Take-Two has issued a response to EA’s takeover bid and what they’re saying is pretty straightforward - EA’s offer is inadequate, unsolicited and opportunistic. The way Take-Two sees it is that GTAIV’s release will increase the value of the company, and EA is just trying to take advantage of them and get their hands on the company before that happens.

“Given the great importance of the Grand Theft Auto IV launch to the value of Take-Two, the Board has determined that the only prudent and responsible course for our Company and its stockholders is to defer these discussions until immediately after Grand Theft Auto IV is released,” Take-Two’s Executive Chairman Strauss Zelnick said in the release. “Therefore, we offered to initiate discussions with EA on April 30th, 2008 (the day after Grand Theft Auto IV is scheduled to release). We believe this offer demonstrated our commitment to pursuing all avenues to maximize stockholder value, while we believe that EA’s refusal to entertain this path is evidence of their desire to acquire Take-Two at a significant discount, whereas we believe this value rightly belongs to our stockholders.”

Everyone’s favorite video game analyst Michael Pachter has also weighed in on the situation, saying the acquisition is inevitable unless shareholders think the stock is worth $40. “But nobody is going to offer to buy it at $40,” he added.

When asked what EA is attempting to accomplish by making the offer public knowledge, Pachter compared it to Microsoft’s recent bid on Yahoo and said: “You go public when you want the court of public opinion to make a decision. I think EA is saying, ‘$25 was a fair offer. We’ll go to $26 but we’re not going any higher.’ I think the vast majority of Take-Two shareholders will jump at this. I don’t see a white knight. I don’t think Take-Two will be able to do anything to block this.”