EA officially gobbles Bioware, Pandemic

Though the news was dropped on us with considerable weight last October, and was subsequently eclipsed by the slightly more mind-blowing Activision Blizzard merger, the acquisition was finalized earlier today; VG Holdings, the company that owns both Bioware and Pandemic, is officially part of the greater Electronic Arts family. Fans of industry heavy-weights like Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate can now, officially anyway, preemptively mourn the destruction of their favorite RPG franchises at the hand of the EA corporate machine.

For my part, I think it's going to be years, maybe even a decade, before EA completely commodifies the creative talents at Bioware and Pandemic. Bioware still seems confident that they can topple the existing MMO giants, and I still have confidence in their abilities to put together a marquee title. This announcement was really only a legal formality, as we've been told that most of the changes in the immediate short term have already taken place. All that's left to do is twiddle our thumbs and wait for the media emerge... sometime before the end of the decade.