Electronic Arts has decided to officially end its bid to acquire Take-Two Interactive.

It's been nearly seven months since EA first went public with its intentions to acquire Take-Two, and since then the two companies have been locked in a protracted back-and-forth battle.

Take-Two were adamant that they were morth more than the $2 billion that EA were offering, and EA continually refused to increase their offer. After months locked in deadlock, EA finally agreed to enter formal discussions with Take-Two management in August.

Those discussions have ultimately proven fruitless, though, as EA finally announced that discussions had been terminated and that they would not be making any further offers to acquire Take-Two.

Take-Two chairman of the board Strauss Zelnick responded by saying: "This has been our goal since EA launched its conditional and unsolicited bid six months ago, a bid which was repeatedly rejected by our stockholders."

"As part of that commitment, we remain actively engaged in discussions with other parties in the context of our formal process to consider strategic alternatives," Zelnick said according to gamespot.com.

Industry analysts have speculated that it could well be Uibsoft and Activision who are also vying to acquire the company.