After EA End Bid to Take Over Take-Twofailing to come to an agreement with Electronic Arts, and deciding to look for other partnerships instead, Take-Two has instead decided to remain independent after all. This is a very anti-climatic end to the back and forth that gamers have been following closely since EA made their initial tender offer back in February.

However, according to recent comments made this morning by Take-Two’s Chairman of the Board, Strauss Zelnick, the company has decided that it would be better for stockholders if the company continued to do business as usual.

Zelnick feels that the company has great creative forces working for it, is financially stable, and still a big enough competitor to brush off any offers that should come their way:

“Our management and outstanding and talented employees have maintained an unwavering focus on our products and our business through this lengthy strategic review process and we are confident in our prospects. We remain focused on maximizing value for stockholders and are executing on our business strategies in a determined manner.”

Ben Feder, Chief Executive Officer of Take-Two added his two-cents regarding the decision to remain independent with the same amount of confidence the company has maintained over the past few months, by reminding the world of their recent financial cash cow, GTA IVGTA IV:

“We have delivered solid financial results and expanded our portfolio of leading titles, which includes the powerful Grand Theft Auto franchise, as well as 15 other wholly owned brands with sales of more than one million units each..with no debt and an undrawn $140 million credit facility [this gives] us the financial flexibility to continue to do what we do best: innovate and create the great games that our customers have come to expect.”

Yes, it is easy to be confident when you have big name games in your portfolio coming to consoles like BioShock PS3BioShock for the PS3, Duke Nukem ForeverDuke Nukem Forever, Midnight Club: Los AngelesMidnight Club Los Angeles, GTA: Chinatown Wars GTA: Chinatown Wars and GTA IV coming to the PC in November. The biggest and most interesting thing I find though is that Feder states that they have no debt. How many companies can say that?

Take-Two sort of dodged the bullet on the EA take-over though, and while most companies would have been content to sell out to the first monopolistic giant to make an offer, they didn’t. While they did this in the best interest of their company, it is the gamers who are the big winners in the end.

---
Related Articles at Gaming Today:

• Valve to Stay Independent
• Zelnick: Take-Two “Has a Really Bright Future as an Independent Company”
• Nintendo Now Japan's Second Most Valuable Company
• Microsoft and Bungie Parting Ways, “Evolving” Relationship
• Could LucasArts Be the Next to Leave the ESA?