Bioware, Pandemic, Bought By EA

In what many are saying is the most expensive deal in videogame industry history, Electronic Arts has bought Bioware Inc. and Pandemic Studios for a whopping $810 million dollars, topping the $377 million Microsoft paid for Rare back in 2002.

What EA have actually bought is a company called VG Holdings, which owns Bioware and Pandemic, the company itself costing $620 million, ‘certain employees’ another $155 million, and a loan of $35 million to VG Holdings until the closure of the deal.

With the purchase comes ownership of the IP relating to 6 franchises including Pandemic’s Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (already slated to be published by EA) and Bioware’s Mass Effect. Question marks remain as to the 360 exclusivity of Mass Effect, which is being published by Microsoft Game Studios, though EA are said to be in talks with MS over the franchises future

Bioware are known for their adaptation of the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying system, starting with Baldur’s Gate and currently on its fifth iteration in Neverwinter Nights 2. They also produced Jade Empire and Knights of the Old Republic for both PC and Xbox gaining critical acclaim for both. Emphasising storytelling in their games has let Bioware produce a unique and compelling catalogue of titles where the decisions made by the player can have a profound effect on the outcome of the game. Mass Effect promises to be no different, and how they will apply this skill and knowledge in their as yet unnamed MMO (due out 2011) may prove to be a turning point for the genre.

Pandemic Studios have produced more action oriented titles including Star Wars Battlefront, Full Spectrum Warrior, Destroy All Humans and Mercenaries, with another 6 projects in development including Saboteur and the aforementioned Mercenaries 2. President and co-founder, Josh Resnick has said that “EA represents the ideal partner to bring our titles to market as global entertainment events.”

The two studios were merged in 2005 by Elevation Partners, headed by current EA CEO, John Riccitiello who says:

“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,

I can only hope that EA won’t simply mass produce the existing IP’s of the studios and dilute them across too many formats. The Neverwinter Nights franchise would pe particulary suceptible to ‘the sims efffect’. with expansion after expansion being produced until the brand has lost the respect and impact it started with. Please be sensible EA and treat both these veteran developers with the respect they deserve.

Mass Effect is due out on November 20th on the 360, no date has been announced for Mercs 2 yet.

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