The gloves are off and it’s go time as EA has decided not to wait. They want Take-Two. They want GTA IV. They want it now.

Taking the offer originally extended directly to Take-Two a little more than a week ago, EA has made an appeal to the shareholders themselves, offering the same $2 billion buyout at the same $26 a share as last time.

The Emperor himself, John Riccitiello, had this to say about the buyout attempt:

This is a great opportunity for Take-Two shareholders. We believe Take-Two investors will see our tender offer as the best way to maximize the value of their investment in Take-Two. This tender offer provides a clear process to complete the proposed transaction. For EA shareholders, the combination would add additional intellectual properties to our already strong portfolio and welcome Take-Two’s talented creative teams to the great development organization we’ve built at EA.

Note the bold part at the end, because I don’t think this is going to happen. I guarantee that if EA buys out Take-Two — especially in this manner by essentially going around Take-Two’s top brass and ripping the company out from under them — they will lose a LOT of Take-Two’s “creative teams”. After all, do you seriously see a company like Rockstar Games, or at the very least the people who currently work at Rockstar, conforming into EA’s neat little package?

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