110-584: Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns three major publishing labels , Rockstar Games , Zynga and 2K , which operate internal game development studios . Take-Two created the Private Division label to support publishing from independent developers , though it sold
220-553: A 2K brand to differentiate versions (such as ESPN NFL 2K5 ). In 2004, Take-Two had struck a deal with Sega to help publish these titles. Just prior to Take-Two's acquisition, Electronic Arts announced it had secured the exclusive rights to create video games based on the National Football League (NFL) and a fifteen-year branding deal with ESPN , effectively killing Visual Concepts' own NFL title and devaluing their others games. This decision led Sega to abandon
330-535: A US$ 7.5 million fine, along with Brant and other executives paying fines totaling around US$ 6.4 million . Brant, who had remained with the company in the non-executive role of "Vice President of Production", ultimately resigned from the company in October 2006, following a four-month disability leave due to a bad back. In 2007, a separate investigation by the SEC found further issues with Brant and two other executives of
440-662: A "graphic fiction imprint". The imprint, Double Take Comics , was launched in October 2014, but ultimately was not successful and was shuttered in November 2016. Leslie Benzies , former President of Rockstar North, took sabbatical leave from Rockstar on September 1, 2014. In January 2016 it was announced that he had left the company. On April 12, 2016, Benzies started legal action against Rockstar and Take-Two claiming $ 150 million in unpaid royalties. Take-Two had invested into mobile-game developer Scopely in July 2016. On February 1, 2017,
550-579: A Made Man and ATV Quad Power Racing 3 being returned to development at the Manchester studios, which were reopened by Fund4Games under the name Silverback Studios. In June 2006, Mastertronic announced that it had acquired the publishing rights to Made Man in Europe. The Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX and ATV: Quad Power Racing franchises were sold to Crave Entertainment in July 2005. In August 2005, former Activision executive Howard Marks acquired
660-615: A Rocket Boy Games in October 2018. Take-Two had also decried their employment of Rockstar North staff as a deceptive tactic to create an affiliation between them. Take-Two and the NBA signed a seven-year, US$ 1.1 billion licensing deal to extend Take-Two's rights to develop the NBA 2K games in January 2019. Analysts estimated that this represented at least 15% of Take-Two's revenue from the sale of NBA 2K games, atypical of other license deals, due to
770-428: A buyer for Take-Two after the investors filed their intent with the SEC. Among the potential buyers were EA, but a deal could not be negotiated before the meeting. The takeover was successfully agreed to by stockholders on March 29, 2007, with Zelnick naming Ben Feder , a partner at ZelnickMedia, as the new CEO. As of July 2015, Strauss Zelnick is the largest single shareholder by voting power. The company announced
880-454: A complaint filed in the same court sought to hold the company's founders, including Fischbach and Scorposki, and several executives accountable for Acclaim's financial losses shortly before the bankruptcy filing, seeking $ 150 million in damages. On October 1, 2004, Rod Cousens acquired the former Acclaim Studios Cheltenham and Acclaim Studios Manchester development studios, along with several of its unfinished projects. Cousens sought to reopen
990-567: A contract with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) to publish video games based on the promotion. Under this agreement, Acclaim released two video games until ECW declared bankruptcy in 2001, leaving the promotion still owing Acclaim money. The game publisher subsequently released three wrestling titles under the Legends of Wrestling banner during its final years. Acclaim faced significant financial difficulties in 2004, primarily due to poor sales of its video game titles. This situation led to
1100-469: A deal for Take-Two in the previous year when they were approached by Eibeler, however, with Activision 's acquisition of Vivendi Games in December 2007, EA was looking to resecure itself as one of the top video game publishers with the acquisition of Take-Two. While Take-Two had been discussing the potential of a buyout to a large media company after the shareholder takeover, Zelnick and the board rejected
1210-566: A digital replica of their likeness. Take-Two's executive offices and worldwide headquarters are located in New York City. The company runs its European operations from Windsor, Berkshire and its Asian operations from Singapore . As of 2018, Take-Two's primary business is through two self-owned publishing labels. One label is Rockstar Games , also located in New York City, and is specialized on development and publication of action-adventure games such as Grand Theft Auto . The other label
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#17327829700931320-565: A hidden graphic sex scene that was built into the game, with concerned politicians and consumers stating the scene belied the game's ESRB content rating. Actions taken against Take-Two included an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission for deceptive advertising, to which Take-Two and Rockstar settled in 2006 on fines for any future violations of content ratings. Take-Two completed a US$ 20.1 million settlement related to class-action lawsuits filed against it in 2005 over
1430-754: A high-priority initiative that will be energized by the addition of Zynga’s leading development, publishing, and live operations teams." Both shareholders of the companies approved the merger on May 19, 2022, and the closing of the transaction took effect on May 23, 2022. In October 2022, Take-Two announced that Playdots would be shut down, with control of Two Dots being transferred to Zynga. In March 2023, Take-Two acquired mobile games subscription service GameClub for an undisclosed sum. That same month, Take-Two had layoffs impacting an unspecified number of employees at publishing label Private Division and 30 employees at Firaxis Games . In March 2024, Take-Two announced that it would acquire The Gearbox Entertainment Company,
