EA acquires Criterion - RenderWare to power giant's future

As Electronic Arts continues to strive towards the inevitable oligopolisation of the games publishing industry, it has taken another bold step in asserting its central position. As announced today, EA has acquired development studio Criterion in its entirety. This deal will therefore include Renderware middleware technology, as well as all rights to the upcoming FPS: Black, supplementing the Burnout name which had been snatched up several months prior.

EA has confirmed that it will continue to license out Renderware, and indeed Renderware 4: for next-gen purposes, to its competitors. This will mean that the large number of publishers and developers who make use of this middleware will actually have to hand cash over directly to EA. That’s got to be a difficult pill to swallow!

For fairly obvious reasons, EA is well-pleased with its new toy: and will no doubt be reaping the financial rewards in the near future. Similarly, Criterion is very positive about the role of its new guardian angel. Given access to the vast resources of a corporation as big as EA, its development and technological skills should go from strength to strength.