiny and The Collective were lost today as the duo were merged together by owner Foundation 9, creating a new, wholly unfamiliar entity known as Double Helix. Studio head Michael Saxs Persson calls the new name and logo, which were chosen from a pool of employee submissions, a "perfect" match for the company, adding that "making games is in our DNA."

The founding follows the initial merger, announced last October, and according to Foundation 9 creates a studio "that is now able to build upon its previous experience to gain new heights in quality and efficiency." And all it cost us was our fond memories of a simpler time spent playing the likes of MDK and Earthworm Jim. While the company remains coy regarding what it's up to currently, today's announcement notes that Double Helix is developing a trio of multi-platform licensed games, one of which we assume to be the already announced Silent Hill V.

Blizzard might get a free pass when Activision officially takes over Vivendi Games, but the Sierra branch of the company isn't so lucky. Variety reports that Sierra developers will have to justify their games currently in development to Activision executives once the merger is complete and re-pitch their work to survive.

Variety believes games expected this year like Bourne, Prototype, Brutal Legend and Ghostbusters are safe, but that games for '09 (titles that we'd probably hear about for the first time at E3) are all in limbo. For example, will there be another Bourne game when it conflicts with Activision's James Bond license? The fate of Sierra titles now lies in the whims of Activision execs.

*In case you're justifiably young enough not to know who Roberta Williams is, here's a link.

Apparently, one merger per decade is enough for Sega. Despite falling on some tough financial times recently, Sega has declared that it is decidedly not interested in getting bailed out by some generous big-time buyout (not that anyone else was necessarily interested, mind you).

In an interview with Reuters, Sega Sammy CEO Simon Jeffrey said his company isn't eager to ride the industry's recent wave of consolidation. "That's not an area we want to play in right now," he said. "We have no interest in being acquired, we are very happy with our position right now."

Buoyed by extremely strong sales of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Jeffrey seems perfectly content with his company's current sixth-place position in the game publisher rankings. "There is plenty of room for smaller companies to be successful and profitable in this business," he said. "You don't have to be number one or number two. You can be number six very happily," Jeffrey said. Chant along with us everybody: We're number six! We're number six!

Last week, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello revealed an offer put forward to Take-Two Interactive executive chairman Strauss Zelnick to buyout T2 for nearly $2 billion. Zelnick expediently and publicly shot down the offer, though this battle of the peculiar last names was far from over -- since then we've heard that other companies took interest in T2 after EA was shot down, though certain industry analysts believe EA will eventually win out. Yesterday brought news of a new player on the field that could tip the battle in EA's favor -- Enter: Jack Thompson!

Yes, everyone's favorite Floridian moralist (and T2 shareholder) recently threw his support behind Electronic Arts in an impassioned letter, saying he would help "evict the Zelnick Trojan Horse from within Take-Two's corporate walls". We think that EA and J.T. would be strange bedfellows, given Thompson's denunciation of Sims 2 a few years back -- though his uncustomary defense of Mass Effect might have rebuilt that once-burnt bridge. How about it, EA? Is your raid on Take-Two LFM?

Like that hot catholic school girl with a penchant for acting tough, everyone seems to want a piece of Take-Two these days. The Associated Press is reporting on a recent SEC filing in which the company reveals its been approached with a few "informal indications of interest in a business combination" since EA's unsolicited buyout offer earlier this week. It makes sense ... after all, when if the most popular guy in school (read: EA) gets turned down by a relatively popular girl (read: Take-Two), then everyone else suddenly thinks they have a chance with her.

Like that goth girl with the spiked choker and way too much black mascara, though, Take-Two is acting like it doesn't want the attention. The filing goes on to say that the company "has not engaged in any substantive discussions with any party (including EA) with respect to a business combination." At least they're being direct about their lack of interest. Everyone knows the best way to ruin a business rep is by being a merger tease.

Apparently, it didn't take them very long to consider Electronic Arts' somewhat hostile buyout proposal -- Take-Two's Board of Directors just responded to the offer with a press release of their own, stating that EA CEO John Riccitiello's proposal was "inadequate in multiple respects and not in the best interests of Take-Two's stockholders."

While EA's proposal listed Grand Theft Auto IV as a primary reason for the merger, as Riccitiello claimed EA could lend their help during the game's quickly approaching release, Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two's executive chairman, listed GTAIV as the primary reason why they wouldn't want to merge at this point in time, fully expecting to increase their overall value when the game hits store shelves come April 29.

Zelnick's laundry list of reasons why the buyout wouldn't benefit his company can be found on the press release. For now, let us rejoice in the postponement of the seemingly inevitable future where one superconglomerated gaming publisher/developer controls all game releases on the planet.

Update: MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo just had a chat with industry guru Michael Pachter, who claims that this probably isn't the end of the ordeal, and that EA will eventually get their way -- though it might not happen for a while.

Not one to miss out on a gaming industry trend as hot as corporate synergy, Electronic Arts recently proposed an acquisition of Take-Two Interactive Software for $26 a share (nearly a 63 percent premium to their current stock value) -- for a grand total of approximately $2 billion.

