EA completes BioWare, Pandemic deal

Electronic Arts' acquisition of VG Holding Corporation has now been completed, meaning that highly-rated studios BioWare and Pandemic have now officially become part of the EA set-up.

The deal was originally announced last October, and generated a lot of attention at the time - but although the move was significant, more recent developments involving the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games in December has stolen its thunder somewhat.

Two execs from each of BioWare and Pandemic have been named EA vice presidents and co-general managers of their respective studios.

They are for BioWare Corp Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, and for Pandemic Studios Andrew Goldman and Josh Resnick. Greg Borrud has been named a vice president of EA and made chief production officer for Pandemic.

All five will receive a hefty of common EA stock to the five in a combination of retention and performance incentives, amounting around 2.8 million shares in total.

The company also reiterated that a number of original intellectual properties were now under development for EA, including Dragon Age, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames and Saboteur.