San Francisco - Despite declining interest from Take-Two shareholders, Electronic Arts Tuesday extended its tender offer to buy the maker of the hit video game Grand Theft Auto.

The new offer gives shareholders until July 18 to accept EA's 25.74-dollar per share bid for Take-Two, whose shares traded Tuesday at 26.13 dollars.
EA said that it would not improve its offer price, arguing that it already represented a "substantial premium" over the share price of Take-Two before EA announced its hostile bid in February.

Since then, Take-Two has launched the best-selling video game in history, Grand Theft Auto IV. It has also exceeded Wall Street expectations and announced video game linkups with some of Hollywood's hottest directors, including Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski.

"We congratulate Rockstar on the successful launch of GTA IV but believe our offer reflects a full and fair price based on the long- term value of Take-Two's entire operation," Owen Mahoney, EA senior vice president of corporate development, said in a statement.

However, analysts believe it is unlikely that EA will succeed in its bid, because just 6.14 million shares have been tendered in, representing approximately 8 per cent of Take-Two's shares, down from 6.4 million shares that were tendered in when EA first made its offer. (dpa)