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Electronic Arts Purchases BioWare, Pandemic

Posted by Zonk on from the depths-of-horror dept.

Kotaku is reporting that EA has purchased BioWare and Pandemic Studios, having offered some $620 million in cash to the Elevation Partners group to buy up VG Holding Corp. From the press release: "'We are truly excited by John Riccitiello's new vision for EA,' said Ray Muzyka, Co-founder and CEO of BioWare Corp. '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.'"

7 of 232 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Let me be the first to say... by the+dark+hero · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yea, I'm not sure what all this is supposed to mean. Are we gonna get a ton of sequels (KotOR 3? Jade Empire2?) or is EA gonna leave them alone and just give them bags of munny hoping they can make great games they can bank off of? The Wikipedia page already shows Mass Effect 2 and 3 are in developement.

    --
    You constantly struggle for self improvement - and it shows.

    Hooray for bad Engrish on fortune cookies

  2. Carry The Torch? by Reapy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Who is going to pick up carrying the torch for delivering high quality RPG games?

    RIP Bioware...

    Reapy

  3. No by Xest · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Because whilst there are good games companies out there, there are games companies producing better games than EA can.

    If EA can destroy everything better than it, then the standard is lower and EA games become the most attractive thing out there.

  4. There's hope for Bioware by nuzak · · Score: 3, Interesting

    EA gives Maxis quite a bit of free rein, and they're loath to kill off that golden goose. I should hope Bioware gets the same treatment.

    Pandemic on the other hand is basically borg-fodder.

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    Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
  5. There's still hope.. by darkdreamr · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Consider that Bungie (another innovative studio popular among gamers) was absorbed by Microsoft back before Halo 1, but just recently (Oct 1) took back its independence. And despite producing 3 of M$'s biggest cash cows, they still seem to have their humor and character intact. Here's hoping BioWare can do the same.

  6. Re:NOOO by Shados · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm not amazingly informed on the matter, but Electronic Art is also a publisher, is it not? In that case, Bioware would be rid of Atari from this point and on (not counting their older, Atari-exclusive franchises). That can only mean good things. As bad as EA is, Atari was worse.

  7. Appropriate to quote it again.... by graviplana · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened." I really hope that they don't destroy the NWN and D & D games, but they probably will. :[

    --
    "Time is nothing; timing is everything."