EA is reportedly up for sale.
It is said to be interested in a merger or even complete buyout with talks having been made with prospective new owners. including Apple, Amazon and Disney.
However, it is Comcast that is alleged to have emerged as the front runner in recent times. According to news site Puck, the owner of NBC-Universal in the States and Sky in the UK proposed a merger with EA that would have seen Comcast CEO, Brian Roberts, become the majority shareholder of the major games publisher.
"The general terms of the proposal, which lawyers and bankers for both sides negotiated for several weeks, would have seen the Roberts family take majority control of the combined entity," it writes. Although it also claims that deal was refused in the last few weeks due to "disagreements over price and structure".
That doesn't mean Comcast won't come back to the negotiating table in future, or that EA won't seek agreements with other parties.
Mergers and acquisitions is a hot topic in the games industry at present, with Microsoft's proposed purchase of Activision-Blizzard and Sony's takeover of Bungie both currently being assessed by regulatory authoritie.
Even major rival to EA, Ubisoft, is reportedly looking for a buyer or major financial partner as the industry continues to consolidate.
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