REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Feb. 28, 2011 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Bigpoint International Services Ltd. today announced a strategic relationship to distribute select titles within EA’s high-quality Play4Free portfolio to a global audience. To launch this relationship, EA will bring Lord of Ultima™, a hit Play4Free strategy game, to the Bigpoint network in March 2011. Lord of Ultima is the first of many titles to be released on http://www.bigpoint.com/ as EA increases its investment in the Play4Free brand internationally.
Heiko Hubertz, Chief Executive Officer of Bigpoint, commented, “I believe that the gaming industry is starting to fully appreciate the shift towards digital downloads. It is very encouraging to see EA make the push with their Play4Free portfolio and we are eager to add these high-quality games to our network.”
“Play4Free is front and center of the digital wave and EA is pushing aggressively to be the forerunner in this space,” said Sean Decker, Vice President of Play4Free. “We strongly believe that partnering with a company that pioneered the free-to-play business will be extremely beneficial in expanding the Play4Free brand globally. Bigpoint is the ideal partner with their global reach and deep understanding of the dynamic free-to-play consumer.”
Bigpoint is one of the largest browser-based online game portals in the world, with over 175 million registered users and up to 250,000 new registrations per day. In addition to leveraging a network of 1000+ media partners, Bigpoint is localized in 25 languages and conducts business in over 180 countries.
This agreement complements EA’s Play4Free brand destination, http://play4free.com/, which is home to Lord of Ultima, Need for Speed™ World, Battlefield Heroes™, BattleForge™, Mirror’s Edge™ 2D, Dragon Age™ Journeys, FIFA Online and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® Online.
Lord of Ultima, the first Play4Free title to appear on Bigpoint internationally, is a browser-based strategy game set within the Ultima universe. Players join mighty alliances on their quest to conquer the new world of Caledonia and become the Lord of Ultima. While building their empire from humble beginnings they master the arts of diplomacy, trade and spying, as well as plundering and taking over enemy cities. Players have the choice to flourish as peaceful merchants and diplomats or to become feared conquers crushing their enemies with their mighty army. No download or installation is required. Lord of Ultima is available in nine different languages and will be available at http://bigpoint.com/games/lordofultima/. For more information on Lord of Ultima, please visit lordofultima.com. Players can follow the game on Twitter at OfficialLoU or become a fan on the Lord of Ultima Facebook Page.