In a ground-breaking agreement which proves how Hollywood and the gaming industry are merging, Electronic Arts (EA) has today announced that Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg will be collaborating with the game makers at EA's Los Angeles studio (EALA) to create three new original games.

Earlier this month, another Oscar-winning director, Peter Jackson, signed up to work on movie version of the best-selling sci-fi shooter Halo. Jackson, whose latest project is King Kong, has also been closely involved in the game version of the giant ape film. Spielberg's role will be similar to that of an executive producer on a film. Spielberg's DreamWorks had produced video games for a time under its DreamWorks Interactive division, but EA bought that property in 2000.

Beginning this year, with offices located on site at EALA, Spielberg will work directly with EA's development teams to offer his signature style of storytelling to the concept, design, story and artistic visualisation of the new games. EA will own the intellectual properties and the game franchises will be developed, published and distributed worldwide by EA. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

'I have been playing EA games for years and have watched them master the interactive format', said Steven Spielberg. 'Having watched the game industry grow from a niche into a major creative force in entertainment, I have a great deal of respect for EA's understanding of the interactive format. I'm looking forward to working closely with the team in Los Angeles.'

'There is no greater storyteller than Steven Spielberg,' said EA Chairman and CEO Larry Probst. 'In addition to his gift for pleasing movie audiences, he has an innate understanding of games and how to immerse players into a fantastic world of action and characters.'

'It's incredibly exciting to be collaborating with Steven Spielberg,' noted Neil Young, VP and Studio Head at EALA. 'He shares our vision for the potential of the medium and has the passion and creativity to help us finally deliver on the promise that a game can not only engage and compel you with its interactivity, but can also move you emotionally.

BIOS, Oct 14, 05 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Game