While the Take-Two/Electronic Arts saga from a few years back didn’t result in anything but headaches for the respective executives, it’s beginning to look like EA’s closest rival, Activision, could be targeting Take-Two. Analysts have been pointing to Take-Two as a buyout candidate for the last year, and it would make sense for another company to jump in before the next GTAlaunches.

“There are very strong rumours amongst people at a very senior level within the global business,” a senior executive mentioned to MCV about the potential acquisition.

With Activision killing off its music business, skateboarding and True Crime, and laying off 500 workers, there’s definitely a sense of urgency about what they’ll do next. Doubling down on Call of Duty and Blizzard is all well and good for the short term, but other than their Bungie deal, there’s not much else. Buying up Take-Two would net them a wide array of hugely successful IP, like GTA, NBA2K, BioShock, Civilization, Red Dead Redemption and more.

If an acquisition were to happen, Activision would need to make sure Rockstar’s talent stays on board. The Houser brothers’ contract is up for renegotiation in 2012.

For now though, this remains nothing more than rumor, so we advise you to take it with a hefty pinch of salt.