Electronic Arts (EA), the major player in the video gaming industry, has just gotten bigger with the acquisition of BioWare and Pandemic Studios, two of the largest independent video developers in the world of gaming.
The cost to EA was around $850 million, one of the largest gaming acquisitions on record. This leaves little question about which company now sits atop the vid-hill of creativity. The two purchased companies were formally partnered with Elevation.
The deal was handled by ex-Elevation big-wig John Riccitiello, who now is the CEO of EA, which gave EA a definite advantage over other competitors.
This move from EA will bring some stability to the company that over the last couple of years has made some serious business errors, thus the hiring of Riccitiello. With this purchase, EA investors can breath a little easier because this shows them that EA is serious about its future in the video gaming industry, especially when it comes to Hollywood’s top licensed productions.
“With these guys as part of EA, we become very competitive in those areas [games based on big budget films like LOTR & Harry Potter] quickly,” EA prexy Frank Gibeau told Daily Variety in a published statement after the successful completion of the acquisition.
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