EA Exec Admits Company's Acquisition History Is "Spotty At Best"

Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen has admitted that the Battlefield and FIFA company's history of acquisitions has been "spotty at best." Speaking this week at the UBS Global Technology Conference, Jorgensen provided new insight into EA's take on partnerships, geographic expansion, and acquisition opportunities as a means to grow its business.

"Clearly, geographic expansion is very important for us and we'll look for ways to do that as efficiently as possible," he said. "In markets where it's really hard to operate as a standalone business, like China, having a partner like Tencent is very powerful there because you can leverage their reach and their client base. But in markets where we can go it alone, we'll certainly try to go it alone."

EA is working with Tencent for FIFA Online 3 in China. On the subject of acquisitions specifically, Jorgensen said EA is approaching this cautiously in the wake of some deals that didn't go well.

"[We're also] always looking at potential acquisitions. Our history obviously with acquisitions has been spotty at best, so I would say there is an extra level of caution around that," he said. "We also believe we have the ability to do it ourselves in many cases, or hire people to do it. So we're careful about acquisitions. But we're going to continue to look for those opportunities and having a strong base globally allows us to be able to do that."

Jorgensen did not provide any additional details around EA's "spotty" acquisition history. However, it's likely he's referring to the number of studio buyouts that didn't work out for one reason or another. Kotaku has a roundup of all the studios that EA has purchased and then shut down; these include teams like Mythic, Bullfrog, Origin, Pandemic, Black Box, and most recently Maxis Emeryville.

For more on Jorgensen's presentation this week, check out the stories below.

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• PS4/Xbox One Sales to Reach 50-51 Million Units By End of 2015, EA Exec Predicts