Back in November, Electronic Arts announced its intention to acquire Titanfall developer Respawn Entertainment. And as of Dec. 1, the acquisition has been formally completed.
Now, the two companies are officially one. The $400 million deal will likely be a good move for the companies going forward, especially following Electronic Arts’ shuttering of Visceral Games in October. The acquisition of Respawn will hopefully mean a new start and the heralding of new Titanfall titles as well as the prospect of new IPs in the future.
Upon completion of the deal, Respawn received $151 million in cash, as well as $164 million in stock options. It also received $140 million to be paid out after the company reaches important, performance-related milestones related to future projects coming down the line.
Originally, EA bid in tandem with the Korean publisher Nexon to purchase Respawn outright. Respawn had previously worked with Nexon on entries in the mobile Titanfall game series. Nexon had made a public offer to purchase the company before EA made a larger offer to outbid them.
Respawn was founded in 2010 by Jason West and Vince Zampella, who is noted for his prior contributions to the development of Call of Duty titles via studio Infinity Ward. The company’s only works so far have been Titanfall, Titanfall 2, the untitled virtual reality project coming down the line as well as what we all assume will end up as Titanfall 3. Titanfall did end up spawning a mobile title called Titanfall: Assault, but there doesn’t appear to be any current plans for new mobile entries in the series just yet.
Respawn Entertainment is still hard at work on the third entry in the Titanfall series, though it’s also working on a new virtual reality-based title for Oculus Rift. Now that it’s working under the EA umbrella, it should have far more opportunities for new IPs and sequels going forward. As far as what its future projects will entail, however, we expect to learn more in the months ahead.
