DICE (company)

History

Four friends who had previously worked together in the Amiga demogroup The Silents founded Digital Illusions in May 1992. The founders were Olof "Olle" Gustafsson, Markus Nyström, Fredrik Liljegren, and Andreas Axelsson, all of whom had studied at Växjö University, leading the company to be set up in that city. In 2000, DICE bought Refraction Games, the studio behind Codename Eagle, and through that deal gained the Battlefield 1942 project that was still being developed.

Patrick Söderlund, who had started Refraction Games in 1997, then took over as DICE's chief executive officer. The following year, in April 2001, Sandbox Studios merged with DICE, bringing in 50 new employees and raising the total workforce to 150; that studio was renamed Digital Illusions Canada. Another merger happened in September 2004, this time with Trauma Studios in New York City, which had nine staff members. In November 2004, Electronic Arts announced it wanted to buy all of DICE's outstanding shares at a set price per share, with a deadline of 27 December.

At that point, EA already owned 18.9% of the company. On 15 December, shareholders representing 28% of DICE turned down the offer, so EA adjusted its bid on 20 December, aiming to buy only 44.5% at the same per-share price and pushing the deadline to 20 January 2005. The shareholders agreed on 25 January 2005, and EA's ownership rose to 59.8%. In March 2006, EA launched another plan to purchase all remaining shares at a specific price.

The deal closed on 2 October, with 2.6 million shares transferred for a total sum. Just three days later, EA shut down Digital Illusions Canada, the Ontario studio; its 25 employees could move to DICE's Stockholm headquarters or another EA studio. On 16 October, co-founder Liljegren announced he had started RedJade as a replacement for Digital Illusions Canada.