Smartphone Games to Start Coming From EA Mobile

EA Mobile announced today that it will be broadening its horizons by publishing games for smartphones such as the Blackberry, Symbian and Windows Mobile-based devices. Some of the games lined up for release on the two former types of devices include FIFA, Doom, Tiger Woods and, perhaps most interestingly, The Sims.

“With smartphones becoming everyday devices, we are excited to offer the fun, and high quality of EA Mobile games to a growing and important worldwide market,” commented Travis Boatman, vice president of Worldwide Studios for EA Mobile.

“Offering top titles for the most popular smartphones, and our recent announcement that we will develop for the iPhone, reflect our focus and commitment to emerging platforms and markets.”

It definitely is a growing market and one that remains untapped by a large number of companies. Think about how much money could be produced from a market that pays $8.95 for games you can play for free on your computer.

“Mobile convergence has arrived and EA Mobile is taking it by storm by bringing its top-selling branded games to Symbian OS,” said Jerry Panagrossi, VP and general manager of North American Operations for Symbian.

“With shipments of Symbian smartphones reaching over 200 million to date and consistent year-over-year growth, the commercial opportunity for providing compelling content is clear. We look forward to collaborating further with EA Mobile on bringing many more leading game titles to Symbian smartphones around the globe,” he said.

I’ve had an increasing interest in mobile and casual games, so I’m eager to see how a title like The Sims is handled. And, even more than that, is how EA will treat microtransactions on smartphones, or if that’s something that isn’t in the cards quite yet.

via GamesIndustry.biz