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Games - Friday, November 4, 2005

Elevation Partners Destroys All Humans

One of Pandemic's Big Hits

Yesterday Elevation Partners announced an investment in Pandemic Studios and BioWare Corp in deals worth more than $300M. It seems like a good move as the gaming market is in slump and Elevation may have a received better than fair deals.

So who are these game companies? Both are well-regarded games craftsmen and both generate a good deal of cash. However, given their hits business and the difficulties in attracting and retaining their skilled staffs, consolidation and availability of cash makes sense. Los Angeles-based Pandemic generated over $150M in revenues in 2004 thanks to the work of 200+ employees. CEO Andrew Goldman and President Josh Resnick are Activision refugees.

Over at Bioware in Edmonton, Canada,the company has about 260 employees. That company also has a leadership suite built for two - Greg Zeschuk & Ray Muzyka are Joint CEOs. Bioware claims that it has sold over 12M games over the past 10 years and that it has 2.7M registered users to its online game community.