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Electronic Arts logo
EA headquarters in Redwood City, California

Electronic Arts is an American company that is a developer, marketer, publisher, and distributor of video games, that was founded in 1982. Products of the company include EA Sports franchises, Sims, and other titles on both handheld and home gaming consoles. [1]

Electronic Arts often acquires new companies to expand or add to new product lines. For instance, EA chairman and chief executive officer Larry Probst said after the acquisition of JAMDAT Mobile that "we intend to build a leading global position in the [...] business of providing games on mobile phones". [2] EA followed through with this later, making the company into EA Mobile, and allowing people to purchase and download content produced by them directly onto their phones. [1] After the acquisition of Origin Systems, some staff in that company claimed that Electronic Arts initially gave them more resources, but allowed little latitude if employees made a mistake, and in some cases no longer trusted them, and even worked against them. [3] [4] EA has shut down entire companies or the studios thereof after acquiring them, including the studio DICE Canada, Origin Systems, EA Chicago ( NuFX), and Pandemic Studios. [5] [6] [7] [8] Gaming blogger Brian Crecente has said that fears that EA doesn't care about the quality of their products after they are acquired are debatable. [9]

As of April 2021, Electronic Arts' largest acquisition is the purchase of Glu Mobile, for $2.4 billion. Of the 39 companies acquired by EA, 20 are based in the U.S., five in the United Kingdom, six in Continental Europe, and eight elsewhere. The majority of these companies and studios are now defunct, with some having been merged into other entities. Of the six companies which EA purchased a stake in, two remaining companies are based in the U.S., while three other U.S. companies are defunct. After acquiring a 19.9% stake in France-based Ubisoft in 2004, EA sold a remaining 14.8% stake in it in 2010. [10] [11]

Each acquisition listed is for the entire company, unless otherwise noted. The acquisition date listed is the date of the agreement between Electronic Arts (EA) and the subject of the acquisition. Unless otherwise noted, the value of each acquisition is listed in U.S. dollars, because EA is headquartered in the U.S. If the value of the acquisition is not listed, then it is undisclosed. If the EA service that is derived from the acquired company is known, then it is also listed. According to data from Pitch Book via VentureBeat, the company has spent about $2.9 Billion on its 10 biggest acquisitions since 1992. [12]

Key

General
Defunct
Merged into surviving group
* Electronic Arts sold stake

Acquisitions

Date Company Business Country Value ( USD) Derived Studios References
1987 Batteries Included Hardware and software developer   CAN [13] [14]
July 1, 1991 Distinctive Software Inc. Video game developer   CAN EA Vancouver [15]
September 10, 1992 Origin Systems Video game developer   USA $35,000,000 [16]
November 14, 1994 DROsoft Software distributor   ESP [17]
January 6, 1995 Bullfrog Productions Video game developer   UK [18] [19]
March 8, 1995 Kingsoft GmbH Software distributor   GER [20]
January 29, 1996 Manley & Associates Video game developer   USA EA Seattle [21]
June 4, 1997 Maxis Video game developer and publisher   USA $125,000,000 Maxis [note 1] [22] [23] [24]
April 2, 1998 Tiburon Entertainment Video game developer   USA EA Tiburon [25]
April 8, 1998 Vision Software Software distributor   RSA Vision Software [26]
July 28, 1998 ABC Software Software distributor    CH ABC Software [27]
August 17, 1998 Westwood Studios; Virgin Interactive's North American Operations, Burst Studios Computer and video game developers   USA $122,500,000 EA Pacific [note 2] [28] [29]
September 8, 1999 PlayNation Developer of online entertainment   USA PlayNation [30]
November 22, 1999 Kesmai Video game developer and online game publisher   USA [31]
February 24, 2000 DreamWorks Interactive Video game developer   USA Danger Close Games [32] [33]
February 28, 2001 Pogo.com Family games website   USA [34]
June 11, 2002 Black Box Games Sports and racing video game developer   CAN Quicklime Games [35] [36] [37]
October 16, 2003 Studio 33 Racing video game developer   UK EA Northwest [38]
February 13, 2004 NuFX Sports video game developer   USA EA Chicago [8] [39]
July 28, 2004 Criterion Software Video game developer   UK $48,000,000 [40] [41]
July 27, 2005 Hypnotix Video game developer   USA EA Tiburon [42]
December 8, 2005 JAMDAT Mobile Mobile entertainment developer   USA $680,000,000 EA Mobile [2]
July 20, 2006 Mythic Entertainment Computer game developer   USA EA Mythic [43] [44]
August 23, 2006 Phenomic Game Development Real-time strategy game developer   GER EA Phenomic [45] [46]
October 2, 2006 Digital Illusions CE (DICE)‡ [note 3] Video game developer   SWE EA DICE [47]
November 30, 2006 Headgate Studios Video game developer   USA EA Salt Lake† [48]
February 12, 2007 SingShot Media Social network service   USA Sims on Stage [49] [50]
October 5, 2007 Super Computer International‡ Computer software developer   USA EA Online Technology‡ [51]
October 11, 2007 VG Holding Corp. Holding company of video game developers   USA $775,000,000 BioWare Pandemic Studios [52]
May 21, 2008 Hands-On Mobile Mobile video game developer and publisher   ROK EA Mobile Korea [53]
June 3, 2008 ThreeSF Social network service   USA [54]
December 2, 2008 J2MSoft† Computer game developer   ROK [55]
Q1 Fiscal 2010 J2Play† Social network service   CAN [56]
November 9, 2009 Playfish Social network game developer   UK $400,000,000 [57] [58] [59]
October 20, 2010 Chillingo† Mobile video game publisher   UK $20,000,000 [60] [61]
May 3, 2011 Mobile Post Production Mobile video game developer and publisher   USA [62]
May 4, 2011 Firemint Mobile video game developer and publisher   AUS [63]
July 12, 2011 PopCap Games Video game developer and publisher   USA $750,000,000 [note 4] San Francisco & Seattle Dublin† & Vancouver [37] [64] [65]
August 11, 2011 Bight Games‡ Trade Wars (mobile game)   CAN Red Crow Studios [66]
June 1, 2012 ESN Social gaming product developers   SWE [67]
December 1, 2017 Respawn Entertainment Video game developer   USA $315,000,000 [note 5] [68] [69]
May 1, 2018 GameFly Game streaming   USA [70]
July 9, 2018 Industrial Toys Mobile video game developer   USA [71]
February 18, 2021 Codemasters Video game developer and publisher   UK $1,200,000,000 [72]
April 29, 2021 Glu Mobile Mobile video game developer and publisher   USA $2,400,000,000 EA Mobile [73]
May 5, 2021 Metalhead Software Video game developer   CAN [74]
June 23, 2021 Playdemic Mobile video game developer   UK $1,400,000,000 [75]

