See, acquisitions aren’t all bad – while most moaned and groaned over the recent acquisition of BioWare and Pandemic by EA, it’s opened some new potential avenues. One that I find particularly interesting, which analyst Michael Pachter speculated on was that BioWare could be given the reigns to do the next RPG based on the Lord of the Rings license, which EA owns the rights to. Given the lack of success prior attempts EA has made at it, BioWare could certainly bring some credibility to the table.

From Business Week:

According to Michael Pachter, a Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst, BioWare’s prowess at designing and producing role-playing games—both original and franchise-based—could help jump-start EA projects that have so far been stuck in the mud. A prime candidate is Lord of the Rings: the White Council. “EA hasn’t been able to get it right for two and a half years now,” says Pachter. “But if BioWare takes it over, it should do very well in the marketplace,” he adds, citing the company’s previous hits with titles based on the Star Wars films, which could prove helpful for taking on Tolkien.