EA buys Dreamworks Interactive

Electronic Arts, an interactive entertainment software company, said Thursday it will buy multimedia developer DreamWorks Interactive, LLC.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Shares in Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS) closed at 88 7/16 Wednesday. The company's stock has been on an upswing since it beat estimates in its recent quarter.

Under the agreement, DreamWorks Interactive (DWI), which has been working with Electronic Arts over the past two years, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

Dreamworks Interactive was formed as a joint venture in March 1995 by Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and DreamWorks SKG, under the creative leadership of Steven Spielberg. The company is known for PlayStation titles as Lost World: Jurassic Park. Electronic Arts will bring world-class production processes, and a strong global distribution and marketing infrastructure to DreamWorks, the companies said.

Electronic Arts is pushing hard to have products ready for Sony's PlayStation 2 console, and is also working on an America Online game service, scheduled to debut this summer.