EA beefs up EA Sports with acquisition of Super Mega Baseball dev Metalhead Software

Electronic Arts has acquired Metalhead Software, the Canada-based developer behind the Super Mega Baseball series. The exact price of that acquisition was not disclosed.

EA angles the deal as a way to bolster its long-running EA Sports division through the addition of an established sports-minded developer like Metalhead, which has spent the last 10 years working on games in its Super Mega Baseball series.

On the Metalhead side, EA promises that its resources will allow the team to both expand the Super Mega Baseball franchise while also working toward "new and engaging entertainment sports experiences" in the future.

"Our team has worked hard over the years to refine a formula that uniquely mixes an arcade-style with deep on-field gameplay and innovative co-operative and competitive multiplayer experiences,” reads a statement from Metalhead co-founder Scott Drader. “In this next chapter, we’re excited to leverage EA’s power and reach to bring our titles to a broader audience and to take some ambitious next steps in the development of our future titles.”

If you've been keeping an eye on EA this year, you'll know that this is only the latest in a string of acquisitions made by EA across different corners of its business, but the second one that seeks to grow EA Sports thanks to its $1.2 billion acquisition of Dirt dev Codemasters earlier this year. Since closing that deal, EA has also inked the $2.1 billion acquisition of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood dev Glu Mobile, a move that joins several other hires and changes meant to reinvigorate EA's efforts in mobile games.