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In a move that surprised gamers everywhere, EA announced that they’ve purchased the holding company that owns Bioware and Pandemic Studios.
“These are two of the most respected studios in the industry and I’m glad to be working with them again,” stated EA CEO John Riccitiello. “They’ll make a strong contribution to our strategic growth initiatives on quality, online gaming and developing new intellectual properties. We also expect this will drive long-term value for our shareholders.”
In response to the acquisition, Ray Muzkya, who is the co-founder of Bioware, stated in a press release that “We are truly excited by John Riccitiello’s new vision for EA. This vision is consistent with BioWare’s focus on crafting the highest quality story-driven games in the world. It will enable us to further the careers of the passionate, creative and hard working teams at BioWare Edmonton and BioWare Austin.”
Pandemic is currently the developers behind Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, and Bioware is known for their RPGs, such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, and the upcoming Mass Effect.
When asked about the impact of the purchase on the highly anticipated and Xbox 360 exclusive Mass Effect, Muzkya said “Our focus is pure and simple; it’s to deliver the best game possible for our fans with Mass Effect, and that’s an Xbox 360 exclusive. Microsoft’s a great partner… and they’ve really helped build the value of the product and we’re proud to work with them.”
While Pandemic’s Mercenaries 2 was already scheduled to be a multiplatform release, Mass Effect is a trilogy planned to be released solely on the Xbox 360. Muzkya also stated that there were currently no plans to bring the Mass Effect series to the PlayStation 3, but also added a cryptic addendum that Bioware “can’t predict the future”, which gives PS3 owners hope that the highly anticipated RPG might find its way to Sony’s platform eventually.