EA rides on time

Buys Black Box Games

Posted by Staff
EA rides on time
Sorry about the pun kids. We’re old don’t you know.

Electronic Arts has announced that it has fully acquired respected development studio Black Box games. The 100 strong company, best known for the Need for Speed games and the ability to develop for Sega on Sega Soccer Slam.

"Black Box Games is a studio full of highly-talented and creative people," said Paul Lee, Senior Vice President and COO of Electronic Arts Worldwide Studios. They have an impressive track record for developing multiple titles across several platforms. This acquisition brings us a powerhouse team to work on future titles for the Sony PlayStation 2 console, Nintendo GameCube and Xbox system from Microsoft.”

It is widely expected that EA will initially use Black Box to bolster the FIFA development, currently underway at the firm’s Canadian office. Black Box will also bring its know-how to EA’s driving game offering. Driving games from EA, the world’s biggest third-party publisher, have always under-achieved and the firm hopes that the acquisition of Black Box will rectify this.

"We have had a great relationship with EA as an outside developer for several years," said Paul Tremblay, CEO of Black Box Games. "This next big step of becoming part of the world's largest and most talented game development studio is an absolute thrill and certainly the biggest reward for producing high quality titles over the past four years."

The move also sends a shot, albeit a small one, across the boughs of the good ship Sega. EA was noticeably shaken at being so completely overshadowed by Sega, and especially Sega Sports, at this year’s E3.

We’ll tell you exactly what’s going to spew forth from EA’s latest addition, as soon as we find out.

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