Company consolidation is as American as Apple Pie these days, and the gaming industry is no exception.  Today it was announced that the Victory team, the developers behind the Command and Conquer series, will be rebranded under the Bioware umbrella.  

We've seen consolidation of game developers before, but what makes this unique is the fact that Bioware is a subimprint of the EA empire.  In addition, they've already snatched up Klicknation and renamed it Bioware Sacramento this month, making Bioware a new force in online social gaming.  

I am of the opinion that this is a strange move on EA's part.  On the one hand Bioware is a name that is associated with quality, so attaching it to other less successful brands might help strengthen them.  On the other hand, I haven't seen Activision attaching Blizzard's name to every FPS and racing shop they own.  At some point the expansion of the Bioware brand will start to hurt them if they attach it to poor quality products.  Granted this does open up the option for some interesting crossovers.  Mass Effect C&C anyone?

[via Gameindustry.biz]