1540-430: A major restructuring in mid-2007, following the takeover. With the move of the 2K labels to Novato, the executive, management, distribution and sales areas were evaluated to align these by business discipline rather than geography. Subsequently, the company let go about 5 to 15% of its approximately 2100 employees, closed down some of its European offices and centralizing these in its Geneva location, and looked to get out of
1650-536: A new company and keeps majority shares with itself, and invites other companies to buy minority shares, it is called a parent company. A parent company could simply be a company that wholly owns another company, which is then known as a " wholly owned subsidiary ". Acclaim Entertainment Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game publisher based in Glen Cove, New York . Originally founded by Greg Fischbach , Robert Holmes, and Jim Scoroposki from
1760-527: A parent company material influence if they are the largest individual shareholder or if they are placed in control of the running of the operation by non-operational shareholders.) In the United Kingdom, the term holding company is defined by the Companies Act 2006 at section 1159. It defines a holding company as a company that holds a majority of the voting rights in another company, or
1870-431: A popular license became one of the few reliable strategies to persuade retailers to stock a game. In its early years, the company entered into an agreement with Interactive VCR Games Inc., whose bestsellers included NFL Quarterback , to produce interactive VCR games, as well as expand into the handheld game market. Acclaim was also responsible for porting many of Midway's arcade games in the early to mid-1990s, including
1980-423: A private equity firm to focus on media and interactive entertainment investments. Industry analyst Michael Pachter stated that a takeover would be best for Take-Two, as the present management "completely abdicated any responsibility for the oversight of the options-granting policy. A more responsible board would have committed hari-kari." CEO Paul Eibeler, who had replaced Brant after his resignation, had tried to find
2090-474: A significant setback when the companies succeeded in dismissing 12 out of 18 of his claims, though the court did rule that Benzies "remains entitled to receive certain royalties" as part of his compensation. Sometime in 2018, Take-Two levied a legal warning against Benzies' new company Royal Circus Games, citing the similarity of its acronym (RCG) to Rockstar Games (RSG) as an infringement of intellectual property; due to this, Benzies later renamed his company Build
2200-446: A software publisher owned by Wan Chai and headed by Catherine Winchester (later Heald); the latter became Take-Two's first president . Later that month, Take-Two struck a deal with GameTek that would see the publisher distribute five of Take-Two's games worldwide. Starting with Star Crusader in September 1994, Take-Two found its first major success within games that included full motion video with well-known live actors performing
2310-528: A speeding ticket. However, following negative reactions from the UK government, the plan was ultimately canceled. In the United States, Acclaim faced multiple lawsuits , several of which involved former partners. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen sued over unpaid royalties. Another lawsuit was brought by Acclaim's own investors, who claimed that Acclaim management had published misleading financial reports. In
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#17327829700932420-668: A stake in Take-Two, aligning the studio with its own Alternative Reality Technologies . By July 1995, Take-Two had established its head office in the Silicon Alley area of New York City . Take-Two expanded in its Latrobe location and, in September 1996, took over the second floor of its office building, which had been occupied by the Chestnut Ridge Chapter of the American Red Cross . Around 1996,
2530-464: A storefront in Oyster Bay in 1987, the company built a global development team through a series of acquisitions during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Following disappointing financial results in their 2003 fiscal year , Acclaim filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in September 2004. The properties owned by Acclaim were subsequently auctioned off to various parties. In the early 1980s, Greg Fischbach
2640-413: A year-long development partnership on an undisclosed partnership; following the acquisition, Ruffian became part of Rockstar Games as Rockstar Dundee . Take-Two offered to buyout Codemasters in November 2020 in a deal valued approximately US$ 973 million . While the offer awaited regulatory approval and was expected to be complete by early 2021, both Take-Two and Codemasters' board of directors confirmed
2750-625: Is 2K , headquartered in Novato, California, and is composed of its divisions 2K Games , 2K Sports , and 2K Play . The 2K Sports division handles the development and publication of Take-Two's sports simulation games, such as the NBA 2K series. 2K Play covers family-friendly and children's video games produced by Take-Two's studios. 2K Games handles nearly all other production from Take-Two's internal development studios as well as titles from selected third parties. Holding company A holding company
2860-499: Is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own stock of other companies to form a corporate group . In some jurisdictions around the world, holding companies are called parent companies , which, besides holding stock in other companies, can conduct trade and other business activities themselves. Holding companies reduce risk for
2970-643: Is a member of another company and has the right to appoint or remove a majority of its board of directors, or is a member of another company and controls alone, pursuant to an agreement with other members, a majority of the voting rights in that company. After the financial crisis of 2007–2008 , many U.S. investment banks converted to holding companies. According to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council 's website, JPMorgan Chase , Bank of America , Citigroup , Wells Fargo , and Goldman Sachs were
3080-478: Is defined by Part 1, Section 5, Subsection 1 of the Companies Act, which states: 5.—(1) For the purposes of this Act, a corporation shall, subject to subsection (3), be deemed to be a subsidiary of another corporation, if — In the United Kingdom, is generally held that an organisation holding a 'controlling stake' in a company (a holding of over 51% of the stock) is in effect the de facto parent company of
