Electronic Arts Buys A Stake In UbiSoft Entertainment

Oh my! For me this is bad news. I have been so proud of our European game companies. I must admit that UbiSoft has not been gushing cash but they have very strong slate of games. They are a sizeable game company so why this move? Can company of this magnitude still benefit from the benefits of scale (EA is about 6 times bigger than Ubisoft)? What can EA bring for UbiSoft? Layoffs maybe? Will EA eventually acquire all of UbiSoft? Uh, really hard to say what is behind this move. If I have to guess, I would say that Electronic Arts simply wants to buy some more market share and UbiSoft owners want to cash in after work (investment) well-done. So, sorry folks - no mysterious agendas here, unless EA wants to introduce their notorious working conditions in UbiSoft's development teams (heh, I just had to bring this up).

Ok, but the most important question must be WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE SETTLERS SERIES? I have some fond memories of listening Orbital while looking over my little settlers as they chop down trees and build the village.