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EA Finishes Acquiring DICE
After a quite protracted struggle, Next Generation is reporting that EA has completed acquisition of Digital Illusions CE. From the article: "As part of the agreement, DICE CEO Patrick Söderlund will become an EA Studio general manager. Other DICE leaders will retain their roles in Stockholm. DICE and EA have had a tight working relationship over recent years. 'We've been working very closely with EA for the past five years and this is a very natural step for us as we move into the next generation of gaming,' said Söderlund. To complete the acquisition, EA acquired all of the assets and liabilities of DICE. Shareholders in the studio, which represent about 2.6 million shares, will receive SEK 67.50 ($9.23) per share in cash, which will be paid out on October 16."
I always thought most of EA's projects were a gamble.
*ducks*
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
"After a quite protracted struggle...","DICE and EA have had a tight working relationship over recent years. "We've been working very closely with EA for the past five years and this is a very natural step for us as we move into the next generation of gaming," said Söderlund."
First a struggle, and then peace!
I couldn't help but notice that the ad banners are filled with 'Dice' ads. And apparently not related.
All I can say, is at least they were working together, and whatever games they produced, they knew what they were. Unlike EA's purchase of the Ultima Online game. Where they totally messed it up.
:)
They've done it many times in the past, where they buy a game, develop it under their name, and they don't let the designers do what they wanted. The game changes, it comes out and people don't buy it.
Please let DICE do their own thing... ya, they have your name, you can approve/disapprove of certain things, but don't go saying "Oh no, we should only have 2 spell books and lets put some futuristic vehicles in it. Hey lets add a racing segment, with dancing baby clowns..." You know, stuff that EA would do
They are dont eating it! Who is next on the menu?
So EA bought a job search site? I didn't think the video game job market was that tight. So is Microsoft going to buy Monster?
in blaming EA for all these shi*** patches.
Windows has detected an undetectable error.
So I'm guessing, since EA + DICE did BF2, and DICE was working on BF2142, that we won't see a huge change. EA's hand was already in the honeypot, this is just to ensure the authors can't use EA to publish the game, get famous, and then leap out on their own and take the BF name with them. Or at least if they do, it will cost them. I wonder what/if Sid Meier had to pay to keep the Civ name after developing under Microprose? I know companies like that have contract clauses that basically say if you developed it while working here, it belongs to us.
Although if they are going to present a dancing clown, doing it in a game with plenty of tanks and guns to blow it up is the way to go!
You can get 15 minutes of fame, but you can go down in history for infamy.
Pray I don't alter it any further.
"Waste not one watt!" - CZ
Was dice first game. Those were the days, small studio, great games.
Rallisport Challenge 2 for the XBOX was one of my favorite games of all time. I loved it. But I believe MGS retains the rights to the series, and DICE was the developer... so no sequel.
If RC3 (developed by DICE) was to come out, I would buy a next-gen console.
Does this mean the next version of Battlefield will only make us sit through ONE unskippable logo at the beginning?
This isn't being reported in the news for some reason, but EA closed the London, Ontario, Canada studio of DICE yesterday, laying off all the staff there. They got a nice severance package, and they're being interviewed for positions with EA in Montreal and Vancouver. Sucks if they want to stay in London, though.