Hasta La Gadget!

When you say “Electronic Arts” and “Valve” in the same sentence, most gamers will likely point to the digital distribution tussle currently going on between the two. Electronic Arts wants its platform, Origin, to become one of Steam‘s biggest competitors, and Origin has garnered a lot of negative comments in the past couple of years because of that. Valve and Electronic Arts have always had a seemingly close relationship though, and it might surprise some to hear that at one point, Electronic Arts was considering purchasing Valve, as The New York Times is reporting today.

The New York Times doesn’t give a specific timeline for the proposed buyout, but says that at the time, Valve would have been valued at “well over $1 billion” if talks between the two companies had actually progressed that far. It seems that talks didn’t really go anywhere, and there’s a pretty good reason for that, as Gabe Newell says that Valve isn’t a studio we can expect to see bought out by a larger company anytime soon.

Instead, we should expect Valve to “disintegrate” before its ever bought out, with its workers going their separate ways. “It’s way more likely we would head in that direction than say, ‘Let’s find some giant company that wants to cash us out and wait two or three years to have our employment agreements terminate,” Newell said. So no, you don’t have to worry about another company buying out Valve and forcing the studio to change.

For the record, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter says that Valve is likely worth in the area of $2.5 billion. That number seems a little closer to the mark than EA’s $1 billion valuation, and it may even be a bit a higher than Pachter estimates, given the immense success of Steam and Valve’s library of incredibly popular game series. So, how about it – do you think Valve would be any different today if it had been bought out by Electronic Arts?

Electronic Arts tried to purchase Valve in the past is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The FTC just completed its investigation into Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram late last month, and now the two companies have announced that the billion dollar deal is officially closed. Instagram has also confirmed that its team will be making the move to Facebook’s offices, but it assures folks that the “Instagram app and its features will stay the same one you know and love.” For its part, Facebook reiterated its statement that it is “committed to building and growing Instagram independently,” and that “Instagram will continue to serve its community, and we will help Instagram continue to grow by using Facebook’s strong engineering team and infrastructure.” It also offers a small hint of things to come by noting that “we also can’t wait to work with the talented Instagram team to improve the mobile experience.” In other news, Instagram also took the opportunity to announce that it’s now crossed the five billion photo mark — no word on a breakdown by filters, though.

Filed under: Internet, Software

Facebook completes acquisition of Instagram, eyes improved mobile experience originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Sep 2012 11:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today an investigation into the proposed purchase of the photo sharing app Instagram by the social network Facebook has been ended as silently as it was started. The acquisition of Instagram was made famous earlier this year as Facebook payed a reported $1 billion dollar sum to take over the brand in its entirety. The FTC’s Bureau of Competition worked with the Bureau of Economics to investigate the deal to make sure no anticompetitive business practices were taking place – they found nothing to write home about.

Now that the FTC has approved of the deal here in the United States, Facebook and Instagram may move forward – of course there’s always your international regulatory groups snooping around the deal, but once the FTC has had their say, generally a deal such as this pretty much hits the afterburners. The Commission this week voted to close the investigation of the deal with a vote of 5-0 to complete – to a degree.

April J Tabor, Acting Secretary for the Federal Trade Commission’s letter to Councel for Instagram read in part as follows:

“Upon further review of this matter, it now appears that no further action is warranted by the Commission at this time. Accordingly, the investigation has been closed. This action is not to be construed as a determination that a violation may not have occurred, just as the pendency of an investigation should not be construed as a determination that a violation has occurred. The Commission reserves the right to take such further action as the public interest may require.”

The same letter was sent to Councel for Facebook, citing in both cases a possible violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act or Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Have a peek at our timeline below to track this deal back to its roots, and let the Instagram flow through you, you Facebook-loving socialite!

BONUS: the image you see at the head of this post comes from a conceptual design rendering of a Facebook phone designed by Tolga Tuncer – complete with an Instagram button!

[via FTC]

FTC Facebook Instagram investigation ends silently is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Amid the rumors, sourced reports and statements, it was easy to lose track of the facts surrounding OnLive’s recent restructuring efforts. No surprise then, that the newly formed outfit has issued a press release and FAQ (after the break) in hopes will clear things up. First and foremost, the firm reiterates that the streaming game service will continue operating uninterrupted, and that the “newly formed company” that acquired the firm’s assets will continue to do business under the OnLive name. The announcement also mentions the Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (ABC) process OnLive used to settle its debts, noting that “an affiliate” of Lauder Partners, a technology investment firm, was the new OnLive’s first investor. Finally, the firm laments the necessity of laying off its staff, stating that “neither OnLive, Inc. shares nor OnLive staff could transfer under this type of transaction,” confirming that nearly half of the previous staff had been offered positions at the new company, and optimistically projecting future hires culled from both previous and new employees. The new OnLive calls the asset acquisition “a heartbreaking transition for everyone involved,” but looks optimistically to a future of “transforming the OnLive vision into reality.” Check out OnLive’s full, official word on the matter below.

Continue reading OnLive officially announces asset acquisition, notes that its newly formed company will keep OnLive name

OnLive officially announces asset acquisition, notes that its newly formed company will keep OnLive name originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Aug 2012 22:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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OnLive has finally issued an official statement after rumors of mass layoffs first leaked out earlier today, confirming that its assets have been acquired into a newly-formed company with what it claims is “substantial” financial backing. The big news for users is that the OnLive Game and Desktop services will remain operational and continue to be supported. The release also claims a “large percentage” of OnLive staff is being hired into the new company with plans to hire more over time, while PR informs us the leadership team remains intact. Check the words straight from the source after the break.

We’ve heard from some of the people present for the meeting where the new plan was revealed today, confirming the company is going through a process known as Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (ABC). A faster alternative to bankruptcy that doesn’t involve the courts, it allows OnLive to deal with some of the issues it was facing, most notably an oversupply of servers for the number of users it had signed up. The ABC process allows OnLive to be unshackled from the expensive server contracts and bring in a new source of venture capital. Oh and that other major cost, the employees? Not all of the information is known yet, but beyond the loss of jobs, it turns out the stock they owned was in a company that no longer exists. We’re hearing their benefits will end after August, however there are offers of contracts to answer questions about important topics like “where things are,” in exchange for special form stock in the new venture.

Update: Joystiq has more information from a former employee, who estimated the average number of peak concurrent OnLive users at around 1,800 or so, and the amount of retained staff in the range of 20 percent. One other tidbit? The source expects OnLive to go after recent Sony acquisition Gaikai for infringement of a game streaming patent, so stay tuned.

Continue reading OnLive hits reset after being dragged down by expensive servers, confirms service will continue

Filed under: Gaming, Internet

OnLive hits reset after being dragged down by expensive servers, confirms service will continue originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Aug 2012 20:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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