Several rumors have surfaced in recent days that show that Electronic Arts is looking for a buyer for the company and has already spoken to Amazon, Apple and Disney. It even came close to merging with NBC Universal.
Last year, development studios and game publishers spent more than $100 billion on acquisitions. Microsoft spent the most, buying Activision Blizzard and Zenimax, the company that owns Bethesda. As a result, Sony bought Bungie and other small studios.
This panorama has forced several independent studios to rethink their positions. In February, Ubisoft expressed interest in acquiring, and now according to Puck websiteElectronic Arts is contacting potential buyers and is negotiating the possibility of a merger with another company.
According to Park, EA was close to merging with NBC Universal. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts considered transferring control of the company to EA CEO Andrew Wilson in a deal that could create an entertainment giant. But negotiations stalled because the two companies couldn’t agree on a price.
EA is now worth about $37 billion, which would be the second largest in the industry if acquired. The largest acquisition was Microsoft-owned Activision Blizzard, worth $69 billion, although it is still under regulatory review.
Electronic Arts is not standing still when it comes to acquisitions. Over the past 18 months, the company has spent $5 billion buying two mobile game development studios and Codemasters. But not everything is going well. The exclusive license to produce games set in the Star Wars universe will not be renewed in 2023, allowing other studios to develop games set in the same universe.
This may be why EA contacted Disney in March to strike a deal that went beyond licensing the product. But apparently Disney wasn’t very interested.
2023 will also mark the end of the deal with FIFA., which has been in existence for 25 years, for the exclusive development of the popular football game FIFA. The latest FIFA game released by EA will be released at the end of 2022. Starting next year, EA’s football game will change its name to EA Sports FC.
