ea on xbox live (officially announced 5-10-04)
hooray!
Quote:
After years of discussions, Electronic Arts and Microsoft are putting the final touches on a partnership enabling four of EA's sports titles, and possibly three non-sports games, to go online with Xbox Live this fall, IGN learned today. The Redwood City, Ca.-based publisher will announce its strategy at the annual Electronic Entertainment Exposition this May, but it may reveal plans earlier to investors this April 29, during its upcoming fiscal announcement.
"They're psyched," a former EA employee, who asked not to be identified, told IGN. "EA is going to bring its games to Live this year. It's finally happening."
more here.
*prays for burnout 3 on live*
update:
Quote:
Microsoft and EA strike deal on online games
By Richard Waters in San Francisco
Published: May 11 2004 3:05 | Last Updated: May 11 2004 3:05
Microsoft and Electronic Arts have reached an accord on how to split the profits from online video games, removing an obstacle to what is expected to be one of the fastest-growing parts of the games business.
EA, the biggest publisher of video games, has until now refused to open any of its games for online play on Microsoft's Xbox Live service, which was launched 18 months ago. It objected to Microsoft's insistence on keeping all of the subscription income for the service, rather than sharing any of it with games companies.
Announcing their new accord on Tuesday, the two sides refused to say whether Microsoft had now reversed that stance.
EA's forceful objections had threatened to slow a business that the games industry believes will become one of its main avenues of growth over the next few years. By letting customers play their games against friends online, games companies hope to stimulate a whole new level of demand.
However, there has been little agreement on how the spoils of this new business should be shared, leading to a stalemate until now between EA and Microsoft. Sony does not charge a fee for online play on its PlayStation console, though it does not provide games companies with the infrastructure to support the online games, as Microsoft does.
Explaining why the two sides had been unable to reach agreement before, Robbie Bach, the executive in charge of the Xbox service, said: "Everything we're doing is new - we're taking time to make sure we get it right."
More than 1m users play their EA games online on PlayStation, the company said. Microsoft, meanwhile, has 750,000 subscribers for its online service, and on Monday reiterated a target of 1m by the end of June.
Most games industry executives expect online play to become an important feature of virtually all video games. However, the games companies have found it hard to generate extra revenue from the idea, particularly with efforts to charge online subscriptions tied to particular games. EA's own attempt to charge for an online version of its successful Sims PC game met a lukewarm response.
Microsoft also on Monday gave a November 9 launch date for the sequel to its popular Halo video game. The original game has sold 4.5m copies, putting it among the biggest-selling video games ever, and played an important part in Microsoft's efforts to break into the games business with Xbox.
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentSe...=1083180402439
