It never fails to astonish me that I have come to a point in my life where stuff that big companies somewhere do can actually have a Direct And Personal Effect On My Continued Existence.

Case in point, EA is trying to buy stock in Ubisoft, namely about 20%. Ubisoft, until it hears differently, according to their press release on Reuters, is considering this a hostile takeover attempt and will be digging in their heels and fighting accordingly, and may the corporate gods be with them.

James works at a company owned by Ubisoft. Ubisoft is the reason I have health insurance, have gotten my teeth fixed, and can even think about things like taking time off to pursue shows and whatnot. I quite like Ubisoft.

For those who have no idea what the heck this means, it’s pretty much the gaming industry equivalent of having a nice job where they treated you right, gave you great benefits, only asked for crunch time at the ends of projects and always comped you the time afterwards–and waking up one morning to discover Wal-mart trying to buy you out. EA has a reputation for engaging in the industry equivalent of sweatshop labor, when they don’t just strip out the studio, ship people to California, and sell the remains outright.

The rats aren’t at the point of jumping ship, by any means, and it may blow over completely and turn out to be nothing, but somebody just yelled “ICEBERG!” and now, throughout the hold, little pink ears and little pointy whiskers are pricking up.