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EA rolls DICE for $23 million

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Oct 2, 2006 2:33 pm PT

Megapublisher buys up remainder of Battlefield maker, (finally) bringing storied franchise in-house.

Electronic Arts and Digital Illusions CE have been engaged in one of the longest courtships in game-industry history. After the release of the ultrasuccessful Battlefield 1942 in 2002, the latter--who was the game's publisher--began scooping up stock in the former. In 2004, EA announced its intentions to acquire DICE--intentions that were endorsed by the Swedish developer's board. As of March 2005, the megapublisher had acquired more than 60 percent of the developer's stock.

In March 2006, EA announced its intention to buy DICE lock, stock, and barrel. Now, seven months later, it has finally done so. Today, the California-based company announced that it had completed its takeover of the Stockholm-based developer. According to EA, DICE will now be a "fully integrated EA studio dedicated to growing the Battlefield franchise and developing new products for the PC, next-generation consoles, and other new platforms."

According to a joint press release, EA paid 175.5 million Swedish kroner--some $23.9 million--to acquire the "assets and liabilities of DICE," which presumably means all the outstanding stock in the company. Shareholders in the studio will receive some 67.50 kroner ($9.27) per share in cash in exactly two weeks' time.

Patrick Soderlund, the former CEO and presumably a current large shareholder of DICE, was understandably pleased by the deal. "Being part of the EA studio team is a great step forward that will help us continue to deliver new games and new franchises to DICE fans," he said in a statement. "We've been working very closely with EA for the past five years, and this is a very natural step for us as we move into the next generation of gaming." Soderlund will now become an EA Studio general manager overseeing DICE and its management team, which will remain unchanged.

The next game from EA and DICE will be the PC shooter Battlefield 2142, which is set to ship in North America on October 17. No next-gen console plans for the game have been announced.

126 Comments

  • Ben_Sim

    Posted Nov 2, 2008 4:40 pm PT

    EA "Challenge Everything"... Nice Motto. Thats what they are today

  • pas171

    Posted Apr 7, 2008 5:17 pm PT

    OMG That sucks kuz im waiting for that game, EA hurry were all waiting.******* so I got PSP and soon the X360 but EA suckers can't release the ******* game. So wtf is the problem cuz they bought DICE wich means the games also. Hope it's gonna come out someday. Soon I hope...

  • quietguy

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 7:11 pm PT

    EA as usual...

  • sircyrus

    Posted Oct 4, 2006 1:37 pm PT

    "Didn't see this one coming. Pretty soon most of the independent developer studios will be sucked up by EA, Vivendi, Microsoft, or Sony."

    Are you guys serious? EA has been working towards owning DICE for over 3 years now. They've owned the majority of their shares, effectively giving them control over the company decisions, for years. This isn't coming out of nowhere. Hell, DICE themselves wanted the deal to happen over a year ago but their shareholders wouldn't sell out to EA. This is just a formality, purchasing the rest of the shares. They didn't buy the company for $23.3M, they paid much more than that to control all the shares. All together it would be in the range of $100M.

  • emorule

    Posted Oct 4, 2006 9:22 am PT

    Cant comeup with there own games so they just buy all the good game brands and act like they came up with them, so sad!

  • anamnawshad

    Posted Oct 4, 2006 2:45 am PT

    Hope EA wont #%$& up teh games

  • _Sam_

    Posted Oct 3, 2006 7:14 pm PT

    who isn't buying out a company

  • VegetaMaelstrom

    Posted Oct 3, 2006 6:18 pm PT

    nappan:
    "EA buys out a major franchine? Wow, this is news... Of course, it happens to be news that's so endlessly repititious as to be comical. Frankly as long as it isn't Vivendi Universal buying it out, I don't care. EA will either make good games, or be taken from behind by some bright new group like Crytek."
    .
    .
    Did you read the news story a few weeks ago about how EA is in 'talks' with Crytek about the possibility of assimilating them? If EA is outdone on a level playing field (NFL 2K5) then they either buy the competition (hopefully not Crytek) or buy the competition's ability to compete (again NFL 2K5). So to respond, yes EA will be taken from behind by some bright new group from time to time but then EA will bend them over and return the favor by taking them over and dismantling them into a state of ultimate mediocrity. With very few exceptions such as Criterion.

  • madrigals

    Posted Oct 3, 2006 2:57 pm PT

    Well, I guess the games aren't going to be good anymore. EA you suck.

