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EA backing off buying companies, from here on out

The publisher most famous for studio acquisitions now not so hot on them, and wants to spend more effort on growing its internal capabilities.

Christian Nutt, Contributor

December 2, 2014

1 Min Read
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"I think our history with acquisitions is somewhat marginal in performance. We have some that are spectacular, and some that didn't do so well."

- EA's CFO, Blake Jorgensen Speaking at the Credit Suisse Annual Technology Conference today, as reported by GamesIndustry.biz, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said that the company has "great opportunities inside our organization" and will cease making acquisitions a focus. Over the years, the publisher has picked up a number of companies. Notable examples include Maxis, Origin, and Westwood in the 1990s, and more recently Playfish and BioWare, two purchases which each cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars. More big acquisitions like that do not look to be in the cards: "It's a headcount business, right? You're buying headcount, and that's always difficult to manage in acquisitions. It doesn't mean we won't do them, but I think where we've been most successful is in smaller acquisitions that we've integrated very quickly," Jorgensen said.

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