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EA is removing Russian teams from FIFA and NHL games
Belarusian teams are also being dropped from 'NHL 22'
Nexon buying all shares of FIFA Online developer Thingsoft
Nexon recently announced plans to acquire South Korean developer Thingsoft. The acquisition has Nexon subsidiary Neople purchasing all shares of Thingsoft, creators of FIFA Online, FIFA Online 2 and its in-development MMO, Project NT. Nexon is a free-to-play publisher that is best known for games like MapleStory and Combat Arms. Its North American branch partnered up with Splash Damage in late August to publish Extraction, formerly known as Dirty Bomb.
Nexon's relationship with EA is much less exciting than we heard before
US game publishing giant Electronic Arts isn't being purchased by South Korean social game company Nexon anytime soon, but the two companies are in talks. Not talks about an acquisition, mind you, but regarding Asian distribution of EA's FIFA Online series. Those two things are what we might call, "totally different," but Bloomberg's unnamed sources apparently didn't see a huge difference between the two when they informed the publication last week that Nexon was seeking a purchase of EA.Bloomberg's backtracking on that report – which pretty much everyone called very unlikely at the time – is saying now that "three people with knowledge of the matter" tell the publication a deal is being brokered between Nexon and EA for distribution of the online-based soccer title in Asia. Specifically, EA could employ Nexon's "online servers and developers in Asia" to help bring FIFA Online to the continent. An announcement of the partnership is expected "as early as June," which, you know, would line up pretty well with E3 2012.
Medal of Honor, APB dated for Summer 2010
According to EA's list of upcoming titles in its latest earnings report, a couple of high-profile games are going to be released this summer between July 1 and September 30: Realtime Worlds' crime-themed MMO APB (which is likely to be the "major MMO" to whose spring release John Riccitiello referred to previously), and ... a "TBA" Medal of Honor title -- possibly the one with the beard. EA did say that game would be out before March 2011! The summer release is listed for consoles, PC and handhelds. Also due out in the quarter: the expected spate of annual sports franchises (Madden, FIFA, FIFA Online, NHL), a Monopoly game for consoles and handhelds, and a new MySims title -- we're guessing MySims Sky Heroes.
Free FIFA Online kicks off closed PC beta in February
EA Sports is close to launching the "free-to-play" version of its footy franchise for PC, called EA Sports FIFA Online, in Europe and North America. A closed beta begins February 3, and the publisher is looking for feedback to help shape the game before it goes into open beta this June. EA will allow 20,000 testers in the first phase, so sign up now if you're interested. The game will officially launch "over the next 12 to 24 months" across "Europe and then in North America." FIFA Online has been available in Asia for years. It's not like sales of "regular" FIFA are hurting, so who is this game for? Executive Producer Kaz Makita says FIFA Online is for the "large number of football fans who do not want a console gaming experience due to time and other priorities in their personal lives, but they still want to be able to play a top-quality football video game." Ohh, we get it now, it's the FIFA game you play at work! Gotcha. %Gallery-84230%
Neowiz Exec VP on F2P market saturation and working with EA
When it comes to the Western market, the name EA will jump out at many gamers far faster than the name Neowiz will. However, Neowiz was involved not only in successful redesigns/ports like EA's FIFA Online, but is also localizing other Western games like Age of Conan. In a recent article with Gamasutra, Neowiz Exective Vice President, Sang-Won Chung had a lot of very interesting things to say about the current state of Korea's free to play market and the business of recycling ideas in the current MMO space. Among the many topics of discussion, one of the biggest quotes that jumped out at us was the statement that free to play gaming was "like having too many channels on your digital cable, and now you have like 300 channels and you don't know what to watch anymore." With the flood of Eastern f2p games entering the market seemingly daily, we can definitely relate to that feeling. Along with this, Chung also talks about taking MMO ideas from console games, and the difficulty of turning non-f2p titles into f2p games more in keeping with the Eastern revenue model. On top of that, there's also a pretty amusing anecdote about EA's first venture into Korea; well worth the read if just for that story alone.
Gamasutra's "China Angle" reports on The9, Giant Interactive, NCsoft
To North American and European MMO players, China is more than just a different country; it's a different universe. But it's important to keep an at least one eye on the Chinese market. Gamasutra ran its latest "China Angle" column today. Here's what we learned this time. The9, the Chinese publisher of World of Warcraft, will be responsible for the Chinese version of EA's FIFA Online 2. The9 already operates the original FIFA Online in the PRC, and EA owns a 15% share in the company, so that's no surprise. Newer company Giant Interactive -- who are behind the highly profitable Zhengtu Online -- saw a $38.7 million profit in Q3 2007, and all 800 employees of the company were given actual, real-life gold coins in celebration. The company is also actually awarding stocks to some of its customers. Finally, Korean MMO supercompany NCsoft has selected a new partner company called Shandra to distribute their new title AION. NCsoft opted not to work with their old partner Sina this time. The decision to change may have been influenced by disappointing Chinese numbers for Lineage and Lineage II, two NCsoft titles which were brought to the Chinese market by Sina.
EA invests in The9
Electronic Arts has acquired a stake in Chinese publisher The9, Gamasutra reports. The US-based publishing powerhouse will have 15% of the The9's common stock, which amounts to US $167 million. The two companies also announced a licensing agreement that makes The9 the sole publisher of FIFA Online in mainland China.EA had previously half-denied reports of an investment, saying that at the time there was "no signed agreement with The9." Rumors of an investment date back to at least September 2006. EA Asia Online president Hubert Larenaudie stated that he believes this is "another significant step" in building EA's presence in Asia. It is unclear how this arrangement might affect The9's relationship with EA rival Vivendi, who licenses the massively popular World of Warcraft to the publisher.
