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Last year at a presentation at the Founder’s Forum in Hampshire, England, CEO Kristian Segerstrale put up a slide with a dinosaur and expressed his desire to “k

Last year at a presentation at the Founder’s Forum in Hampshire, England, CEO Kristian Segerstrale put up a slide with a dinosaur and expressed his desire to “kill EA.” Now he’s joining them instead. I love the idea of terrifying your potential buyers into an acquisition rather than wooing them on bended knee. We need more of that.

khangtoh 17y ago
That's pretty typical. Startups get bought out because they start taking market shares away from the 8lb gorilla. If they're wooing them, there's really something wrong there and they should start thinking real hard how to compete and gain market share against the gorilla rather than the former.
- byrneseyeview 17y ago
  I don't want to make too much of the typo, but Playfish really is a horde of 8lb. gorillas.
  - khangtoh 17y ago
    EA did spurn off an unit named 8lb gorilla to make iPhone games. http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/11/ea-quietly-opens-8lb-gorilla-to-make-smaller-iphone-games/ http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/11/ea-quietly-opens-8lb-goril...
    - byrneseyeview 17y ago
      Oops. Thanks for the correction.
- electromagnetic 17y ago
  Agreed, on face value it seems a bit nuts to openly announce you're targeting a megacorp like EA. However, Playfish is a tiny company. If they're getting bought out for ~300 Mil I doubt their revenue is much more than 1/10th that, probably maxing at 60 Mil. Before Playfish announced they're targeting EA's consumers, EA likely didn't think twice about the puny company. Playfish's annual revenue is likely a drop in the ocean to a company making 4.2 billion in annual revenues. Playfish's announcement likely got EA to investigate the company and see that they're making consistent profits and might be a worthy investment. Football and Soccer players don't hound down the team they want to play for, they get in wherever they can show that they're a major threat to the team they want and then say "make it worth my while!"
pchristensen 17y ago
Kind of like Mint/Intuit?

khangtoh 17y ago

That's pretty typical. Startups get bought out because they start taking market shares away from the 8lb gorilla. If they're wooing them, there's really something wrong there and they should start thinking real hard how to compete and gain market share against the gorilla rather than the former.

byrneseyeview 17y ago
I don't want to make too much of the typo, but Playfish really is a horde of 8lb. gorillas.
- khangtoh 17y ago
  EA did spurn off an unit named 8lb gorilla to make iPhone games. http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/11/ea-quietly-opens-8lb-gorilla-to-make-smaller-iphone-games/ http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/11/ea-quietly-opens-8lb-goril...
  - byrneseyeview 17y ago
    Oops. Thanks for the correction.
electromagnetic 17y ago
Agreed, on face value it seems a bit nuts to openly announce you're targeting a megacorp like EA. However, Playfish is a tiny company. If they're getting bought out for ~300 Mil I doubt their revenue is much more than 1/10th that, probably maxing at 60 Mil. Before Playfish announced they're targeting EA's consumers, EA likely didn't think twice about the puny company. Playfish's annual revenue is likely a drop in the ocean to a company making 4.2 billion in annual revenues. Playfish's announcement likely got EA to investigate the company and see that they're making consistent profits and might be a worthy investment. Football and Soccer players don't hound down the team they want to play for, they get in wherever they can show that they're a major threat to the team they want and then say "make it worth my while!"

pchristensen 17y ago

Kind of like Mint/Intuit?