Electronic Arts, Spielberg in videogame pact-WSJ
Fri Oct 14, 2005 01:18 AM ET
NEW YORK, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said it had signed an agreement with director Steven Spielberg to collaborate on three original videogames, a further sign of the game industry's aspirations for more intricate storytelling in their products, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
Redwood City, California-based EA, the world's largest video games publisher, did not disclose the financial terms of the relationship, but said it will own the games produced through its creative partnership with Spielberg, the paper said.
The company said Spielberg will work directly with EA's development team in Los Angeles to shape the concept, story and visual appearance of the new games.
The partnership is the latest twist in the alliance between the games business and Hollywood, which has a poor track record of making hit games. EA has had success with games based on movies like "Harry Potter" and "Lord of the Rings".
Recently, Walt Disney Co. (DIS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Time Warner Inc. (TWX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) expanded their game-making efforts.
In the mid-1990s, Spielberg made games a priority for DreamWorks SKG (DWA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , the movie studio he co-founded with David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg. But DreamWorks Interactive, the games arm of the studio, had little success.
That business, a joint venture between DreamWorks and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) , was purchased by EA in 2000.