3190-648: Is located) and expanded its presence at Hamilton Landing. Due to the various SEC investigations and the Hot Coffee controversy, investors in Take-Two discussed the possibility of taking over the company at its next board meeting in March 2007 and oust the current management. There were also issues with Take-Two failing to make its revenue targets, having lost US$ 163.3 million in 2006. Investors OppenheimerFunds Inc., S.A.C. Capital Management, Tudor Investment Corp., D.E. Shaw Valence Portfolios and ZelnickMedia held 46% of
3300-762: Is the second-largest publicly traded game company in the Americas and Europe after Electronic Arts , with an estimated market cap of US$ 23 billion . Take-Two Interactive was founded by Ryan Ashley Brant, the son of media executive and Interview co-owner Peter Brant . Ryan Brant had attended the Hotchkiss School and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania , graduating in May 1992. He began his career in May 1991, working for his father as
3410-479: The Mortal Kombat series. Additionally, they published several games from companies that, at the time of publication, did not have an American branch, such as Technōs Japan 's Double Dragon II: The Revenge and Taito 's Bust-a-Move series. In 1990, Acclaim partnered with TV producer Saban Entertainment and distributor Bohbot Entertainment to launch Video Power , which subsequently premiered in
Take-Two Interactive - Misplaced Pages Continue
3520-597: The Hamilton Army Airfield . Later that year in September, Take-Two established a partnership with Nickelodeon and launched a new label, 2K Play , designed for publishing of family-friendly titles alongside 2K's 2K Games and 2K Sports sub-labels, absorbing the remaining publishing duties of the Global Star label. In December 2007, Take-Two established 2K Marin (named after Marin County , where Novato
3630-488: The Hot Coffee mod, as well as to a class-action lawsuit brought by shareholders over the options backdating fraud, in September 2009. A fire had damaged part of the Take-Two headquarters building in New York in 2006. In early January 2007, Take-Two relocated the headquarters for 2K to Novato, California to 65,000 square feet of space at Hamilton Landing, an office park that had repurposed the former hangar structures from
3740-448: The NBA 2K series in the past. The division was relocated to a new Austin location and rebranded as Visual Concepts Austin to continue support for that series. In June 2021, Take-Two made its largest acquisition to date with the $ 378 million acquisition of Top Eleven developer Nordeus , further expanding its mobile game division, which, as of July 2021, is known as T2 Mobile Games. Take-Two Interactive announced its intent to acquire
3850-501: The NBA Jam , AFL Live , All-Star Baseball , and NFL Quarterback Club franchises, as well as games from Japanese developer Taito that Acclaim had published outside of Japan. During Acclaim's decline towards bankruptcy, the company made several controversial business and marketing decisions in the United Kingdom. One notable example was a promise to award a US$ 10,000 (£6,000) prize to UK parents who named their baby "Turok" to promote
3960-557: The S&;P 500 , joining two other major video game publishers EA and Activision Blizzard . Similar to the situation in 2013, Take-Two started buying back around US$ 308 million of its stock (estimated to be about 2.5% of the outstanding stock), predicated on similar expectations that Red Dead Redemption 2 , to be released in October 2018, would similarly boost the company's profits as Grand Theft Auto V had done. On March 29, 2018, Benzies' litigation against Rockstar and Take-Two suffered
4070-509: The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) labor union, of which numerous video game voice actors are members of, would initiate a labor strike against a number of video publishers, including Take Two Interactive, over concerns about lack of A.I. protections related to not only video game actors, but also the use of A.I to replicate an actor’s voice, or create
4180-441: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began examining Take-Two's business records, based on complaints filed from 2001 that Take-Two's earnings did not seem to match figures of game sales reported by NPD Group . The SEC's formal complaint found that the company had purportedly sold products to distributors as a "parking transaction" for a quarter, as to artificially increase their revenues for investors, which it estimated
4290-481: The broadcast licenses to reflect this, resulting in stations that are (for example) still licensed to Jacor and Citicasters , effectively making them such as subsidiary companies of their owner iHeartMedia . This is sometimes done on a per- market basis. For example, in Atlanta both WNNX and later WWWQ are licensed to "WNNX LiCo, Inc." (LiCo meaning "license company"), both owned by Susquehanna Radio (which
4400-457: The chief operating officer of Stewart, Tabori & Chang, a publisher of illustrated books, until August 1993. As Brant wanted to forge his own path, he decided to create a video game publishing company. He stated "I wanted to get into a business where I could raise capital as a younger guy. In technology, people expect you to be a younger person." An initial US$ 1.5 million in funding was raised from his family and private investors. Take-Two
4510-442: The shareholders , and can permit the ownership and control of a number of different companies. The New York Times uses the term parent holding company . Holding companies can be subsidiaries in a tiered structure . Holding companies are also created to hold assets such as intellectual property or trade secrets , that are protected from the operating company. That creates a smaller risk when it comes to litigation . In
Take-Two Interactive - Misplaced Pages Continue
4620-708: The ticker symbol TTWO on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The opening price was $ 5.50 , above the expected $ 5 , and on its first day rose to $ 5.75 . From the IPO, the company gained about US$ 6.5 million along with US$ 4 million on venture fund promissory notes. At this time, Peter Brant had been the largest shareholder in Take-Two at 25% owned through Bridgehampton Investors LP, which also had Ryan Brant as general partner . The additional funds allowed Take-Two to acquire GameTek's European operations, its internal Alternative Reality Technologies studio (later renamed Rockstar Toronto), and
