Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Electronic Arts Inc. agreed to buy Bioware Corp. and Pandemic Studios, makers of video games including ``Baldur's Gate,'' for about $825 million to add action-adventure and role-playing titles.
Electronic Arts, the world's largest video-game publisher, will pay $620 million to the studios' owner, Elevation Partners, founded by rock star Bono and Electronic Arts' Chief Executive John Riccitiello. It will also pay $205 million in stock compensation, Chief Financial Officer Warren Jenson said today in an interview.
The purchase increases Redwood City, California-based Electronic Arts' presence in the action-adventure and role- playing market, which accounts for about 36 percent of the industry's North American sales. The company's share in the genre has ranged from the ``single digits to low double digits'' said Frank Gibeau, head of the company's EA Games division.
``This acquisition accelerates us on several fronts,'' Gibeau said in an interview. ``We get an incredible pipeline of intellectual property.''
Elevation Partners, based in Menlo Park, California, is the buyout firm created by Roger McNamee, U2 singer Bono and Riccitiello. Riccitiello, who resigned as Electronic Arts' president and chief operating officer in 2004 to help start the investment firm, rejoined the game publisher in April as CEO.
