Originally Posted by screeg
Prediction: in the next 5-10 years, these bloated mega-conglomerate, company-swallowing game studios, like EA and Zeni-max, are going to collapse under their own ponderous tonnage.

There aren't many industries where buying every single one of your competitors, until there are only two or three contenders for an entire market, is a good long term strategy. For the computer games industry, in an economy that is in the middle of a death-spiral worldwide, I think it will ultimately be a disaster.

Maybe you're right (and that's the spirit!), but gobbling up the competition is a tried and true strategy. Cisco bought companies left and right, averaging more than two acquisition per month for a few years, and it sure worked for them. Also Southwestern Bell, the Baby Bell who grew so much through acquisition that it eventually bought out Ma Bell, becoming the new AT&T (the company that originally spun it off as a result of industry regulation).

But both those companies had a growth strategy. If ZeniMax has one, it didn't mention it in its press release which sort of sounded like, "We're not id's new owner; we're id's new financial backer."