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[Poetic.Injustice]

Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen has admitted that the Battlefield and FIFA company's history of acquisitions has been "spotty at best." Speaking this week at the UBS Global Technology Conference, Jorgensen provided new insight into EA's take on partnerships, geographic expansion, and acquisition opportunities as a means to grow its business.

"Clearly, geographic expansion is very important for us and we'll look for ways to do that as efficiently as possible," he said. "In markets where it's really hard to operate as a standalone business, like China, having a partner like Tencent is very powerful there because you can leverage their reach and their client base. But in markets where we can go it alone, we'll certainly try to go it alone."

"[We're also] always looking at potential acquisitions. Our history obviously with acquisitions has been spotty at best, so I would say there is an extra level of caution around that," he said. "We also believe we have the ability to do it ourselves in many cases, or hire people to do it. So we're careful about acquisitions. But we're going to continue to look for those opportunities and having a strong base globally allows us to be able to do that."

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ea-exec-admits-companys-acquisition-history-is-spo/1100-6432366/

 

[Felix Lighter]

I imagine him talking about this while that image of the studios being drag out back and shot is on the slide projector.

 

[Warxard]

The first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem.

 

[CertifiedFP]

I imagine him talking about this while that image of the studios being drag out back and shot is on the slide projector.

The first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem.

Unfortunately, I don't think he's talking about them killing studios, but rather buying studios that didn't bring enough value in to expand the company.

I mean, the context of this seems to be about acquiring studios in order to expand their sphere of influence into new markets.

 

[BennyBlanco]

RIP Westwood

 

[Warxard]

Unfortunately, I don't think he's talking about them killing studios, but rather buying studios that didn't bring enough value in to expand the company.

I mean, the context of this seems to be about acquiring studios in order to expand their sphere of influence into new markets.

In that case I could argue that PopCap did a better job in expanding EA for the better than, say, Maxis.

 

[Azalean]

 

[Syf]

RIP Westwood

This still hurts the most.

 

[daTRUballin]

I can't believe they would admit something like that ._.

Doesn't that make the company look bad?

 

[FireBeaver]

All the studios EA has bought and shut down.

 

[CertifiedFP]

Once more, he's saying this to investors in the context that a lot of their acquisitions only wasted money, not that it was a mistake to kill the studios. To the investors, killing the studios was the Solution, not the Problem.

 

[Riki]

Spotty is a weird way of saying "gutting and destroying".

 

[RE_Player]

All the studios EA has bought and shut down.

EA hasn't shut down all of those studios.

 

[Mr_eX]

All the studios EA has bought and shut down.

Visceral is still making games

Edit
You swapped the pic

 

[Warxard]

All the studios EA has bought and shut down.

Hey there, I post on /v/ too!

 

[Elija2]

All the studios EA has bought and shut down.

I like how this says that DICE died in 2004 and then lists Mirror's Edge as one of their standout games even though it came out years later.

 

[graywolf323]

All the studios EA has bought and shut down.

LucasArts is a victim of Lucas not EA...

 

[sn00zer]

Lucas Arts actually seems the most well off since they seem very willing to let other people make HD remakes of the adventure games they own. Also Lucas Arts was shit for literally a decade

 

[Mutanthands]

All the studios EA has bought and shut down.

There's enough blood on EA's hands to have a legitimate beef with them without this thing. Half of this GIF is bullshit.

 

[androvsky]

Lucas Arts actually seems the most well off since they seem very willing to let other people make HD remakes of the adventure games they own. Also Lucas Arts was shit for literally a decade

Being bought by Disney and not EA probably helps some.

 

[xk0sm0sx]

Oh man that classic logo of Maxis brings me tears

 

[wbEMX]

All the studios EA has bought and shut down.

Wow, this picture assumes the studios immediately "died" after they were bought by EA. DICE was bought in 2004 -> Oohhhh, nooo, they're dead! That's silly AND bullshit, too. Oh, and didn't Disney close LucasArts, and not EA?

 

[HK-47]

All the studios EA has bought and shut down.

/v/ makes the worst graphical lists.

 

[JoseLopez]

All the studios EA has bought and shut down.

What a dumb image EA wasn't even involved with 1313 or Lucas arts shutting down

 

[wheeplash]

Ice fucking cold.

