EA Supercharges Its Partner Program with New Titles from Independent Mobile and Social Gam…

EA Partners Expands to Chillingo and Playfish to Help Independent Developers Publish on Fast-Growing Digital Platforms

EA today announced that Chillingo and Playfish will offer publishing services to the fast-growing mobile and social gaming platforms to the independent development community. Following the successful and award-winning EA Partners program, EA will be expanding its partnership programs for Chillingo and Playfish furthering the delivery of fresh content to platforms such as the Apple App Store, Google Android and Facebook.

Since its establishment in 2003, EA Partners has built a reputation for working with top-notch independent game developers, promoting both creativity and innovation amongst its global partners. Current partner titles include Epic Games and People Can Fly (Bulletstorm), Crytek (Crysis 2), Valve (Portal 2), 38 Studios (Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning), Spicy Horse (Alice: Madness Returns), Grasshopper Manufacture (Shadows of the Damned), Paramount Digital Entertainment (Rango The Video Game), Trap Door (Warp), Funcom (Secret World) and Vanguard Games (Gatling Gears). EA partner studios also include Insomniac Games, Starbreeze Studios and Respawn Entertainment with forthcoming titles.

“The EA Partners program has proven to be a phenomenally successful model. It is an all around win-win situation. The program allows EA to partner with some of the world’s best console, PC and digital developers while providing those independent developers with a global distribution/publishing partner,” said Bryan Neider, EA Games Label COO and General Manager of EA Partners. “We’re excited to be able to offer current and future partners the mobile and social expertise of Chillingo and Playfish respectively. Like EA Partners, Chillingo and Playfish work with the best development talent in the mobile and social gaming space.”

Chillingo

Established in 2002 and recently acquired by EA, Chillingo is the world’s leading independent games publisher of innovative games and software for various digital platforms. Chillingo’s hit iPhone, iPod touch and iPad titles include Cut the Rope, Angry Birds, Helsing’s Fire, iBomber Defense and iDracula.

“Chillingo supports our talented indie developers in ways that make sense, whether it’s helping cultivate and shape their ideas or bolstering promotions of their already great games with industry partners, press and consumers,” explains Chris Byatte, Co-General Manager, Chillingo. “Spearheading EA’s third-party publishing for mobile platforms is a natural extension of our team’s seasoned expertise; now more than ever before, developers will appreciate the broader, extensive publishing reach Chillingo can offer for their games,” adds Joe Wee, Co-General Manager, Chillingo.

Playfish

Established in 2007 and acquired by EA in 2009, Playfish is the world’s #2 publisher of social games on Facebook with popular titles like Pet Society, Restaurant City, FIFA Superstars, Madden NFL Superstars and MONOPOLY Millionaires. Playfish will immediately begin partnering with independent studios to enable them to maximize the full potential of their social games on the Facebook platform.

"As a social gaming pioneer, Playfish helped shape the face of the Facebook platform through original titles and classic EA franchises such as Pet Society, FIFA Superstars and MONOPOLY Millionaires," says CJ Prober, Vice President of Publishing and Product Management for Playfish. "Playfish is looking forward to continuing a tradition of innovation and quality by extending our publishing framework to a select group of independent game developers. Partners will be able to leverage Playfish’s deep experience and expertise - as well as EA’s vast third-party publishing resources - to enable them to achieve unprecedented success for their games on Facebook."

In recent years EA has aggressively expanded its digital business interests in numerous gaming channels. As a result of this expansion, EA is now the world’s leading wireless entertainment publisher – including the #1 app developer on the Apple App Store. It acquired Chillingo in 2010 to continue building upon its library of top quality mobile entertainment franchises with games such as Angry Birds and Cut the Rope. EA is also fostering growth in the social network gaming sector with Playfish. Since 2007, more than 350 million Playfish games have been installed by millions of players around the world on social platforms such as Facebook and others.