4730-715: The "label" corporate structure, which EA followed into in 2008. With the rights to Grand Theft Auto , Take-Two expanded its publication into North America, and the game became Take-Two's first financial success with over 1.5 million copies sold. Take-Two also began taking on distribution capabilities, acquiring various distribution firms such as DirectSoft Australia for the Oceania market. Notably, in August 1998, Take-Two acquired Jack of All Games , an America game distributor, for about US$ 16.8 million . Take-Two subsequently bundled many of its existing and future distribution outlets under
4840-555: The Acclaim brand and logo for a reported $ 100,000. At the beginning of 2006, Marks established a new company named Acclaim Games . According to a job listing for the company, Acclaim Games targeted the US and UK preteen multiplayer markets. However, the second iteration of Acclaim struggled due to connectivity and payment issues for their online games, as well as a lack of action against dishonest players, earning this iteration an "F" grade from
4950-494: The Jack of All Games brand. In 1999, Take-Two acquired DMA Design (ultimately renamed Rockstar North ), and invested into Gathering of Developers and Bungie (eventually transferred over to Microsoft Game Studios ). In September, the company also acquired Triad Distributors and Global Star Software, a video game distributor and publisher, respectively, both founded in 1993 by Craig McGauley and Damian Cristiani and operating out of
5060-463: The League are to be partially sponsored by existing NBA teams, so that there would be eSports equivalent teams for each of the thirty professional NBA teams. The inaugural season is planned to launch in May 2018. On May 31, 2017, Take-Two Interactive acquired Kerbal Space Program . Later, Take-Two announced the formation of its Private Division publishing label on December 14, 2017. Private Division
5170-673: The Los Angeles/Southern California Better Business Bureau . In 2006, Throwback Entertainment acquired more than 50 of Acclaim's games and committed to bringing titles such as Re-Volt , Extreme-G , Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance , Vexx , Fur Fighters , and many other franchises into the next generation and beyond. In March 2007, budget publisher XS Games acquired the publishing rights to The Red Star , with Take-Two Interactive managing European distribution. In April 2007, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment , then
5280-861: The North American distributor for Codemasters ' products, announced that the British publisher had acquired the rights to Emergency Mayhem . In July 2010, the South Korean-based company We Go Interactive acquired Re-Volt , RC Revenge , and RC De Go! (developed and owned by Taito ) from Throwback. In May 2016, the Acclaim brand itself—distinct from any of the intellectual property previously held by Acclaim—was acquired by Collectorvision, an independent game developer, publisher, and manufacturer. In October 2018, Liquid Media Group purchased 65 former Acclaim titles from Throwback for $ 1 million. This acquisition primarily included installments in
5390-490: The SEC and instead of receiving up to four years in prison, was fined US$ 7.3 million and barred from holding any "control management positions" in a publicly traded company. Brant died of cardiac arrest in March 2019 at the age of 47. Further troubling Take-Two during this period was criticism and legal actions taken against the Hot Coffee mod , a user-made modification to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that unlocked
5500-513: The Take-Two executives to move. On March 8, 2018, Zelnick attended a White House meeting held by the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump , along with various other attendees involved with the video game industry, and members of Congress, to discuss video game violence in the wake of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting . On March 9, 2018, S&P Global announced the addition of Take-Two Interactive to
5610-446: The United States, 80% of stock, in voting and value, must be owned before tax consolidation benefits such as tax-free dividends can be claimed. That is, if Company A owns 80% or more of the stock of Company B, Company A will not pay taxes on dividends paid by Company B to its stockholders, as the payment of dividends from B to A is essentially transferring cash within a single enterprise. Any other shareholders of Company B will pay
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#17327829700935720-523: The acquisition of BMG as to acquire the Grand Theft Auto property, and at the same time, contacted BMG's Sam and Dan Houser (both instrumental to getting Grand Theft Auto to market), Terry Donovan, and Jamie King to found a new label within Take-Two, called Rockstar Games for which to develop more titles like it. Electronic Arts ' (EA) 2008 CEO, John Riccitiello , stated that, with the establishing of Rockstar, Take-Two effectively invented
5830-471: The acquisition of exclusive rights to publish Taito's games in the Western Hemisphere . The company also constructed a motion capture studio at its headquarters, making it the first video game company to have an in-house motion capture facility. A less prominent aspect of Acclaim's business was the development and publication of strategy guides related to their software products, along with
5940-571: The board by Icahn to resign. The move to buy back shares was seen by analysts of the company's assurance in Grand Theft Auto V , which was released in September 2013. Grand Theft Auto V has since sold nearly 100 million units by 2018, making it one of the most successful video games ever and bringing an estimated US$ 6 billion to Take-Two, increasing its stock value by more than 600%. In December 2013, former Marvel editor-in-chief Bill Jemas announced that he had joined Take-Two to start
6050-467: The closure of Acclaim Studios Cheltenham and Acclaim Studios Manchester in England , along with other locations, and resulted in their filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, leaving many employees unpaid. Among the titles under development at the UK studios were Emergency Mayhem , ATV Quad Power Racing 3 , The Last Job , Interview with a Made Man , and Kung Faux . In May 2004, it
