With rumors that Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is for sale, the gaming giant Electronic Arts has commented on its general approach towards studio buying. As part of the company’s latest earnings briefing, EA chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen, who controls the company’s money, said EA is “more interested than ever” in buying studios. He declined to comment specifically on Warner Bros. but noted that EA, as one of the largest gaming companies on the planet, is generally in the mix when studios go on sale.
“It is very rare that we do not have the opportunity to see anything that is for sale,” Jorgensen said. “Can you imagine … people call us and say that we are thinking of selling the business or we are thinking of selling ourselves. We are a place that many people want to come as a long-term home if they choose to sell the business. We have to see almost everything. “
Jorgensen said “he cannot comment on any specific acquisition,” but noted that EA’s acquisitions in the past come from long-standing partnerships. EA is not necessarily interested in purchasing a studio to obtain its portfolio of games; instead, he wants to invest in talent. All this surely seems that EA is not going after Warner Bros.
“As you have seen in the past, where we have done our best is where we have long term relationships with people and we are really trying to buy great talent versus games,” he said. “I think Respawn is a classic example of that. We were able to bring them into the fold and give them incredible support and it was all driven by the fact that they have incredible talent. It was not Titanfall, without offending Titanfall. It is an incredible game and maybe you’ll see Titanfall sometime along the way. But it was really about the team. “
EA worked with Respawn for years on the Titanfall franchise before buying the company in 2016 for hundreds of millions of dollars. Respawn has continued to perform well in recent years, releasing the popular Apex Legends battle royale game and the highly successful Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
Looking ahead, Jorgensen said EA will “always” be looking for new creative equipment to acquire. However, EA may not make any acquisitions soon, in part because of how the global pandemic has led companies to enjoy great fortunes and are less likely to sell.
But overall, Jorgensen said EA is “more interested than ever because we see talent, and building great new franchises is critical to the long-term growth of the business.”
In addition to EA, Take-Two, Activision and Microsoft have expressed some level of interest in exploring a WBIE purchase. The company publishes titles like Batman: Arkham Knight, Middle-earth: Shadow of War, and Mortal Kombat 11, among many others.
