EA to purchase Pandemic and BioWare
Category: Industry, Posted: 10/11/2007 at 04:57PM CDT by Frank Ling, Content Contributor
Electronic Arts announced today that it has a deal going that will give them the rights to purchase VG Holding Corp. If the company doesn't sound too familiar, you might have heard of the other companies they own...BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios.
BioWare, which is getting lots of buzz for its upcoming sci-fi RPG/shooter, Mass Effect, and Pandemic Studios, known for its Mercenaries franchise, will add some heft to Electronic Arts constantly growing portfolio of purchased game companies.
John Riccitiello, CEO of EA said, "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."
EA is going to pay up to $620 million to the stockholders of VG Holding Corp. and follow up with an additional $155 million to certain members of the company for compensation and equity. EA will also lend VG Holding Corp. up to $35 million in closing the deal.
Critics of EA often cite the company as being a huge monolith intent on buying up intellectual property instead of investing in the development of new game ideas. However, with the purchase of the parent company, who owns Mass Effect, it seems that EA has done pretty well for itself in this deal.
[via yahoo finance]
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Holy hell, that's all I can say.
This is great for Ea but what does it mean for gamers? Love them or hate them, they have proven they can make franchises successful. People will argue how great they are but when you look at Madden, FIFA, MOH, Sims and BF ... compared to NBA Live and what was formerly Triple Play / MVP , it just brings up more question marks. I would hate to be sitting at a desk at Bioware / Pandemic right now.
This is very grim news for the haters of EA. I don't like EA for a hodge-podge of reasons, but I can't stop buying the things they have! They have too many things I like, dammit! EA, you are a drug peddler!
I just hope that yearly installments of Mass Effect, Star Wars:Knights Of The Old Republic, and Star Wars:Battlefront do not occur. If this transpires, it could potentially water down all of these franchises. Fans like me would grew tired very fast and stop buying the products all together.
I will give EA the benefit of the doubt for now and maybe, just maybe, they will leave these developers alone and let them make good games that will take 3-4 years to perfect.