$48 million price-tag on EA's Criterion purchase
New details of EA's acquisition of British game developer and middleware solutions creator Criterion have emerged in the publisher's quarterly 10-Q filing, revealing that the deal was done for a purchase price of $48 million.
New details of EA's acquisition of British game developer and middleware solutions creator Criterion have emerged in the publisher's quarterly 10-Q filing, revealing that the deal was done for a purchase price of $48 million.
According to a subsequent event note in the filing, the company was bought "for an approximate purchase price of $48 million, plus the assumption of outstanding stock options under certain stock option plans and certain liabilities due to Canon Europe."
While Criterion is not believed to be a major moneyspinner at the moment, that's still an impressively low price to pay for the RenderWare technology which will give EA a crucial competitive advantage in next-generation console development - and, of course, the Burnout and Black game franchises.
The RenderWare technology is currently used in around one in four game titles in development, and has been used by the majority of major publishers in the industry. At present, however, RenderWare is not sold on a royalty basis, so unless a change is made to the business model, EA will not be receiving royalties from the sale of its competitors products - although it will receive flat fee income from their development.