Electronic Arts Inc <ERTS.O> plans to launch a tender offer for all outstanding shares of rival Take-Two Interactive Software Inc <TTWO.O>, publisher of "Grand Theft Auto" video games, a person familiar with the matter said, indicating EA's $1.9 billion bid is turning hostile.

Take-Two last month rejected EA's unsolicited offer. EA will offer Take-Two shareholders $26 a share, the same price at which it launched its all-cash bid, the person said.

Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick has called the bid "the wrong price and the wrong time," arguing that EA was trying to buy his company on the cheap just before the launch of Grand Theft Auto 4, the latest in a blockbuster franchise which debuts on April 29.