6160-405: The company (about 10%), based on the company's projections that it would remain profitable over the next several years. As part of this, the company bought back around 12 million shares owned by Carl Icahn , about 11% of the total shares, for about US$ 203 million . Icahn had been seen as favoring selling the company to a buyer. This subsequently led to three board members who had been recommended on
6270-504: The company acquired social and mobile game developer Social Point for about US$ 250 million to enter into the mobile gaming industry. In that same month, Take-Two and the National Basketball Association (NBA) announced a partnership to create the NBA 2K League , a professional eSports league based on the NBA 2K games, and the first eSports league to be managed by a professional sports league. Teams for
6380-638: The company closed all of its facilities on August 27. This closure resulted in the termination of all employees at the Austin and New York studios. Prior to the closures, Acclaim employed 585 staff worldwide as of March 31, 2004. On August 30, Acclaim announced its intention to file for bankruptcy, officially filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy with the United States bankruptcy court in Central Islip, New York on September 1. In September 2005,
6490-455: The company expanded, it acquired several independent studios, including Iguana Entertainment of Austin, Texas ; Probe Entertainment of London, England ; and Sculptured Software of Salt Lake City, Utah . The company's name was chosen to ensure it was alphabetically positioned above its co-founder's former employer, Activision , as well as above Accolade , another company established by former Activision employees. This naming convention
6600-511: The company was making about US$ 10 million , but Brant wanted to further expand the company, and made its first acquisition of Mission Studios and publishing its JetFighter III game in 1996. Brant decided to secure additional funds for acquisition by taking the company public. The company announced this intent in April 1997, looking to raise $ 8.2 million . The company had its initial public offering (IPO) on April 15, 1997, being listed under
6710-538: The company's stock at this point, and were looking to put ZelnickMedia's Strauss Zelnick as the chairman of the board while ousting long-standing management and board members. Zelnick had previously been president and CEO of BMG's North American division at the time of the sale of BMG Interactive to Take-Two, a move he had been against, believing that BMG could have capitalized on the video game sector more. Following BMG, Zelnick had been COO of 20th Century Fox and CEO of Crystal Dynamics . He founded ZelnickMedia in 2001 as
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#17327829700936820-401: The company. In an industry-wide sweep against options backdating (receiving shares when they are priced high but backdating their ownership to when they were priced low), the SEC had found Brant had received backdating options of over 2.1 million shares, though he had excised all options upon his 2006 resignation. Brant pleaded guilty to falsifying business records, but agreed to co-operate with
6930-442: The contract period. The layoffs were abrupt, forcing employees to choose between accepting a reasonable severance package (the terms of which changed multiple times during the initial weeks after the layoff) and foregoing the right to sue, or joining other creditors in litigation, thereby losing their severance packages. In 2007, one of several class action suits filed on behalf of stockholders was won, enabling some employees to recover
7040-625: The deal. However, Take-Two's bid was subsequently trumped by Electronic Arts in December 2020, which offered US$ 1.2 billion ( US$ 7.98 per share), and agreed to acquire Codemasters. Take-Two formally withdrew its offer in January 2021. The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia acquired 3.9 million shares of Take-Two, valued at $ 826 million , in February 2021. 2K acquired HB Studios in March 2021, who previously developed PGA Tour 2K21 and The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour under 2K Sports' publishing labels. The acquisition includes
7150-469: The decision to include nudity, and he subsequently sued Acclaim out of concern for being associated with BMX XXX . In 1997, two years after its acquisition of Sculptured Software , Acclaim terminated approximately half of the staff at the Salt Lake City studio, violating the terms of the contracts it had provided to employees, which appeared to be iron-clad and included stock that would vest over
7260-567: The development of Kerbal Space Program 2 . The new studio staff included more than a dozen former members of Star Theory Games who had been working on the title, including Jeremy Ables and Nate Simpson from Star Theory, which had been previously handling the development of the game but outside of Take-Two's structure. Via 2K Sports, Take-Two established a new publishing agreement with the NFL in March 2020 to start republishing NFL games starting in 2021. While EA's Madden series will coexist and remain
7370-519: The distribution market and focusing solely on development and publishing. In 2010, Ben Feder stepped down as CEO, and was replaced by Zelnick, who remains the company's chairman and CEO. In January 2013, while being dissolved, THQ sold the rights of the WWE wrestling games series to Take-Two. Subsequently, 2K Sports has published annual WWE 2K games as part of its lineup. Around 2013, Take-Two began to repurchase about 7.5 million outstanding shares of
7480-443: The distribution market by looking for buyers of Jack of All Games. In mid-February 2008, EA made a US$ 25 -per-share all-cash transaction offer worth around US$ 1.9 billion to the board of Take-Two, subsequently revising it to US$ 26 per share after being rejected and making the offer known to the public. At the time, Take-Two's stock was valued around US$ 10 per share. EA CEO John Riccitiello said that EA had previously considered
