Electronic Arts has a tried and tested approach to new markets and gaming platforms. Watch what's happening, dip your toes in, then pounce and acquire whichever company is most likely to make you top dog in that space.
It's what EA did for mobile gaming, after all, when it bought the then-largest publisher Jamdat in early 2006. And now it seems EA is limbering up for a similar move in the emerging social games market.
The rumours were actually started by EA itself, when its COO John Pleasants gave an interview earlier this week to PaidContent, and professed his admiration for the leading firms in the social games space.
We have huge regard for companies like Playfish, he said. They dont have high customer acquisition costs and theyre getting users to bite on micro-transactions from the start. So were in investment mode, and well be announcing deals with companies that will be of note some time in the near future.
Now today, trade site Inside Social Games is claiming that EA may be about to announce an acquisition. No, not Playfish or its rivals SGN and Zynga, but of social gaming technology firm J2Play. Its founder has apparently changed his LinkedIn profile to read 'director of social platforms at Electronic Arts'.
As Pleasants pointed out in that original interview, EA isn't completely new to social games: it's published several Facebook games, not to mention introduced social aspects to its Pogo casual gaming community.
Assuming the J2Play news is correct, EA seems set to ramp up its efforts - something that will have an impact on its mobile activities, too, hopefully sparking even more social aspects in the company's iPhone and mobile games.
Perhaps ironically, Pleasants himself won't be around to see all this: he left EA this week for a new job as CEO of... a social games company! Playdom, who you may remember from this PocketGamer.biz interview.
Several other former EA execs have popped up at social gaming firms recently - two at Zynga this month, for example. It seems EA is just as keen to compete in the social space.
News
Contributing Editor
Stuart is a freelance journalist and blogger who's been getting paid to write stuff since 1998. In that time, he's focused on topics ranging from Sega's Dreamcast console to robots. That's what you call versatility. (Or a short attention span.)
Related Articles
Top Stories
News
May 11th, 2024
PocketGamer.biz Podcast Week in Views E11 - Xbox in turmoil, Krafton champions AI development, and Apple's iPad challenge
News
May 10th, 2024
Unity says restructure that saw mass layoffs is now complete as it posts Q1 2024 revenue decline
News
May 10th, 2024
Week in Views - Xbox's mobile games store is doomed to fail, Sonic meets the Angry Birds, and Apple's iPad problem
Feature
May 10th, 2024
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from a round of roguelikes to a Sonic surprise
Events
Valencia Indie Summit 2024 | Europe | May 16th |
Digital Dragons | Europe | May 19th |
GamesBeat Summit 2024 | North America | May 20th |
Mobidictum Meetup Tallinn May 2024 | Europe | May 21st |
Nordic Game Spring 2024 | Nordic | May 21st |
Impact 2024 - Indie Games | May 23rd | |
Israel Mobile Summit 2024 | Middle East | Jun 6th |
Future Games Show 2024 | Jun 8th |