#Electronic Arts köper företaget VG Holding Corp, ägare av de båda utvecklarna #Bioware och #Pandemic Studios, för en summa av någonstans mellan fyra och fem miljarder kronor. Därmed adderar man två respekterade studior till sitt redan digra stall.
Med spel som #Neverwinter Nights, #Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic och det i höst aktuella #Mass Effect är Bioware en aktad rollspelsutvecklare. Pandemic står bakom #Star Wars: Battlefront och nästa år färdigställer de actionliren #Saboteur och #Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.
BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios have ten franchises under development, including six wholly owned games. BioWare Corp. is currently developing the highly anticipated Mass Effect, which will be published by Microsoft in November, and is in the early development stages of a massively multiplayer online game. Pandemic Studios is redefining open-world games with its upcoming Mercenaries 2: World in Flames? and Saboteur?, in addition to several unannounced projects.
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EA will pay up to $620 million in cash to the stockholders of VG Holding Corp. and will issue up to an additional $155 million in equity to certain employees of VG Holding Corp., which will be subject to time-based or performance-based vesting criteria. EA will also assume outstanding VG Holding Corp. stock options. In addition, EA has agreed to lend VG Holding Corp. up to $35 million through the closing of the acquisition.
