Activision’s chief executive Bobby Kotick has spoken out on EA’s audacious bid for Take Two for the first time – stating that he wasn’t tempted to acquire the Grand Theft Auto publisher at any stage.

Kotick added that he thought consolidative moves from the like of EA were a direct reaction to the Activision Blizzard merger.

“We’ve had — as we’ve said for a very long time, now — well-stated criteria for what we’re interested in an acquisition.

“We’ve said that we need a history of profitability, good management, the proprietary technology for a franchise, history of multi-million unit sellers.

"They would have to be non-dilutive and operating margin accretive. And, for us, Take 2 didn’t fulfill those requirements. Maybe it does over the long-term for EA, but it doesn’t, for us.

“So, I do think you’re seeing that some of our competitors are reacting to what we’ve done.

"If you step back and you’re an industry competitor, and you see this company that’s going to have — be — the market leader, with the highest operating margins, with a balance sheet like we have, with the proven ability to motivate and manage development talent, with a successful track record of realizing franchises — both owned and controlled franchises — in every geography in the world.”