Source: BBC News | Business | Electronic Arts in $855m purchase
[SIZE=2]US games giant Electronic Arts (EA) is to buy two video game studios for $855m (£422m) in a deal adding role-playing and action titles to its portfolio.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]EA is the world’s biggest games publisher and will now acquire Bioware and Pandemic Studios. [/SIZE][SIZE=2]They are private firms that have been partners since a 2005 deal brought them together in VG Holding, a deal backed by private equity firm Elevation.
[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]The buy is the biggest ever for EA, known for its Sims and Madden games.
[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]EA says it plans to release four or five games a year from the new studios in each of the 2009/10 and 2010/11 financial years.
[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]Bioware is the maker of a series of critically acclaimed and best-selling role-playing games, including Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and the Baldur’s Gate series. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Meanwhile, its science fiction game Mass Effect is being published next month by Microsoft.[/SIZE][SIZE=2]
The Pandemic team makes action games such as Mercenaries, Star Wars Battlefront and Full Spectrum Warrior.[/SIZE]