 

[Tripon]

DICE L.A. was shut down, not DICE proper.

 

[Nirolak]

DICE L.A. was shut down, not DICE proper.

http://www.dice.se/jobs/

DICE in LA
Gameplay Designer – DICE LA
Level Designer – Singleplayer – DICE LA
Design Line Manager – DICE LA
Level designer – Multiplayer – DICE LA
Sr Technical Animator – DICE LA
Sr Lighter – DICE LA
Sr Concept Artist – DICE LA

 

[legacyzero]

So the logical would be to close those doors, lay off great creative minds, artists, etc, and KEEP those acquisitions rolling in.....

JlawOK.gif

 

[weekev]

All the studios EA has bought and shut down.

I wouldn't mind if they used the IPs they aquired and created a great game with it, but to date I cant think of an example where this has happened.

 

[Tripon]

http://www.dice.se/jobs/

DICE in LA
Gameplay Designer – DICE LA
Level Designer – Singleplayer – DICE LA
Design Line Manager – DICE LA
Level designer – Multiplayer – DICE LA
Sr Technical Animator – DICE LA
Sr Lighter – DICE LA
Sr Concept Artist – DICE LA

Huh. Must be thinking of a different LA studio that EA owned.

 

[mysteriousmage09]

I wouldn't mind if they used the IPs they aquired and created a great game with it, but to date I cant think of an example where this has happened.

Oh come now, who can forget the glorious return Dungeon Keeper had. Game was amazing!

 

[TheLostBigBoss]

"We're running out of shotgun shells and the barn has too many holes in the back of it"

 

[Morrigan Stark]

There's enough blood on EA's hands to have a legitimate beef with them without this thing. Half of this GIF is bullshit.

Yup, this. DICE didn't die (Mirrors Edge came out after their so-called year of death), Bioware is still around, LucasArts wasn't killed off by EA, etc.

 

[Nirolak]

To note, this is actually what got JR fired.

He'd always spend their spare cash on acquisitions.

Now they just give their spare cash back to shareholders.

 

[privitsan02]

All the studios EA has bought and shut down.

This is a pretty dumb picture. Now I don't like EA either, but a lot of things in that picture are just straight up false and intentionally antagonizing them.

A lot of the games that caused their studios to shut down also weren't good either/their run of releases weren't good, Black Box for example.

I do expect Ghosts EA to close down very soon if NFS doesn't succeed sales wise. From the looks of things, it probably won't meet their internal projections either, given its relatively soft launch in the UK and rather poor reception critically.

Best wishes.

 

[Dangansona]

Oh come now, who can forget the glorious return Dungeon Keeper had. Game was amazing!

Do microtransaction prompts get more painful than that?

 

[ComputerBlue]

Pandemic still hurts.

I want another Saboteur.

 

[Eusis]

LucasArts is a victim of Lucas not EA...

This. The only thing EA was guilty of was the watered down Battlefront arguably, and I wonder if that's more watered down relative to modern shooter expectations or relative to Battlefront itself (though I can believe that one.)

 

[Renekton]

To note, this is actually what got JR fired.

He'd always spend their spare cash on acquisitions.

Now they just give their spare cash back to shareholders.

Unless gaming is sunset industry, I thought it was good idea to reinvest into plugging lineup gaps.

 

[Ralemont]

According to that stupid pic, BioWare died in 2007. I wonder who made GAF's 2010 GOTY, then?

 

[Jigorath]

Bioware has been one of their most successful acquisitions.

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

All the studios EA has bought and shut down.

i've been softening my view on EA for awhile then you show me this, and it all comes streaming back.

RIP Bullfrog, damn I want another Theme Hospital.

 

[weekev]

Oh come now, who can forget the glorious return Dungeon Keeper had. Game was amazing!

I stand corrected. Never has there been a better example of an exploitation game, pioneering scummy new genres.

 

[Trojan]

Unless gaming is sunset industry, I thought it was good idea to reinvest into plugging lineup gaps.

You're absolutely right, but if those companies don't produce return on investment then someone will die by that sword. I didn't realize that was Ritticello's downfall, but it makes total sense.

Shocking how Pincus is still around at Zynga after all their piss-poor acquisitions. I just read that he has reinstated himself as CEO now, which is laughable.