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Lisa Napoli: Just as they were rolling out the red carpet in Hollywood last night, some big rumblings around another entertainment screen: Video game publisher Electronic Arts made an unsolicited $2 billion bid for rival Take-Two Interactive. Take-Two’s response: Take a hike. Marketplace’s Dan Grech has details.

Dan Grech: Take-Two is releasing Grand Theft Auto IV on April 29. It’s projected to sell 10 million copies and would likely be the biggest video game release of the year.

During a conference call this morning, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello said his company wants to cut a deal as soon as possible.

John Riccitiello: We believe we can take games from Take-Two and sell more of them.

Take-Two says it wants to wait on merger talks until after Grand Theft Auto is released.
Of course, that could increase the value of the company, whose boardroom has been in turmoil recently.

Ben Schachter is a gaming analyst at UBS. He says video games are becoming more expensive to produce, and that leads to consolidation.

Ben Schachter: A game like Grand Theft Auto can cost, you know, tens of millions of dollars to develop. And if you’re a small publisher, you don’t have the resources to get that done on a consistent basis.

In another big gaming merger set to close this year: Activision and Vivendi’s game business will become Activision Blizzard.

I’m Dan Grech for Marketplace.