Technologies
Grand Theft Auto maker Take-Two is buying FarmVille developer Zynga in $12.7B deal
The deal brings together the company behind NBA 2K and Red Dead Redemption with Zynga, which known for CSR Racing and Words with Friends.
Video game giant Take-Two is acquiring mobile gaming company Zynga in a cash-and-stock deal that the company says will turn the Grand Theft Auto maker into a mobile gaming powerhouse. The deal is valued at around $12.7 billion, or $9.86 per Zynga share.
Take-Two Chief Executive Strauss Zelnick said the deal will benefit both companies, giving Zynga access to the best-selling game franchises Take-Two is known for, while also giving Take-Two access to player analytics, advertising and mobile game making technology that so far it’s lacked. «What we’ve found is that great entertainment wins,» he said in an interview Monday. «It’s really hard to build organically.»
Zynga publishes major social games like FarmVille and Words With Friends. Take-Two already owns game publishers Rockstar, which is behind Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, and 2K, known for BioShock, Borderlands, Civilization and NBA 2K.
Zelnick declined to discuss details of future plans, noting the deal doesn’t close until midyear, but he did say a key opportunity for both companies is in what the industry calls cross-play, where people can play part of or the same full titles on a phone or an video game console or PC. Titles like Epic Games’ Fortnite and Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty Warfare have significantly grown in popularity in part because of this feature.
«Ultimately the consumer votes,» Zelnick said.
The move marks the latest instance of a large game maker acquiring companies with mobile and social networking expertise to help expand their lineup. Activision Blizzard bought Candy Crush maker King in 2015 for about $6 billion, and Electronic Arts has paid nearly $5 billion over the past decade to buy a string of social, mobile and casual-focused gaming companies including Playdemic, Glu Mobile and Plants vs. Zombies maker PopCap Games.
The acquisition also underscores the challenges both companies are facing in the changing entertainment industry. Take-Two has often turned to outside developers to help make games work on mobile devices, with mixed success. Meanwhile, Zynga’s been recently hit by a one-two punch of easing pandemic restrictions, which have left people with less time to play games, and Apple’s changes to marketing technology, which have made it harder to track users for targeted ads.
Aside from combining two companies with different capabilities, Zelnick said the Zynga acquisition will also help as Take-Two evaluates emerging Web3 technologies, including NFTs and cryptocurrency.
«As long as we’re enhancing the overall entertainment experience, it’s potentially exciting,» Zelnick added.
Technologies
The Black Friday Gaming Deals You Want Are Already Here, Including PlayStation, Xbox and Alienware
Technologies
The Black Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 Is at a Record $443 Off at Amazon for Black Friday
A Galaxy Z Fold 7 price war between Amazon and Samsung gives us a record-low deal for one color.
If you’re looking for a foldable iPhone, you’re gonna need to wait until 2026, but if you’re looking for the best foldable phone of 2025, there are great deals on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 right now at both Amazon and Samsung, with the former dropping the black version of Samsung’s foldable phone to a record-low $1,557. All other models are $1,600 at both Amazon and Samsung, a $400 discount.
Samsung’s unique foldable phones had an awkward adolescence, but after getting her hands on the new lineup, CNET reviewer Abrar Al-Heet confirms that the latest Z Fold 7 «just feels right.» For one, it’s incredibly sleek at just 8.9mm thick when closed or 4.2mm thick when open, which is so thin you may even forget that it’s foldable.
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Despite weighing just 215 grams, this foldable features some serious hardware. It has a 6.5-inch cover screen and an 8-inch interior display with a fluid 120Hz refresh rate. It’s equipped with a cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Elite processor and 12GB of RAM to support tons of helpful AI features and functions, and comes with Android 16 and Samsung One UI 8 right out of the box.
The camera system is also pretty impressive, boasting a 200-megapixel rear camera, 12-megapixel ultrawide shooting and a 10-megapixel front camera on both the cover and interior screens. Plus, it’s equipped with a 4,400-mAh battery for all-day use.
MOBILE DEALS OF THE WEEK
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$749 (save $250)
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Why this deal matters
With an unbelievably sleek design and cutting-edge hardware, the impressive Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is our favorite foldable phone on the market. But it also comes with a staggering $2,000 price tag, and if you’re hoping to get your hands on one, this $443 discount is a way to rack up some serious savings and help cushion the blow of its considerable cost. Just be sure to get your order in soon, as we doubt this deal will remain live for long.
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Technologies
I Almost Missed This Deal Within a Deal for Baseus’ Bose-Infused Headphones and Earbuds
Baseus’ new Inspire XH1, XP1 and XC1 models with Sound by Bose are 23% to 33% off for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But Baseus throws in its BC1 clip-on earbuds or other «free» bonus items to make the deal even sweeter.
I gave CNET Editors’ Choice awards to Baseus’ Bose-infused Baseus Inspire XH1 headphones and Inspire XP1 earbuds because they’re well designed and sound decent for what they cost. I also liked Baseus’ Inspire XC1 clip-on earbuds, which have dual- drivers and earned a spot on CNET’s best clip-on earbuds list.
Last week all three models were selling for around $110 (though they have higher list prices), but they’re now discounted to around $100 for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. That’s a deal I’d highlight on its own, but if you click through to any of those models’ Amazon product pages an look closely you’ll see that each is eligible for «one free item» with purchase.
Read more: Best wireless earbuds of 2025
You have to click the «how to claim link» and then add one of the three products to the your cart. Once one of the headphones or earbuds is added to your cart, you can click a button on the left side of screen (above the stars for average ratings) that switches the view from «qualifying items» to «benefit items.» You can then add Baseus’s BC1 clip-on earbuds, which list for $40, to your cart as a free item. Baseus’ step-up Basues MC1 Pro ($48 for Black Friday) and Inspire XC1 clip-on buds sound better, but the BC1 are fine for casual use.
If the BC1 earbuds option doesn’t thrill you, there are other freebies you can opt for. Just go back to the Amazon product page for the Inspire XH1, XP1 and XC1 and you’ll see options for one free item with $100, $90, $51 and $46 purchases. The $90 benefit item is a 30W dual-port fast charger (list price $20), which is decent, and the $51 benefit item is a retractable USB-C cable ($19 list) that’s useful. Don’t bother with the $46 benefit item.
You can read my full reviews of the Inspire XH1 headphones here and the Inspire XP1 earbuds here. And here’s my quick take of the Inspire XC1 earbuds:
Like Baseus’ noise-isolating Inspire XP1 earbuds that I rated highly, the Inspire XC1 feature «Sound by Bose» and a more premium design than earlier Baseus earbuds. The XC1 don’t sound as good as the XP1, but they sound good for open earbuds and are equipped with dual drivers, one of which is a Knowles balanced-armature driver that helps improve treble performance. While they don’t produce as much bass as noise-isolating earbuds like the Inspire XP1, their bass performance is better than I expected. The buds’ sound is pretty full, especially in quieter environments, though they do better with less bass-heavy material (I did notice a bit of distortion at higher volumes with certain tracks with harder driving bass).
While I prefer the design and fit of Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds (as well as the design of their case) and think the Bose buds sound more natural and a tad better overall, the much more affordable Inspire XC1 fit comfortably and offer top-tier sound for clip-on open earbuds (and they play louder than the Bose), as well as decent voice-calling performance with good background noise reduction.
HEADPHONE DEALS OF THE WEEK
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Read more: Best Black Friday headphones deals
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