EA + Studios = Bad News

Since the beginning of EA, they have bought and taken over many studios most of which have gone 10 feet under. A list compiled a couple months ago illustrates this,

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Studios opened or acquired

* 1998: EA Tiburon in Maitland, Florida

* 1999: EA Canada in Burnaby, British Columbia

* 2000: EA Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California

* 2002: EA Black Box in Vancouver, British Columbia

* 2004: Criterion Software in Guildford, United Kingdom

* 2004: Digital Illusions CE in Stockholm, Sweden

* 2004: EA China in Shanghai, China

* 2004: EA Montreal in Montreal, Quebec

* 2005: EA Mobile

* 2005: EA Redwood Shores in Redwood City, California

* 2005: EA Singapore

* 2006: EA Mobile India, Hyderabad, India

* 2006: EA Mythic in Fairfax, Virginia

* 2006: EA Phenomic in Ingelheim, Germany

* 2006: EA Salt Lake in Bountiful, Utah (Formerly Headgate Studios)

* 2007: EA Casual Entertainment

* 2007: EIS (European Integration Studio) in Madrid, Spain

* 2007: BioWare Corp. in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and Austin, Texas

* 2007: Pandemic Studios in Los Angeles, California and Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

* 2007: EA UK, relocated to Guildford from Chertsey

* 2008: EA Korea in Seoul, South Korea

* 2008: EA Studio in Bucharest, Romania

Studios closed

* 1998: Original HQ in San Mateo, California - moved to Redwood City

* 2000: EA Baltimore in Baltimore, Maryland - established in 1996 as part of Origin

* 2001: Kesmai (known also as GameStorm); acquired in 1999

* 2001: Bullfrog Productions in Surrey, England - acquired in 1995

* 2002: EA Seattle in Seattle, Washington - formerly Manley & Associates, acquired in 1996

* 2003: Westwood Studios in Las Vegas, Nevada - acquired in 1998

* 2003: EA Pacific (known for a time as Westwood Pacific) in Irvine, California - formerly part of Virgin Interactive, acquired with Westwood in 1998

* 2004: Origin Systems in Austin, Texas - acquired in 1992

* 2004: Maxis in Walnut Creek, California - acquired in 1997, moved to Redwood City

* 2006: DICE Canada in London, Ontario (created Battlefield 2: Special Forces expansion, Battlefield Vietnam, and all BF2 patches). Acquired DICE fully October 2, 2006; closed DICE Canada studio hours later.

* 2007: EA Japan in Tokyo, Japan - closed due to consolidation; moved under EA Partners model

* 2007: EA UK in Chertsey, United Kingdom, relocated to Guildford

* 2007: EA Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. Closed due to failure to meet profit targets.

This is something that has terrorized many gamers for the fact that what if their favorite studio was taken over? Chances were that EA would drive them right into the dirt. If EA were to take over Take-Two, they would not only be buying Grand Theft Auto, but the whole entire gaming sports market. They would also acquire a mass amount of stock that is currently invested into Ubisoft and would be only feet away from dominating our precious gaming market. Sadly, I believe in another year, EA will have made this goal if we gamers don't stand up for our right! Don't buy EA published games! Go around it, if you catch me, but reject EA games and show we care. Leave Take-Two and leave healthy competition in place so you can't just raise prices to $60-$70 when there is no one to have a low costing product. Good luck EA, you'll need it.

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