EA AND FIBA SIGN LICENSING AGREEMENT TO FEATURE FIBA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN EA SPORTS NBA LIVE FRANCHISE
CHERTSEY, UK. - August 3, 2007 - Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), the world's leading interactive entertainment software company, and FIBA, the world governing body for basketball, today announced a multi-year licensing agreement that will bring the FIBA World Championship to a videogame for the first time ever. Fans of the NBA LIVE franchise will soon be able to expand their virtual basketball experience to include teams from all over the world. NBA LIVE 08, shipping this October, will feature eight international teams, including 2006 World Championship winners Spain, runners up Greece and USA, as well as France, Germany, Italy, Argentina and China.
All eight international teams are available in Play Now mode, as well as the all new FIBA World Championship Mode* that allows players to compete in an eight team single elimination tournament. Choose from the authentic rosters, teams, and uniforms of each international team, and prove to the world that they have what it takes to win the title.
"We're very excited to count FIBA as a close partner," said Jordan Edelstein, Director of Product Marketing, EA SPORTS. "Adding the FIBA World Championship license to the NBA LIVE franchise, allows us at EA SPORTS to add a new layer of authenticity to the franchise, giving fans all over the world a deeper virtual basketball experience."
"We are very pleased to partner with the world's #1 videogame company to enable basketball fans worldwide to play the FIBA World Championship" said FIBA Commercial Director Matthew Osmon.
EA SPORTS NBA LIVE 07 was the #1 selling basketball game in 2006**. NBA LIVE 08 is in development at EA Canada in Vancouver, BC, and will ship to stores worldwide this fall. The game will be available in early October for the PLAYSTATION®3 and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systems, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable), Xbox 360 video game system from Microsoft and the Wii. NBA LIVE 08 will ship to retailers on PC in late October. NBA LIVE 08 has been rated 3+ by PEGI and "E" (Everyone) by the ESRB; visit www.esrb.org or www.pegionline.eu for updated rating information. For more information, log onto www.nbalive.com. Media can find screenshots of the game at www.electronicarts.co.uk/press.
*FIBA World Championship Mode is available on the PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2 versions of NBA LIVE 08
** Based on total title sales in 2006 according to the NPD.
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS, EA, EA SPORTS BIG and POGO. In fiscal 2007, EA posted revenue of $3.09 billion and had 24 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.electronicarts.co.uk. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at www.electronicarts.co.uk/press.
About FIBA
FIBA, the world governing body for basketball, is an independent association formed by 213 National Federations of basketball throughout the world. It is recognised as the sole competent authority in basketball by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Its main upcoming events are the 2007 FIBA Zone Continental Championships that will qualify for Beijing 2008, the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (to take place in the summer of 2008) and the FIBA World Championships for Men and Women, held every four years. The 2010 FIBA World Championship will be played in Turkey.
EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. The NBA and individual NBA member team identifications used on or in this product are trademarks, copyrighted designs and other forms of intellectual properties of NBA Properties, Inc. and the respective NBA member teams and may not be used, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of NBA Properties, Inc. ® 2007 NBA Properties, Inc. All Rights Reserved. "PlayStation" and "PLAYSTATION" are registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox and Xbox 360 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Wii is a trademark of Nintendo. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.