Leading Social RPG Developer Joins EA's BioWare Label to Lead Growth
in Core Social Gaming
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced the acquisition of
KlickNation, a developer of free-to-play social role-playing games
(RPGs). The acquisition further strengthens EA's position as a leader in
social games, increasing the company's expertise and technological
resources in the fast-growing core social games genre. KlickNation is
now BioWare Sacramento, part of EA's BioWare™ label. The team joins
BioWare's existing social gaming team at BioWare San Francisco to form a
new business unit, BioWare Social, focused on the development of RPG
experiences for social networks and led by former KlickNation CEO Mark
Otero.
"KlickNation's expertise in building innovative and compelling RPGs for
social platforms makes them a seamless tuck-in with the BioWare team at
EA," said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Senior Vice President and General Manager of
EA's BioWare label. "We share the same creative values. The new BioWare
Social unit will bring BioWare and EA franchises to the growing audience
of core gamers who are looking for high quality, rich gameplay
experiences on social platforms."
"While developing social RPG experiences, we held BioWare as a role
model for storytelling and game design," said Mark Otero, General
Manager, BioWare Social and co-founder of KlickNation. "Joining with
BioWare and EA is an opportunity to realize our vision for bringing
high-quality RPG titles to the fast-growing, highly-engaged core gamers
looking for deeper experiences on social platforms."
KlickNation develops and publishes games for social platforms including
Facebook®. Known for combining in-depth storylines with high-quality
graphics, KlickNation has consistently delivered repeated breakthroughs
in the social RPG genre since the release of its first game in 2009. SuperHero
City was the first social game to feature animated battles; Age
of Champions introduced the first mass combat battle system in a
social game; and Six Gun Galaxy uses a newly-developed engine to
deliver a completely flash-based isometric game experience.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) is a global leader in digital interactive
entertainment. The Company's game franchises are offered as both
packaged goods products and online services delivered through
Internet-connected consoles, personal computers, mobile phones and
tablets. EA has more than 100 million registered players and operates in
75 countries.
In fiscal year 2011, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.6 billion.
Headquartered in Redwood City, California, EA is recognized for
critically acclaimed, high-quality blockbuster franchises such as The
Sims™, Madden NFL, FIFA Soccer, Need for Speed™, Battlefield, and Mass
Effect™. More information about EA is available at http://info.ea.com.
About BioWare
The BioWare label is a division of EA which crafts high quality,
multiplatform role-playing, MMO and strategy games, focused on
emotionally engaging, rich stories with unforgettable characters and
vast worlds to discover. Since 1995, BioWare has created some of the
world's most critically acclaimed titles and franchises, including Baldur's
Gate™, Neverwinter Nights™, Star Wars®: Knights of
the Old Republic™, Jade Empire™, Mass Effect and Dragon
Age™. BioWare currently operates in eight locations across the
world, including Edmonton (Alberta, Canada), Montreal (Quebec, Canada),
Austin (Texas), Fairfax (Virginia), San Francisco (California), Los
Angeles (California), Galway (Ireland) and Sacramento (California).
In 2008, BioWare was acquired by Electronic Arts, a leading global
interactive entertainment publisher. In 2011 EA created the BioWare
Label, alongside EA Games, EA SPORTS™ and EA Play. For more information
on BioWare, visit www.bioware.com,
or follow us on Twitter® at www.twitter.com/biofeed.
To join the millions of fans already registered with the BioWare
community, go to http://social.bioware.com.
The Sims, Need for Speed and EA SPORTS are trademarks of Electronic Arts
Inc. BioWare, Dragon Age, Jade Empire and Mass Effect are trademarks of
EA International (Studio and Publishing) Ltd. KlickNation, Age of
Champions, SuperHero City and Six Gun Galaxy are trademarks of
KlickNation Corporation. John Madden, NFL and FIFA are trademarks of
their respective owners and used with permission. Facebook is a
registered trademark of Facebook, Inc. Twitter is a registered trademark
of Twitter, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.
EA Corporate Communications
John Reseburg, 650-628-3601
jreseburg@ea.com
Source: Electronic Arts Inc.
News Provided by Acquire Media