7590-525: The fall of 1990. In December 1993, Acclaim signed a distribution deal with the European Spanish branch of Buena Vista Home Video , allowing the company to distribute its titles in Spain. In May 1994, Tom Petit, former president of Sega Enterprises USA , who had worked at Sega for nine years, became the president of Acclaim's coin-op division. Throughout much of the 1990s, Acclaim was one of
7700-482: The final iteration of the BMX series, BMX XXX , nudity and semi-nudity (including full motion video of strippers and nude female riders) were incorporated in an attempt to boost sales. However, like most of Acclaim's video games during the company's final years, BMX XXX sold poorly and was criticized for its sexual content and subpar gameplay. Dave Mirra publicly disowned the game, stating that he had no involvement in
7810-431: The firm, having overriding material influence over the held company's operations, even if no formal full takeover has been enacted. Once a full takeover or purchase is enacted, the held company is seen to have ceased to operate as an independent entity but to have become a tending subsidiary of the purchasing company, which, in turn, becomes the parent company of the subsidiary. (A holding below 50% could be sufficient to give
7920-458: The first body) is a subsidiary of another body corporate if, and only if: Toronto-based lawyer Michael Finley has stated, "The emerging trend that has seen international plaintiffs permitted to proceed with claims against Canadian parent companies for the allegedly wrongful activity of their foreign subsidiaries means that the corporate veil is no longer a silver bullet to the heart of a plaintiff's case." The parent subsidiary company relationship
8030-605: The five largest bank holding companies in the finance sector, as of December 2013 , based on total assets. The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 caused many energy companies to divest their subsidiary businesses. Between 1938 and 1958 the number of holding companies declined from 216 to 18. An energy law passed in 2005 removed the 1935 requirements, and has led to mergers and holding company formation among power marketing and power brokering companies. In US broadcasting , many major media conglomerates have purchased smaller broadcasters outright, but have not changed
8140-455: The following requirements are met: A parent company is a company that owns enough voting power in another firm (or subsidiary ) to control management and operations by influencing or electing its board of directors . The definition of a parent company differs from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, with the definition normally being defined by way of laws dealing with companies in that jurisdiction. When an existing company establishes
8250-465: The former role by Sumner. Around this time, the company had 658 employees. With Rockstar, Take-Two invested into developments of sequels to Grand Theft Auto , including Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999), and Grand Theft Auto III (2001) along with sequels, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004). By 2003, Take-Two had revenues exceeding US$ 1 billion . In 2004, Take-Two paid US$ 22.3 million to Infogrames for
8360-577: The growing popularity of the series. A then-yet-to-be named studio under the 2K brand in the Silicon Valley region of the San Francisco Bay Area was established by Take-Two in February 2019. The studio is led by Michael Condrey , formerly of Sledgehammer Games and Visceral Games , and was initially working on an unannounced project. A year later, it was announced that the studio would be officially named 31st Union , that it
8470-539: The issuance of "special edition" comic magazines via Acclaim Comics to support their more lucrative brand names. Additionally, they created the ASF/AMC motion capture format , which remains in use in the industry today. Acclaim enjoyed a long-standing relationship with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) that dates back to 1988's WWF WrestleMania . However, after failing to replicate
8580-524: The label in 2024. The company also formed Ghost Story Games which was a former 2K studio under the name Irrational Games . The company acquired the developers Socialpoint , Playdots and Nordeus to establish itself in the mobile game market. The company also owns 50% of professional esports organization NBA 2K League . Take-Two's combined portfolio includes franchises such as BioShock , Borderlands , Grand Theft Auto , NBA 2K , WWE 2K , and Red Dead among others. As of September 2023, it
8690-473: The mobile developer Zynga in January 2022, in a cash-and-stock deal with a value of $ 12.7 billion, with Take-Two acquiring all outstanding shares of Zynga at $ 9.86 apiece. The deal was expected to close in June. Take-Two said that the acquisition would help boost its presence in the mobile gaming market, stating "We see tremendous untapped potential to bring Take-Two’s renowned console and PC properties to mobile,
8800-452: The most successful publishers of console video games in the world. In the financial year ending August 1994, the company reported a profit of $ 481 million, which rose to $ 585 million the following year. Franchises such as Mortal Kombat , NBA Jam , and NFL Quarterback Club served as reliable cash cows for Acclaim. Acclaim's expansion continued with the signing of a relationship with Marvel Entertainment Group , wherein Acclaim managed
8910-554: The offer expire, as Take-Two continued to call EA's cash offer as inadequate. In September 2008, Take-Two established an outsourcing agreement with Ditan Distribution LLC, at the time owned by Cinram , a Canadian manufacturer of optical media. Through the agreement, Take-Two offloaded all distributing duties from Jack of All Games to Ditan, while establishing the means for Jack of All Games to license and distribute third-party titles. Subsequently, in December 2009, Take-Two sold Jack of All Games to Synnex for about US$ 43 million , leaving
9020-480: The offer, with Zelnick stating "We didn't slam the door, we just said look, the price is not right and the time is wrong". Take-Two offered to discuss the offer after Grand Theft Auto IV 's release on April 29, 2008, which many considered to be the lucrative property that EA desired. An acquisition would have ended EA's main competition in sports video games. EA continued to extend its bid offer throughout 2008, but by September 2008, EA decided to back away and let
