EA Finalizes BioWare, Pandemic Takeover

Electronic Arts has completed its acquisition of VG Holding Corporation, giving it control over BioWare and Pandemic Studios.

As a result of the studios' move to the EA Games label, BioWare's Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk and Pandemic's Andrew Goldman and Josh Resnick have each been named as Vice Presidents within EA ; Muzyka and Zeschuk will also serve as Co-General Managers of BioWare Corp., while Goldman and Resnick will hold the same titles for Pandemic. Greg Borrud has also been name an EA Vice President, and will take over as Chief Production Officer at Pandemic. As part of the deal, the five newly-named vice presidents will receive approximately 2.8 million shares of EA's common stock as retention and performance incentives.

"BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios are two world-class studios and bring strong, highly compatible cultures of creative excellence to the EA Games Label," said EA Games President Frank Gibeau. "Their strengths in the RPG, action and adventure genres further broadens EA's portfolio, and reinforces our commitment to creating the world's greatest interactive entertainment."

"EA has shown great respect for the creative integrity of our studios and BioWare's core values of quality in our workplace, quality in our products, and entrepreneurship," BioWare's Muzyka said. "Operating as a city-state within the larger EA studio family, our talented teams at BioWare Edmonton and BioWare Austin are empowered to continue delivering powerful emotional experiences through our story-driven games."

Pandemic's Resnick added, "Pandemic Studios prides itself upon its creative independence while being the best place for top industry talent to work. These values continue to be upheld by all levels of EA and we couldn't be more excited about the future of our studio and our games."