So Electronic Arts (EA) has bought Bioware and Pandemic for $855 million. And venture capitalists Elevation walk away with a big pot full of money.

This seems to make sense. EA are breaking away from their roots of sports games and film franchises to a broader approach across all genres and platforms. This acquisition gives them a good stake in RPGs and action titles. And with 5 releases a year there is a great product stream. EA need to do this to entrench their position at a time when big global media companies are motoring into gaming and when economies of scale make globalisation and industry consolidation a fact.

The other big publishers, Take Two, Activision etc need to take notice if they are to survive.

Elevation exit with a big profit after financing the explosive growth. Now they have a large pot to play with they will be investing again. This is what they do. And that investment has a very good chance of being in the gaming industry, where they can use all the expertise they have built up. Look for Elevation making some big game industry investments soon, which could be good for the industry.

And what is your take on this continuing consolidation?