EA acquires Hypnotix
That's Hypnotix, not Harmonix.
New Jersey-based development studio Hypnotix has become the latest firm to be acquired by leading publisher Electronic Arts, with the team being relocated to Orlando to work on a new game franchise based on the Arena Football League.
Hypnotix (not to be confused with Harmonix, developer of titles such as FreQuency and Amplitude) is best known as the developer of the Outlaw series of sports games, which were published by budget label Global Star - a subsidiary of Take-Two, EA's main rival in the sports videogame space.
The team is being relocated to be closer to EA's massive EA Tiburon Studios operation in Orlando, and 35 out of the company's 40 staff are reported to have accepted the relocation deal.
They'll be going straight to work on an Arena Football League game, which is expected to launch alongside the new season of the AFL itself in February. EA picked up the exclusive rights to the AFL at the start of this year, just a few weeks after firing a warning shot over the bows of its rivals in the sports game sector with the signing of an exclusive licensing deal with the much larger NFL.
