quote:EA Buys Criterion
In a surprising move, Electronic Arts announced today the purchase of UK-based developer Criterion. This not only gives EA the intellectual properties Burnout and Black, but more importantly, the widely-used RenderWare platform. No financial details were revealed, but it was clearly outlined that EA has acquired all aspects of the company. Criterion CEO David Lau-Kee commented, "Combining EA's tools and technology libraries with the existing RenderWare technologies will create a superior platform for game development." Another upside is that this deal gives EA an inside edge on next-generation console development as they are now in complete control of Criterion's RenderWare 4 platform, their next-gen dev system.
[url="http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?comments=32828"]Shacknews[/url]
[url="http://gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?section_name=dev&aid=3879"]Gamesindustry.biz[/url]
Like the Gamesindustry.biz article mentions, this puts EA in a rather strange position of having to provide their core technology to their competition and rivals. There's also the issue of having to deal with licensing details and sensitive information (sales numbers?) to another publisher..
Shacknews mentions that Renderware is used in 20% of the games released today, so it's rather big news with some possible ramifications. It poses the question "is this is really healthy for the industry ?". Publishers seem to hold most of the cards in the games industry at the moment, with their record profits ([url="http://www.gamerseurope.com/news/2192"]EA[/url], [url="http://www.gamerseurope.com/news/2190"]Activision[/url]), numerous game developer aquisitions (while diluting/downsizing others to increase profits). Is buying popular middleware the next step towards an even tighter grip on the industry?
I would have thought that Criterion would be doing rather well with the current success of Renderware that a buy out wouldn't be necessary. The mind boggles at the profits EA will gather from upcoming renderware titles like the next Grand Theft Auto, and the savings they will have since they have no licensing costs of Renderware to deal with. I wonder if they're eyeing Havok at the moment!
I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts and preminitions on the matter. EA buying Renderware, good or bad thing?
They are pretty weird/cool. I had no idea those sort of creatures existed.
Thanks for the link!
this one reminds me of Sagas of Ryzom a little.
http://alexkorol.home.comcast.net/references/fish/chimaera_pup.jpg