Victory Games Latest EA Studio To Be Renamed 'BioWare'

The studio responsible for handling Electronic Arts' coveted Command & Conquer franchise, Victory Games, has been renamed BioWare Victory. This now makes four EA-owned studios to be rebranded into the BioWare family in the last two years, following the renaming of Mythic Entertainment to BioWare Mythic in 2010, EA2D's transformation to BioWare San Francisco earlier this year, and just this month, social game company KlickNation being renamed BioWare Sacramento immediately after its acquisition. BioWare Victory is headed by industry veteran Jon Van Canegham, who joined EA in 2009 to oversee its Command & Conquer brand of strategy games. Canegham was the co-founder of MMO Rift publisher Trion Worlds, which he left in 2009 for undisclosed reasons. Historically, he is perhaps best known for founding New World Computing in 1983, and is often credited as the creator of the Might and Magic, King's Bounty and Heroes of Might and Magic franchises. On Saturday EA formally announced the first Command & Conquer title under developyment by BioWare Victory, titled Command & Conquer Generals 2. The game is coming exclusively to PC in 2013, and is powered by Frostbite 2, the same engine behind the company's recently released Battlefield 3. There are now eight distinct studios operating under the BioWare name. In addition to the four mentioned above, there is also the original BioWare studio in Edmonton (now called BioWare Edmonton), BioWare Austin (which ships MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic later this month), BioWare Montreal, and a customer service office called BioWare Ireland. EA acquired BioWare in 2007. The company specializes in role-playing games, and is best known for creating the Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises.