j2m
Latest
EA finds a publishing partner in Outspark
If you think you stepped into bizarro world there for a moment, chances are you might be right. Electronic Arts, one of the leading publishers in the gaming industry, has partnered with Outspark, the MMO publisher/games portal company that holds Fiesta and Secret of the Solstice, to bring a brand new rhythm game to the US. Yes, that's right, EA is the developer while Outspark is the publisher. Freaky, we know.The game, dubbed Debut, is coming out of EA's Korean studio J2M. Debut will feature a "casual MMO atmosphere," which will undoubtedly be something like the other rhythm games on the market and not an MMO as we see it.So how does this affect us beyond the fact that this story includes Outspark? The reason EA has come on board with the company is due to their attraction to Outspark's business platform, which we discussed in an earlier article. The platform allows any developer to use Outspark's registration, billing, and community functionality, as well as list the game on Outspark's portal. They like to call it "marketing-in-a-virtual-box," and if that approach is enough to attract EA, then it most certainly will be drawing the eye of many other, perhaps more mainstream, MMO developers.
EA acquires J2M, a South Korean free-to-play MMO studio
EA has made another move in what looks like an overall strategy to ramp up its MMO efforts by acquiring J2M, a South Korean game development studio known for making top notch free-to-play MMOs for the Asian market. The company is 50 employees strong, so it has the potential to crank out some quality products.Just what will those products be? Your guess is as good as ours. EA Asia president Jon Niermann was quoted saying that the studio will work on both "new properties and powerful EA franchises." This is not the first time EA has set up shop in Korea. Back in January the company announced plans to open a studio there to work on online versions of the NBA Street and Battlefield franchises. Add that to the big western MMO products from the company (Warhammer Online and Star Wars: The Old Republic), and it looks like EA is pretty keen on the genre these days.
