Electronic Arts announce it has entered into a five-year strategic relationship with Facebook, where more than 200 million people play games every month. The deal will create a simplified, more accessible experience for people who play games and purchase virtual goods on Facebook. Under the terms of the agreement, Facebook Credits will become the exclusive payment method in EA games on Facebook.
“Playfish has a great reputation for building high-quality games on Facebook, and we look forward to working even more closely with them and the larger team at EA.”
Pet Society and Restaurant City from Playfish, a division of EA, continue to be two of the top 10 games on Facebook measured by daily active users, and EA has extended two of its most popular sports franchises into successful social gaming experiences, which are now the leading soccer and football games on Facebook.
The company also recently announced the upcoming launch of the latest execution of the world’s favorite family game brand*, MONOPOLY for Facebook. In addition, Pogo Games on Facebook, currently in beta, brings what has made Pogo great for more than 10 years to an even wider audience of people who are looking for new ways to play, share and compete with their friends. At launch, Pogo players will have access to approximately 20 games in one location, including Pogo favorites like Poppit! and Word Whomp as well as Hasbro games such as SCRABBLE (in the U.S. and Canada) and BOGGLE.
“Since gaming has emerged as the most popular category of applications on Facebook, the natural next step is for EA to broaden its relationship with Facebook and its 500 million users,” said Barry Cottle, Senior Vice President and General Manager for EA Interactive. “Our goal is to make the best games tailored specifically to the platforms on which people want to play.”
“We are pleased to enter into this long-term partnership with EA to make it easier for people to purchase virtual goods across some of the most popular games on Facebook,” said Dan Rose, vice president of partnerships and platform marketing at Facebook. “Playfish has a great reputation for building high-quality games on Facebook, and we look forward to working even more closely with them and the larger team at EA.”
As part of the agreement, EA will receive the same 70 percent revenue share for Facebook Credits as is standard for all developers on Facebook.
* Since 1935, more than 275 million copies of MONOPOLY have been sold in 111 countries and 40 languages.