According to the BBC, Grand Theft Auto bid goes hostile, the chief executive of EA said the offer was NOT hostile. “This is an incredibly friendly proposition: we’re offering a premium of over 60% of what [the share price] was trading at before our offer. I think we’re the best possible home for their creative organisations; frankly, we’re big fans.”

Only last Tuesday, Take-Two raised its profit forecasts for the year on the basis of better-than-expected orders for its new game. The deal would be the latest round of consolidation in the industry, following Activision’s $18bn take over of the gaming unit of Vivendi, which was announced last November.

That merger dethroned Electronic Arts as the industry leader by revenues. Buying Take-Two would put it back on top. According to the Economist at Video games - attempted carjack, a deal would make strategic sense. EA is not particularly known for creativity; it churns out reliably profitable sports games, movie tie-ins and lots of sequels but has tended to buy independents to generate ideas for new games. Acquiring Take-Two would bring it Rockstar Games, home to Sam and Dan Houser, the talented brothers behind the “Grand Theft Auto” series. Another motivation for EA may be to stop Take-Two competing with it in sports games. Take-Two, for its part, might benefit from a bit more stability. Its management is described as ‘chaotic’.

Indeed, EA would have found it easier to buy Take-Two early last year, when it was in deeper trouble. Now the EA chief executive argues that Take-Two is just too small to compete in a market where size is increasingly important: scale helps firms spread costs and risk as games become more elaborate and expensive to develop.

Game designers – especially those behind violent games like Grand Theft Auto – are well aware of the negative publicity that can surround their product. Whether or not this is justified, I am reminded of the moral panic whipped up by the daddy of most modern video games: the blockbuster of the late 70s and early 80s; Dungeons and Dragons. Hats off to its creator, Gary Gygax, who died last week.