Before you start feverishly fantasizing about a Bioshock/Crysis mash-up, you should know that Take-Two's executive chairman, Strauss Zelnick, shot down the proposal upon receiving it last Tuesday. Attempting to go over the bossman's head, EA CEO John Riccitiello made his proposal public, hoping that Take-Two shareholders will find the offer more attractive than Zelnick initially did.

EA intends to keep the proposal on the table to give Take-Two's board of directors "further time to consider it," obviously hoping to force Zelnick's hand. Whether or not this strategy will work, we imagine we'll find out in the next few days. We'll keep you updated as the situation develops.

Update: Take-Two's Board of Directors have considered the offer, and politely refused. Check out the full story for Zelnick's reasoning behind shooting down the proposal.

Don't kid yourself, at this point we're all just waiting for EA to make some big acquisition announcement. Following the creation of Activision Blizzard, there's been a lot of speculation about what's going to happen in this newly launched third-party publisher arms race between ActiBlizz (AB? Blizzavision? Eh, we're still working on it) and EA. GI.biz spoke with EA's director of business development, Nick Button-Brown, who said, "It's always possible."

Button-Brown went on to say that he doesn't expect to see any effects of the Vivendi and Activision merger for at least six months. He says his job is to find new IP and work with developers whether they acquire them or not, and makes sure to say that "there are no hostile takeovers." Although Button-Brown saying that acquisitions being possible is pretty much a "duh" statement, industry watchers are just waiting to see what EA's next big move is.

The recent news of the birth of Activision Blizzard, a merger between Activision and Vivendi Games, has sent a number of forum goers into a panic concerning the status of their beloved games from the two companies. Particularly on the World of Warcraft forums, many are concerned that Activision will litter their pristine fantasy world with in-game advertisements for Axe Body Spray and Red Bull.

Fear not, citizens of Azeroth, you won't be looting Happy Meals off of trash mobs any time soon, according to a post from Blizzard on the WoW forums. According to big blue -- "there will be no changes in the way Blizzard operates." They report that there will be no changes to their games, their logo, their staff, their offices, their development teams, their annual company-wide potato sack race -- nothing. However, they do give a clearer image as to how they fit into the merger -- Blizzard Entertainment will now officially operate as a division of Activision Blizzard.

We hope to learn the main goals of the merger during tomorrow morning's investor conference call, but it would be wise of Activision to follow Blizzard's lead in this matter, and ensure the fans of their franchises that the games they have come to know and love will not be negatively affected by the new parent company. So help us God, if they do anything to jeopardize Cabela's Deer Hunt: 2008 Season, well... we just don't know what we'd do.

File this under "straight out of left field" -- Activision, the publishing powerhouse behind the Call of Duty and Tony Hawk series; and Vivendi Games, owner of Blizzard Entertainment, which you probably don't need us to tell you is behind the Warcraft and Starcraft series, are coming together to form "the world's most profitable games business," cleverly named Activision Blizzard.

The reports we've read so far seem to confuse the matter of Vivendi's role in the merger, and who will be "wearing the pants" in the relationship, so to speak. As we understand it, Vivendi and Activision will be the ones who are merging, despite Blizzard's name being in the company's new moniker. Vivendi will own approximately 52% of the ownership stake in Activision Blizzard, though Activision's current CEO, Bobby Kotick, will take the chief executive position in the new company.

Jean-Bernard Lévy, Vivendi's chief executive, expressed his excitement about the supercollision -- "We look forward to being an active and supportive majority stockholder in a company that is poised to lead the worldwide interactive entertainment industry in the years ahead."

We'll be sure to keep you updated as soon as we get a clearer understanding of the details of the merger. No doubt the internet will be abuzz with industry analysts chiming in about the ramifications of this huge business deal. We predict to see elves on skateboards by first quarter 2008, but we'll leave the conjecture up to the big dogs.

Update - 6:00PM EST: Worried about WoW? Blizzard wants to brush your hair and tell you everything is going to be alright. Also, the Vivendi Games/Activision management team will hold an investor conference call tomorrow at 8:30 in the morning, EST. We'll make sure to keep you updated on the full details of the merged company's future plans, should they arise during the meeting.

Update - 8:15PM EST: GameSetWatch's Simon Carless analyzes the combination of the two gaming colossi.

Update 12/3/07 - 11AM EST: We've written up our notes from this morning's Activision Blizzard conference call.

We reported last year on the merging of developers Pandemic and Bioware into one "super-developer", and Gamasutra has followed up the move by interviewing the heads of both companies, including Pandemic CEO Josh Resnick (right). The studios aren't merging directly, but share revenue and a common executive team, an interesting move for future companies which might plan to follow in their footsteps.

It appears that the companies are working together closely, with only a little technology sharing as of yet--the simple move of giving feedback on each other's products is apparently working wonders. However, Bioware and Pandemic intend to stay fairly separate, each focusing on their genres of expertise. Unfortunately the interview reveals no tidbits of information on Bioware Austin's MMO plans, but the CEOs are confident that there is room to innovate and customers to be had in the MMO space still.