Electronic Arts just announced that they have "acquired" both BioWare and Pandemic Studios. EA cut a deal with Elevation Partners to buy up VG Holding Corp, which owns both companies.
Well that sucks something aweful.
EA paid up to $620 million in cash to the stockholders of VG Holding to get their hands on the companies, They also gave $155 million in equity to "certain employees of VG Holding" and is lending the company up to $35 million.
Can't compete so buy them and screw the gamer.
The comments that follow the linked story are overwhelming negative.
Winnow wrote:Can't compete so buy them and screw the gamer.
Reminds me of what Microsoft has been doing for years.
Microsoft usually makes good use out of the technology they acquire but EA basically screws things up by rushing out crappy, buggy games and flooding the market with unwanted sequels that are barely changed from the previous year's release.
EA's sports games have been sub par for years. We're stuck with crappy NFL games because EA bought the license so could care less about the quality of their product. Bubba will buy it anyway! Ask him!
Winnow wrote:Can't compete so buy them and screw the gamer.
Reminds me of what Microsoft has been doing for years.
EA's sports games have been sub par for years. We're stuck with crappy NFL games because EA bought the license so could care less about the quality of their product. Bubba will buy it anyway! Ask him!
While I was more of a fan of the nfl 2k series, Madden has improved quite a bit this year and to suggest it's crappy is a ridiculous statement to begin with. In addition, their new NHL game is fantastic and the new FIFA is supposed to be as well based on reviews. There has been more innovation to the sports games made than there has been in awhile. I don't think the "regurgitating sports because EA can" arguement holds up currently.
Last edited by Chidoro on October 12, 2007, 11:25 am, edited 2 times in total.
Yeah, there have been some pretty nice changes to their sports titles. I never was a fan of the 2k sports games, but I did recognize when EA's games were practically carbon-copies from the year before. I plan on grabbing FIFA 08 this weekend just because of the Superstar mode they added. I basically skipped FIFA 07, but the short time I played it helped me to see that they had paid a lot more attention to the soccer games than they might have before.
Until EA brings back CPU vs CPU games for football, they suck.
I acknowledged on the Madden 08 thread that it's improved over last year's release. (for the first time in years)
In the 360's favor, EA's haste and lack of attachment to games leaves PS3 owners with inferior versions. Owners of 360s, with the better SDKs won't suffer as much from this gobbling of companies by EA.