Total: 47 companies

Stakes

Date Company Business Country Value References
January 25, 1995 Visual Concepts Entertainment [note 6] Video game developer   USA [76]
May 9, 1995 NovaLogic [note 7] Video game developer and publisher   USA [77]
March 11, 1997 Accolade [note 8] Video game developer and publisher   USA [78] [79]
April 3, 1997 Mpath Interactive [note 9] Computer game and online company   USA [80] [81]
August 4, 1998 Kodiak Interactive Software Studios, Inc.† [note 10] Video game developer   USA [82] [83]
December 24, 2004 Ubisoft* [note 11] Video game developer and publisher   FRA 68.9 million euros [10] [11] [84]

Notes

  1. ^ While Maxis Emeryville was closed, other Maxis groups were consolidated into existing studios of EA. New studios using the brand name began opening in 2019.
  2. ^ Staff who choose to remain were absorbed into EA Los Angeles.
  3. ^ DICE Ontario was closed down; the Stockholm studio persists under the "EA DICE" label.
  4. ^ Includes $650 million in cash and the issuing of $100 million in EA common stock to certain shareholders of PopCap Games. Does not include additional cash possibly received based on earnings before interest and taxes milestones through December 2013.
  5. ^ Includes $151 million in cash and $164 million in equity.
  6. ^ EA purchased a minority stake, later sold to Take 2 Interactive.
  7. ^ EA purchased a minority stake, yet there is no mention of it on EA's Investor Page. Later sold to THQ Nordic in 2016
  8. ^ EA purchased a minority stake. Later purchased by Infogrames.
  9. ^ EA purchased a minority stake. On June 18, 2001, it was acquired by GameSpy and MPlayer.com was merged with GameSpy Arcade.
  10. ^ EA purchased a minority stake, but it later merged with Acclaim Entertainment.
  11. ^ EA initially purchased a 19.9% stake then-valued at 68.9 million euros, but then sold its remaining stake in July 2010 for 122 million U.S. dollars (94 million euros).

References

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  22. ^ Business Wire (1997-06-04). "Electronic Arts and Maxis Inc. announce definitive agreement to merge; transaction valued at approximately $125 million". The Free Library. Retrieved 2015-03-15. {{ cite web}}: |author= has generic name ( help)
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  27. ^ Business Wire (1998-07-28). "Electronic Arts Acquires ABC Software to Establish Direct Sales Organizations in Switzerland and Austria". The Free Library. Retrieved 2015-03-15. {{ cite web}}: |author= has generic name ( help)
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  32. ^ PR Newswire (2000-02-24). "Electronic Arts Acquires DreamWorks Interactive From Microsoft And DreamWorks SKG". The Free Library. Retrieved 2015-03-15.
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  34. ^ Business Wire (2001-02-28). "EA.com Acquires Leading Games Destination pogo.com; pogo.com's Popular Family Games Site Complements EA.com's Rich Content Games". The Free Library. Retrieved 2015-03-15. {{ cite web}}: |author= has generic name ( help)
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External links