9130-604: The official game of the NFL, while 2K's are called "non-simulation football game experiences" to distinguish from EA's games. In August 2020, Take-Two announced it was acquiring mobile game developer Playdots (developer of the mobile games Dots , Two Dots and Dots & Co.) for $ 192 million in cash and stock with the acquisition expected to be completed in Q3 2020. In October 2020, it was announced that Take-Two had acquired Dundee -based Ruffian Games (known for their work on Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Crackdown 3 ) after
9240-526: The other existing internal studios — Indie Built, Venom Games, PopTop Software and Frog City Software, and Take-Two Licensing — within this new structure. After the formation of 2K, Take-Two completed other major acquisitions. Firaxis Games was acquired in November 2005 for around US$ 27 million ; Take-Two had already supported the studio by using their acquisition of the Civilization license to support publishing of Civilization IV . Irrational Games
9350-483: The parent of Gearbox Software from Embracer Group for $ 460 million. As part of the deal, Embracer would retain certain studios and titles that were held under Gearbox Entertainment. The acquisition was completed on June 12, 2024. In April 2024, Take-Two announced it would be laying off 5% of its workforce (579 employees) as part of a cost-reduction program. It also cancelled several unannounced projects. Take-Two shut down Intercept Games two months later. In July 2024,
9460-407: The parts, following the success that Mechadeus had with The Daedalus Encounter which featured Tia Carrere . Take-Two hired Dennis Hopper , among others, to star in parts for Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller (1994), which sold over 300,000 copies over the following year and established profit for the company. This was followed by Ripper (1996), of which US$ 625,000 of its US$ 2.5 million budget
9570-509: The previous year, the United Kingdom-based DMA Design and BMG Entertainment had just released Grand Theft Auto , and while it financially performed well but was not a critical success in Europe, it had sparked controversy over the use of violence in video games, with United States Senator Joe Lieberman speaking out strongly against it. Seeing the opportunity to capture attention on the game, Brant had initiated
9680-405: The release of Turok: Evolution . A subsequent investigation by VG247 revealed that all those who had reportedly changed their names were actors. Another controversial initiative involved an attempt to purchase advertising space on tombstones for Shadow Man: 2econd Coming . To promote Burnout 2: Point of Impact , Acclaim offered to reimburse any driver in the United Kingdom who received
9790-442: The retail market. In the same year, Take-Two stepped in as the publisher of Monkey Hero . Its developer, Blam!, had been struggling financially after the game's original publisher, BMG Interactive, was shut down by BMG Entertainment (a unit of Bertelsmann ), its parent company. In March 1998, Take-Two acquired all assets of BMG Interactive for 1.85 million shares (16% of Take-Two's common stock ), worth about US$ 14.2 million . In
9900-416: The rights to GameTek's Dark Colony , The Quivering , The Reap , Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune games. The company hired Kelly Sumner, a GameTek executive director, as part of this purchase. Additionally, the company acquired Inventory Management Systems, Creative Alliance Group, and Alliance Inventory Management, three video game distribution companies that helped to extend Take-Two's reach into
10010-613: The rights to the Civilization series . The company had also planned to acquire Vivendi Universal Games for $ 1 billion . In 2005, Take-Two began a host of acquisitions, spending more than US$ 80 million buying game developers. One of its largest acquisitions was for the development studios Visual Concepts and Kush Games from Sega for about US$ 32 million in January 2005. Both studios had been extensively behind several sports simulation games, branded through ESPN , and typically released updated versions each year, using
10120-587: The rights to the PGA Tour games, which have the official endorsement of the PGA Tour itself. Additionally, 2K announced they had secured a contract with Tiger Woods , who had previously been a key figure for Electronic Arts ' PGA Tour series, as an executive director and consultant for future 2K PGA Tour games as well as his likeness for the games. Later that month, 2K acquired the games division of HookBang based in Austin, Texas, which had supported work on
10230-560: The sale having been finalized later that same month. The company had been merged into Rockstar India , which added an additional 320 employees to the studio. In September 2019, Rockstar Games announced that they had released their own game launcher, a digital distribution , digital rights management , multiplayer and communications service. Take-Two established a new, yet-to-be named studio under Private Division in February 2020, later named Intercept Games , located in Seattle to take on
10340-512: The same offices in Concord, Ontario , with the same management team. Israeli developer Pixel Broadband Studios was acquired for $ 50.4 million in March 2000, before Take-Two sold it off to Gameplay.com in October that year, receiving £34.1 million in Gameplay.com shares in return. In February 2001, Brant stepped down as CEO of Take-Two to serve as its chairman , being replaced in
10450-422: The sports-game market. Take-Two acquired these studios and unique branding (including the 2K brand), as well as negotiated for exclusive rights with Major League Baseball for video games. A day after announcing these acquisitions, Take-Two established their 2K publishing label to maintain the 2K brand, moving several planned games from their budget software label, Global Star, to 2K. Take-Two further realigned
10560-641: The studios under a new publisher provisionally named "Exclaim" on October 11, but his efforts were hindered by a lawsuit and legal disputes over Acclaim's intellectual property , with both US and UK administrators asserting their claims. Following interested offers from Take Two Interactive , it was announced on October 8 that THQ had acquired the worldwide publishing rights to Juiced . In November 2004, Acclaim's headquarters were sold to Anthony Pistilli of Pistilli Realty Group for $ 6 million. On April 20, 2005, Fund4Games announced that Acclaim's upcoming European titles had been sold to them, with Interview with
