Respawn Entertainment Acquired by EA

EA has announced that it will be acquiring Respawn Entertainment, the creators of the Titanfall franchise.

Titanfall and Titanfall 2 were both published by EA. Along with these two games, the studio is also developing a new Star Wars game that will be published by EA. They will pay Respawn $151 million in cash as well as up to $164 million as restricted stock units for employees.

In their announcement post, EA had this to say about acquiring the studio:

“We’ve seen firsthand the world-class caliber of Respawn as a development studio with incredible vision, deep talent and an inspiring creative mindset,” said Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts. “Our longtime partnership is grounded in a shared desire to push the boundaries and deliver extraordinary and innovative new experiences for players around the world. Together, we’ve brought this to life in the Titanfall franchise, and now with the Respawn team joining EA, we have exciting plans to accomplish even more amazing things in the future.”

Additionally, Respawn founder Vince Zampell posted a letter to fans about the partnership:

“While it wasn’t necessary, going with EA made a lot of sense. With Titanfall and Star Wars, EA has been a great development partner that supports us and doesn’t interfere with our process for making games or studio culture. EA will provide us with more resources, access to new technologies, and expertise that we can tap into to that will help us make better games, and Respawn will retain the same creative freedom and culture we’ve always had. We’ve been talking closely with the leadership at EA and we share their values and vision for the future of being a developer-focused company that puts the players first.”

To check out Zampell’s full letter, click here. EA’s full post on the deal can found here.