An SEC filing by EA has revealed that the company has formed a confidentiality agreement with Take 2 Interactive over ongoing acquisition negotiations. This follows last week's news that the US Federal Trade Commission has given a green light to the potential merger.

"The terms of the confidentiality agreement prohibit each of EA and Take-Two from, among other things, publicly disclosing the status or terms of any discussions or negotiations between EA and Take-Two unless EA or Take-Two notifies the other that it is terminating discussions," EA stated in the SEC filing. "As a result, EA does not intend to make any further announcements regarding the status of any discussions or negotiations with Take-Two unless and until discussions between EA and Take-Two have been terminated or such parties have entered into a transaction. As previously disclosed, EA now requires due diligence to support any proposal to acquire Take-Two and there can be no assurance that any proposal, negotiations or transaction will result."

EA has taken a large stride forward this month in the acquisition of Take 2, which it's been chasing since February. The publisher has continually extended the deadlines of its offers since the original proposal, although the most recent deadline (August 18th) passed by without EA announcing an extension.

It then became apparent that instead of extending the deadline, EA had accepted Take 2's offer of a management presentation detailing the GTA IV publisher's product pipeline for the next three years. This confidentiality agreement is a standard precaution with such a presentation taking place, although it's also further evidence that EA's resilience may be paying off.