EA snaps up Pandemic & BioWare

Electronic Arts has announced an agreement to acquire VG Holding Corp. - the owner of both BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios.

This acquisition further strengthens EA's position in the game market, particularly in the action, adventure and role-playing genres.

The two studios have been recognized for creating some of the highest-quality games in the industry. Together BioWare and Pandemic Studios have ten franchises under development, including six wholly owned games. BioWare for instance is currently busy developing the highly anticipated Mass Effect, which will be published by Microsoft next month, and is in the early development stages of a massively multiplayer online game.

EA's press statement claimed meanwhile that Pandemic Studios was "redefining open-world games" with its upcoming Mercenaries 2: World in Flames and Saboteur, in addition to several additional yet currently unannounced projects.