  • Sociologist

    Posted Oct 3, 2006 12:42 pm PT

    I started playing Battlefield 1942 my Freshmen year of college and started playing Desert Combat when the first beta came out. I actually played it up until the middle of my Senior Year, even after BF2 came out, (although I did alternate between the two). Like Counterstrike, the Desert Combat mod came about because it was relatively easy for modders to put their vision into a game by working with the software, and because the publishers and developers were fairly lax about modding. Back then, it felt like you were part of a community, and could contribute to discussions about the directions to take mods in, but this is not the case anymore, and has been replaced by a more artificial community, (Xbox LIVE, etc.). The new trend seems to be total control by developers/publishers, which makes games more difficult to mod for. Let me clarify... BF1942 spawned Desert Combat and Half Life spawned Counterstrike, because a few years ago, it was all about releasing PC games, and the expansions to them in a cyclic period, without launching an entire new franchise every year, (it was usually circa 3 or 4 years, if I recall). This game time for mods to develop, get better and even to flourish for a bit, which helped to show a great a deal of innovation in the gaming industry. With the way the newer market is with the console crossovers and mega-publishers such as EA trying to dominate the industry and milking consumers by releasing new games (or weak expansion packs) for a given franchise every year or so, this has seriously weakened the mod community. By this, I am saying that mod communities don't have enough time to really mod a game, because many users of a given franchise will jump ship to a new game in the franchise the next year. Compound this with the fact that EA, and Valve (although not to EA's extend), seek to have total control over the way in which content is viewed and distributed in a game, modders often run into a brick wall when trying to express their new ideas in games such as the ones that I mentioned. If you have ever been part of such a community, you would know what I am talking about. Some have said that the gaming market is due for a crash because of the similarities between the market conditions in the early 80s, but this is anyone's guess. All that I know is that if the modding community is killed off due to corporate practices, the quality of BOTH PC gaming and Console gaming will be seriously harmed. This is just my opinion, so feel free to respond...

  • Charlie643

    Posted Oct 3, 2006 10:13 am PT

    Woo hooo! I can see the new logo when you boot up an EA game now.

    "EA games" "We own everything" XD

  • cjcr_alexandru

    Posted Oct 3, 2006 10:03 am PT

    Come on. You are so pessimistic. Maybe EA will do something good with DICE. Or maybe not...

  • anziex

    Posted Oct 3, 2006 9:50 am PT

    Hmmm . . . some of us remember EA buing Westwood (Command & Conquer, Earth & Beyond, etc.) and totally dismembering them . . . C&C is only now coming back as a new product years later . . . I don't know if I'd want to be sucked up into that.

  • DarkSaber2k

    Posted Oct 3, 2006 9:26 am PT

    Nah, sigma, no-one gives a rats about the French.

  • havokmaster

    Posted Oct 3, 2006 9:23 am PT

    As if EA already hasnt bought up enough companies

  • sigma8

    Posted Oct 3, 2006 8:50 am PT

    Um.. I think Germany invading France turned more heads than invading Poland.

  • Brandmon

    Posted Oct 3, 2006 8:31 am PT

    This maybe just like before WWII (EA = Germany ) Like germany had annexed Chekoslovakia , Austria etc , same thing EA is doing. They just need to do a bad move and all devs will turn their eyes against EA (AKA Germany to Poland). And that happens if you get EA to Publish your games , Valve better be carrefull

  • buruburu

    Posted Oct 3, 2006 8:13 am PT

    EA downloader app is already similar to Valve. Battlefield will not change, but continue to be a great online shooter with up to 64 players. 360 can't do that. Did I mention Jets? Are there jets in the 360 version? The independent servers are working fine out there. I've never played a sports game online.(prefer being within punching distance during sports) 360 can't get independent servers... can it??? (besides LAN party in one house)
    _____Despite someone on the Gamespot staff not liking the trackball.... I use a trackball. It's great for swinging the tank barrel around quickly, and flying the jets. 4 buttons for parachute, prone, shoot, aim... I can't get used to a mouse at all.
    _____A demo of BF 2142 is supposed to be available for download through "EA downloader" before the retail release date of the full version.

  • Tremblay2243

    Posted Oct 3, 2006 8:04 am PT

    yea its not a big deal DICE is still developing BF franchise games or w.e the BF series i should say but its exactly like shasam712 said its just gunna have the EA games logo on it thats all so we all can enjoy the game/games from DICE that we have learned to love and enjoy and just as shweygamer said its still the same pepole making the games so its not a big deal at all

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