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Digital Illusions CE

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Digital Illusions CE

<tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align:center; padding:16px 0 16px 0;">Image:Dice.gif</td></tr>

Type Subsidiary of Electronic Arts
Founded 1988
Headquarters Stockholm, Sweden

<tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Key people</th><td>Patrick Söderlund, General Manager</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Industry</th><td>Computer and Video game</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Revenue</th><td>47 million SEK</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Parent</th><td>Electronic Arts, Inc</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Website</th><td>http://www.dice.se</td></tr>

For other uses of "DICE", see Dice (disambiguation).

Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment (DICE) is a Swedish video game developer, wholly owned by Electronic Arts, best known for the Battlefield video game series.

Contents

[edit] History

DICE was started by members of the former demo group The Silents. All members came from the small towns of Alvesta and Växjö in Sweden. The Silents' work is still visible in some DICE games. For example, The Silents used the acronym TSL; this acronym is visible in Motorhead on banners and signs. According to the Motorhead manual, TSL is said to stand for "Trans-atlantic Speed League", a case of a backronym.

For an extended period of time, while the employees were also students at Växjö University, the company's office consisted of a small dorm room. During those days the company developed popular pinball games for the Amiga 500, such as Pinball Dreams, Pinball Fantasies and Pinball Illusions.

In 1998 the company was registered on the Swedish stock exchange and has since experienced tremendous growth. Although Codename Eagle received a small cult following, the biggest break for DICE Software was the release of Battlefield 1942 and its sequels and expansions. The Battlefield series jumpstarted their popularity. In 2004 the total value of the company was estimated at approximately USD$55 million.

[edit] Expansion

In January 2000, the company bought Refraction Games and 90% of Synergenix Interactive. This was followed in March 2001 by the acquisition of Sandbox Studios in London, Ontario, Canada.

[edit] EA's acquisition

In November 2004, Electronic Arts announced their intent to purchase all outstanding shares in Digital Illusions at a price of 61 SEK per share. The board of directors of Digital Illusions recommended that the Company's shareholders accept the offer. Electronic Arts owned 62 percent of Digital Illusions on March 31 2005.

On March 17 2006 DICE issued a press release stating that the company will be merged with EA. The shareholders were offered 67.50 SEK per share. The board of directors recommended that the shareholders accept the offer. The merger had to be formally accepted by shareholders at the annual general meeting on May 24, however EA already owned the majority of the shares.

On October 2 2006 EA completed the acquisition for 67.50 SEK per share for 2.6 million shares, for a total of 175.5 million SEK. DICE became an EA studio, and CEO Patrick Soderlund became an EA Studio General Manager.<ref>"EA Completes DICE Acquisition", Gamers.com, GX Media, 2006-10-02. Retrieved on 2006-10-02.</ref> DICE Canada was closed down immediately upon acquisition.<ref>"EA Closes DICE Canada Offices", Gamasutra, CMP Media LLC, 2006-10-05. Retrieved on 2006-10-10.</ref>

[edit] Games

[edit] Amiga

[edit] Microsoft Xbox

[edit] Microsoft Xbox 360

[edit] Nintendo GameCube

[edit] Nintendo Game Boy Advance

[edit] Nintendo Game Boy Color

[edit] PC (DOS and Microsoft Windows)

[edit] Sony PlayStation

[edit] Sony PlayStation 2

[edit] Sony PlayStation 3

[edit] Sega Saturn


[edit] Notes

<references />

[edit] External links

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