Electronic Arts is an American video game 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.

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". 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. 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. 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. 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.

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.

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. __TOC__

Key +General†Defunct‡Merged into surviving group*Electronic Arts sold stake

Acquisitions

Date Company Business Country Value (USD) Adjusted (USD)Derived StudiosReferences1 Batteries Included† Hardware and software developer ———2 Distinctive Software Inc.‡ Video game developer——EA Vancouver3 Origin Systems† $$—4 DROsoft† Software distributor ———5 Bullfrog Productions† Video game developer ———6 Kingsoft GmbH† Software distributor ———7 Manley & Associates‡ Video game developer ——EA Seattle8 Maxis† Video game developer and publisher$$MaxisWhile Maxis Emeryville was closed, other Maxis groups were consolidated into existing studios of EA. New studios using the brand name began opening in 2019.9 Tiburon Entertainment‡ Video game developer——EA Tiburon10 Vision Software‡ Software distributor ——Vision Software11 ABC Software† ——ABC Software12 Westwood Studios; Virgin Interactive's North American Operations, Burst Studios† Computer and video game developers $$EA Pacific†Staff who choose to remain were absorbed into EA Los Angeles.13 PlayNation‡ Developer of online entertainment——PlayNation14 Kesmai† Video game developer and online game publisher———15 DreamWorks Interactive† Video game developer——Danger Close Games†16 Pogo.com Family games website———17 Black Box Games† Sports and racing video game developer ——Quicklime Games†18 Studio 33‡ Racing video game developer ——EA Northwest19 NuFX† Sports video game developer ——EA Chicago†20 Criterion Software Video game developer $$—21 Hypnotix† ——EA Tiburon22 JAMDAT Mobile‡ Mobile entertainment developer$$EA Mobile23 Mythic Entertainment† Computer game developer——EA Mythic†24 Phenomic Game Development† Real-time strategy game developer ——EA Phenomic†25 Digital Illusions CE (DICE)‡DICE Ontario was closed down; the Stockholm studio persists under the "EA DICE" label. Video game developer ——EA DICE26 Headgate Studios† ——EA Salt Lake†27 SingShot Media‡ Social network service——Sims on Stage28 Super Computer International‡ Computer software developer——EA Online Technology‡29 VG Holding Corp.† Holding company of video game developers$BioWare Pandemic Studios†30 Hands-On Mobile‡ Mobile video game developer and publisher ——EA Mobile Korea31 ThreeSF† Social network service ———32 J2MSoft† Computer game developer ———33 Q1 Fiscal 2010J2Play† Social network service ———34 Playfish† Social network game developer $—35 Chillingo† Mobile video game publisher$—36 Mobile Post Production Mobile video game developer and publisher ———37 Firemint ———38 PopCap Games Video game developer and publisher $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.San Francisco & Seattle Dublin† & Vancouver†39 Bight Games‡ Trade Wars (mobile game) ——Red Crow Studios40 ESN Social gaming product developers ———41 Respawn Entertainment Video game developer $Includes $151 million in cash and $164 million in equity.—42 GameFly Game streaming———43 Industrial Toys† Mobile video game developer———44 Codemasters Video game developer and publisher $1,200,000,000$—45 Glu Mobile Mobile video game developer and publisher $2,400,000,000$EA Mobile46 Metalhead Software Video game developer ———47 Playdemic Mobile video game developer $1,400,000,000$—48 TRACAB Technologies Sports tracking platform ———

Total: companies

Stakes Date Company Business Country Value AdjustedReferences Visual Concepts EntertainmentEA purchased a minority stake, later sold to Take 2 Interactive. Video game developer —— NovaLogic†EA purchased a minority stake, yet there is no mention of it on EA's Investor Page. Later sold to THQ Nordic in 2016 Video game developer and publisher —— Accolade†EA purchased a minority stake. Later purchased by Infogrames. Video game developer and publisher —— Mpath Interactive†EA purchased a minority stake. On June 18, 2001, it was acquired by GameSpy and MPlayer.com was merged with GameSpy Arcade. Computer game and online company —— Kodiak Interactive Software Studios, Inc.†EA purchased a minority stake, but it later merged with Acclaim Entertainment. Video game developer —— Ubisoft*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). Video game developer and publisher 68.9 million euros million euros

Notes

References

External links Electronic Arts' official website