Electronic Arts to Acquire BioWare, Pandemic for Over $775 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 11, 2007 - 10:47am.

Redwood City, Calif. - Video game publisher and developer Electronic Arts announced on Thursday an agreement with Elevation Partners to acquire VG Holding Corp. -- the owner of both BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios -- in a deal valued at over $775 million.

Under the deal, 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.

In addition, EA has agreed to lend VG Holding Corp. up to $35 million through the closing of the acquisition.

"This acquisition gives EA a strong competitive position in key genres in interactive entertainment -- action, adventure and role-playing games," the company said in a statement.

BioWare's franchises include "Baldur's Gate," "Neverwinter Nights" and "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic," while Pandemic is responsible for titles such as "Full Spectrum Warrior," "Star Wars Battlefront" and "Destroy All Humans."

The studios have a combined ten franchises under development, including six wholly-owned games.

BioWare is currently developing "Mass Effect," which will be published by Microsoft in November, and is in the early development stages of a massively multiplayer online game.

http://www.ea.com

http://www.bioware.com

http://www.pandemicstudios.com