Take-Two's Bad Call

That's still a fraction of what EA has doled out. EA has about 75% of the market and deep pockets, which have enabled it to sign expensive but lucrative licensing deals with sports leagues that its competitors can't afford.

"By all signs, 2K Sports is a drag on [Take-Two], and it has not turned a profit yet," says Brian Sozzi, an analyst with independent research company Wall Street Strategies. "It's great that they are trying to expand market share, but there isn't anything big and worthwhile out there for grabs."

The top-ranked, best-selling sports games categories are NFL football and FIFA soccer, followed by NBA basketball and Major League baseball. College basketball and NASCAR are next, with wrestling weighing in after.

"If you really go through the list, NFL, FIFA,Tiger Woods, NASCAR, Formula 1 are all exclusive to EA," says Pachter.

Though Take-Two has an exclusive license in Major League Baseball, that might not be enough to get a good return on the company's investment or to hold competitors at bay. The license is third-party-exclusive, which means that console manufacturers can still create games based on the franchise.

And that's exactly what Sony(SNE Quote - Cramer on SNE - Stock Picks) is doing. Sony's game MLB 07: The Show, for the PS2, sold 164,000 units in March, eating into Take-Two's sales. Take-Two's Major League Baseball 2K7 game for the Xbox 360 sold 165,000 units during the same period, according to the NPD Group.

« Previous Page

1 2 3 4

Next Page »