Following the big Playfish acquisition news earlier today, we hopped on the phone with executives from both companies, to find out about their joint plans and views on the booming social gaming space. For EA, it's really about building a truly cross-platform gaming experience, so you can definitely expect some Playfish IP to make its way onto other platforms.
We asked Barry Cottle, Senior Vice President and General Manager of EA Interactive, about the possibility of Playfish titles being made available on digital services like XBL, PSN and WiiWare, and while he didn't outright confirm anything, he answered, "I think you nailed the synergy dead on. It's very similar to how we've set up a group like mobile, which takes EA IP and goes in and wins the market. ... Just like the mobile group, it's a mix of EA IP and non-EA IP, so they'll have wonderful franchises that they'll continue to build, and they'll have access to EA IP, so you will see EA IP entering the social games space in a bigger way, and vice versa. These guys have built fantastic franchises that have 20 million+ monthly active users that we can now take to other platforms, and our goal would be to do it in a connected manner. There's that whole notion of being able to truly play a game regardless of what device you're playing on."
Playfish definitely has a number of properties that would fit very well on digital console services as well as the portable space (DS/PSP). With EA's big resources now backing the social games firm, we'll no doubt see some of the games transition in short order.
Be sure to check out the full interview with Cottle and Playfish CEO Kristian Segerstrale for more on how EA intends to dominate the social games category.
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