In a move sure to have a ripple effect throughout the mobile industry, electronic entertainment giant Electronic Arts has made a deal to purchase mobile gaming company JamDAT Mobile. The deal, valued at almost $700 million, will meld JamDAT’s aggressive mobile gaming development and deployment resources with the brand label powerhouse EA has worked so hard to build.
Mobile gaming is entering a 3D phase now, and both EA and JamDAT can only benefit from JamDAT’s strong mobile presence thanks to hits like Bejeweled, melded with interactive treasures like EA’s The Sims. And with presence in carriers’ homedecks more important than ever, JamDAT stands to provide EA the open doorway it needs.
In a conference call with analysts, EA Chief Financial and Administrative Office, Warren Jenson spoke of the current state of EA’s core business:
“[EA’s] early November results were soft and below our expectations. Although we did see an up-tick Thanksgiving week in North America �the first week of December looked a lot more like early November in both North America and in Europe �soft and below our expectations.
There are obviously many critical selling days left in December. That said �we wanted to let you know what we are seeing �by and large the trend has been negative.”
This is, therefore, seen by EA as a vital component of its market strategy going forward. In addition, the merger of two very strong entertainment giants like this bodes well as 3G technologies are being launched throughout the mobile industry. Both EA and JamDAT commented rather strongly on this as an integral part of a global strategy.
EA has made quite clear its intention to use JamDAT’s mobile gaming experience to bring its own gaming franchises to the mobile industry.