Electronic Arts (EA) is one of the giants of the video game world and now it seems that the giant is very hungry! EA has sent word that they have agreed with Elevation Partners to acquire VG Holding Corp, which owns BioWare Corp. as well as Pandemic Studios.
These two names are well known in the gaming industry. BioWare is all set to release its much awaited role playing game, Mass Effect for the Xbox 360. As for Pandemic Studios, it is working on Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, which will be published by EA. Pandemic is also currently working on Saboteur, a WWII action game. In fact, BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios have ten franchises under development between them.
John Riccitiello is EA’s chief executive officer. He says, “These are two of the most respected studios in the industry and I’m glad to be working with them again. They’ll make a strong contribution to our strategic growth initiatives on quality, online gaming and developing new intellectual properties. We also expect this will drive long-term value for our shareholders.”
Josh Resnick, President & Co-founder, Pandemic Studios says, “Pandemic Studios remains focused on attracting the best talent and creating blockbuster action games. As a worldwide publishing leader, EA represents the ideal partner to bring our titles to market as global entertainment events.”
Ray Muzyka, Co-founder & CEO, BioWare Corp comments, “We are truly excited by John Riccitiello’s new vision for EA.This vision is consistent with BioWare’s focus on crafting the highest quality story-driven games in the world. It will enable us to further the careers of the passionate, creative and hard working teams at BioWare Edmonton and BioWare Austin.”
This acquisition by EA will surely help them become more powerful key genres in interactive entertainment, action, adventure and role-playing games. It should as EA has forked out $650 million in cash. EA would be happy as it has got a lot of amazing IPs.