10670-518: The success of World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s THQ / AKI games during the Monday Night Wars , the WWF announced in April 1998 that it would not renew its deal with Acclaim, opting instead to sign a joint-publishing agreement with Jakks Pacific and THQ after WCW's contract with the latter publisher expired and signed a deal with rival Electronic Arts . In October 1999, Acclaim signed
10780-499: The usual taxes on dividends, as they are legitimate and ordinary dividends to these shareholders. Sometimes, a company intended to be a pure holding company identifies itself as such by adding "Holding" or "Holdings" to its name. The parent company–subsidiary company relationship is defined by Part 1.2, Division 6, Section 46 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) , which states: A body corporate (in this section called
10890-426: The video game industry, they contacted Holmes to join them, and the three co-founded Acclaim Entertainment. Acclaim did not secure any venture financing and was entirely financed by Fischbach and Scoroposki. In its early years, Acclaim operated exclusively as a video game publisher , either outsourcing the development of its video games to external developers or localizing existing titles from overseas. However, as
11000-547: The video game licenses for some of Marvel's comic book properties. Later that year, the company acquired a minority interest in the FMV gaming studio Digital Pictures and began releasing its titles through Acclaim Distribution. In 1995, the company acquired Sculptured Software, Iguana Entertainment, and Probe Entertainment, with these entities transitioning to the first-party development studio known as Acclaim Studios from 1999 to 2004. Acclaim's gaming business further expanded with
11110-405: Was a US$ 60 million fraud. A lawsuit was filed against Take-Two in December 2001, alleging that the company had lied to shareholders. Take-Two initially restated seven quarters of past financial results in February 2002, then five years in January 2004. Brant stepped down as chairman in March, being succeeded by Richard Roedel. After the SEC's issuance of the complaint in 2005, Take-Two agreed to pay
11220-486: Was a common practice among new companies founded by ex-Activision employees, as the founders of Activision had similarly adopted this strategy when they left Atari . Many of Acclaim's products featured licenses from popular comics , television series, and movies . Fischbach noted that during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the video game market was less discerning, with specialized gaming publications exerting minimal influence on consumer opinion. Consequently, leveraging
11330-588: Was acquired around January 2006 for about US$ 10 million , including both its Boston and its Canberra studio. At the time Irrational had already established a publishing deal with Take-Two for their upcoming BioShock game. With the deal, Irrational became part of the 2K label. It also acquired PAM Development from the Gaia Capital Group for US$ 11.4 million , giving them access to the Top Spin series of tennis games. However, during this period,
11440-527: Was announced that Major League Baseball had revoked its licensing agreement with Acclaim for the All-Star Baseball franchise due to a failure to make royalty payments. The following month, in June, Turok owners Classic Media announced that they had terminated Acclaim's video game rights to the franchise, also due to non-payment of royalties. When Acclaim's agreement with GMAC Commercial Finance, their primary lender, expired on August 20, 2004,
11550-487: Was employed by the American video game company Activision , where he worked alongside Robert Holmes and Jim Scoroposki. After leaving Activision, he joined RCA Records , which was subsequently acquired by Bertelsmann , leaving Fischbach unemployed. In 1987, he met with Scoroposki in Oyster Bay , where Scoroposki owned a sales rep company, to discuss a potential joint venture. After Scoroposki suggested that they re-enter
11660-506: Was established to fund and publish games by mid-size independent development studios, such as Kerbal Space Program , and had four planned games from separate studios at its launch. The company completed its move of its New York headquarters from NoHo to more than 61,000 square feet of space in Bryant Park in early 2018. According to Dan Houser , Rockstar Games required to expand in the two companies' shared headquarters and thus asked
11770-552: Was incorporated under the Delaware General Corporation Law on September 30, 1993, with Brant (21 years old at the time) as chief executive officer (CEO). The business was launched with assistance from John Antinori and Mark Seremet. Seremet sold his stake in the company in 1998. Early on, Take-Two had a location in Latrobe, Pennsylvania . By June 1994, the company had acquired and absorbed InterOptica,
11880-474: Was later sold to Cumulus Media ). In determining caps to prevent excessive concentration of media ownership , all of these are attributed to the parent company, as are leased stations , as a matter of broadcast regulation . In the United States, a personal holding company is defined in section 542 of the Internal Revenue Code . A corporation is a personal holding company if both of
11990-507: Was opening a second studio in Spain, and that it was focusing on "an ambitious and inspired new IP". On February 7, 2019, Benzies' litigation with Take-Two had officially come to an end. All parties involved in the case successfully executed a confidential settlement, with each agreeing to bear its own costs and expenses, including, without limitation, attorney's fees. In May 2019, Rockstar Games announced that they had acquired Dhruva Interactive from Starbreeze Studios for $ 7.9 million, with
12100-514: Was used to hire actors such as Christopher Walken , Karen Allen , and Burgess Meredith . The success of both these games, as well as earlier titles, led to a publishing agreement between Take-Two and Acclaim Entertainment to publish Take-Two's titles, as well as obtaining overseas distribution. Take-Two also secured a license with Sony Computer Entertainment to publish on the PlayStation line of consoles. In February 1995, GameTek acquired
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