Local Games Company Acquired By EA

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – A local social gaming company has been acquired by one of the largest video game publishers in the world.

Midtown Sacramento-based KlickNation has been acquired by entertainment giant Electronic Arts (EA) and will be renamed BioWare Sacramento, joining a new business unit focused on social, online gaming, the company announced in a press release Thursday.

KlickNation had experienced rapid growth within the past year, hiring dozens of new employees and launching a number of games that have attracted millions of players through Facebook. The success of the company stood in stark contrast to the rest of the Sacramento hiring market, which has seen thousands of jobs lost in recent years.

The terms of the acquisition wasn't made available Thursday afternoon.

BioWare is a division of EA that focuses on role-playing, strategy, and massively multiplayer online (MMO) games that has produced games like the Mass Effect series and the upcoming game Star Wars: The Old Republic.

EA recently released another edition of the Battlefield franchise and earned $3.6 billion in revenue in the 2011 fiscal year.