EA and Vodafone announce new partnership
FIFA, The Sims and Need for Speed coming to mobiles
Electronic Arts has signed a new deal with Vodafone to bring the publishing giant's leading game franchises to Vodafone live! users throughout Europe, Egypt, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
The agreement will come into effect this autumn with the launch of FIFA 06 Mobile, followed by versions of The Sims 2 and Need for Speed Most Wanted developed specifically for the mobile platform. EA plans to launch between 15-20 mobile games in Europe by the end of next year.
"Mobile gaming has always been one of our core multimedia services and its appeal continues to grow amongst our customers," said Graeme Ferguson, Vodafone's director of global content development.
"When EA entered the mobile arena, it signified a new level of maturity for the market, and we look forward to working closely with them."
The move marks a further step into the mobile market by EA, which already has a mobile games publishing deal in place with I-Play. Speaking in an interview with MobileIndustry.biz recently, Lincoln Wallen, CTO for EA Mobile, said: "I think EA sees mobile as a significant potential market, so we're not dipping our toe in the water any more.
"We want to realise that potential, so we're in with both feet."