EA chasing Comcast streaming cable box gaming deal

Cable boxes may soon be able to stream and play a range of EA titles in North America.

Reuters reports that EA and Comcast – which has 22m US subscribers – are close to finalising a deal following two years of testing titles such as FIFA, Madden, Plants vs Zombies and Monopoly on its X1 cable UI system.

Users will be able to use tablets as controllers to play the titles.

Family and casual games will be the focus at launch, it adds, although FPS and action games are being targeted for a future rollout.

The report says that Comcast and EA’s aim is to make buying games as easy as ordering a pay-per-view movie”, the most notable aspect of which will be the circumvention of console platform holders.