With R&D costs climbing, the money spent to purchase the Renderware shop seems a bargain.
According to a 10-Q form filed with the SEC, Electronic Arts spent somewhere in the range of $48 million to buy Criterion Studios, creator of sought-after middleware technology Renderware. According to Criterion, the technology has been used in about 500 games, including the Grand Theft Auto franchise, NBA Ballers, kill.switch, and upcoming titles The Movies and Burnout 3.
While that level of spending qualifies for much more than chump change, when put in perspective, the cash outlay seems a bargain. EA's most recent quarterly report says that during the three months ending June 30, 2004, it spent over 30 percent of its net revenue, or $130.64 million, on research and development expenses. That is a whopping 43 percent more than it spent on R&D the previous year--and it makes the purchase price of Criterion Software and the Renderware toolset remarkably easy to justify.
News source: GameSpot
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