Accompanying an announcement that BioWare and Pandemic, acquired by the company in October, had now been fully incorporated, EA revealed yesterday that the two developers would be producing 10 new franchises based on six owned properties.

EA did not lay out a timeline for when these new games would appear. BioWare continues to work on Dragon Age, Sonic RPG for the Nintendo DS and presumably the Mass Effect sequels and their mysterious MMORPG. Pandemic likewise is still working on Mercenaries 2: World In Flames and Saboteur.

A blurb by Joystiq’s Jason Dobson on the announcement related EA’s corporate annexing to the borg. “At least it seems as though the assimilation hasn’t freed the developers of independent thought, though granted it does take some time before the implants take hold.” I saw similar comments anywhere BioWare was mentioned on Evil Avatar. I have to disagree.

Given time to calm down after the initial startling revelation, I was struck by one simple fact: EA is a business. As a business, their goal is to make money. Not to stifle creativity. Granted, EA has done as much by pumping out generic titles (Madden), hording licenses (Madden), and turning fresh meat game designers into enslaved husks, but I cannot see this happening in this case.

BioWare and Pandemic are successful studios, critically and financially. BioWare especially, a company I have a great respect for, has made hit after outstanding hit in the past few years. Why would EA want to damage two clearly profitable studios?

The only change I can see coming from this agreement is a loss of console exclusivity for titles. The next Mass Effect may end up on the PS3, perhaps adapted by an outside team in the same way as Valve’s Orange Box. More people from across the spectrum enjoying a game is not a bad thing, except maybe for console fanboys.

This recent announcement of 10 new franchises by the two studios is intriguing, but I doubt that EA would force BioWare or Pandemic into adopting new projects. In fact, I can’t see EA wanting the newest gems in their crowns deviating from their proven successful franchises at all: EA has shown a strong tendency for sticking to licenses and successful franchises.

Perhaps this was a decision made by BioWare and Pandemic execs, taking advantage of the resources available after a merger which may even be in their best interest. It never hurts to be a little optimistic.