BioWare - Too Expensive?

Next Gen has an article that discusses the $860M price tag for BioWare/Pandemic with several analysts, raising the outrageous idea that Riccitiello might have paid too much.  Luckily, analysts are good at backing both sides:

“We really like EA’s acquisition of BioWare/Pandemic, but the price paid ($860 million) on surface seems high to us—more than $1 million per developer,” he said in an investor note Friday. “That being said, if EA can generate mid-teens ROI or higher (as per its plan), the acquisition should be nicely accretive and worth the price. We may have to wait a few years to find out, though.”

Bhatia also said that in light of Disney’s recent $350 million acquisition of Club Penguin makes the BioWare/Pandemic deal appear more reasonable.

On the other hand, Gamasutra's group of analysts think the acquisition is "prudent", in part because one of them speculates BioWare's MMO is Star Wars-based:

Citi's Brent Thill noted that the "industry is buzzing over [BioWare's] mystery MMO," predicting, "based on past development work" that Bioware is quietly working on the Star Wars MMO. As said, Thill calls the potential of the title a "strong positive" for the publisher, and one that "bolsters [its] MMO exposure."