14 DAY TRIAL // Games industry analyst Michael Pachter believes that Activision, the company behind the popular Call of Duty series, should certainly buy Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of huge franchises like Grand Theft Auto or BioShock, or even Zynga, the large social games developer.
Activision, part of the larger Activision Blizzard corporation, is undeniably one of the biggest game publishers out there, owning all sorts of extremely profitable franchises and a variety of studios from all around the world that are cranking out new content and games.
Without a doubt its crown jewel is the Call of Duty series, which produces billions of dollars in profit with every yearly release and through its regular downloadable content.
The company, however, should think about its future and consider making new acquisitions, as Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter believes Activision should certainly try to buy Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of franchises like Grand Theft Auto or BioShock.
"I think the first thing Activision buys is Take-Two, because that fits in very nicely," he said during his opening presentation at the Game Monetization Summit in San Francisco this week, via GamesIndustry.
Another great target for Activision would be Zynga, as the social games developer and publisher is currently struggling to keep its properties afloat and might benefit from outside investment.
"Activision should buy Zynga - I just don't think Mark Pincus is a seller," Pachter said. "I think Zynga has great assets, they have really good franchises, they have a ton of revenue, and I think run more efficiently they'd make a ton of money."
Pachter also mentioned that Activision Blizzard parent company Vivendi isn't going to make the best decisions for the large publisher, so it needs to start buying up new properties left and right before it's forced to invest its profits in stabilizing its stock.
"Vivendi's going to [damage] Activision for the next couple of years, because they're going to cause them to borrow money and buy back stock," the analyst added.
Do you think Pachter is right in advising Activision to buy Take-Two or Zynga?