EA eyes up Japanese developers

In an interview with the Financial Times, EA Asia president Jon Niermann has spoken of the company’s intent to partner with or acquire a developer in Japan.

According to the article, EA currently only generates 6% of its revenue within Japan, despite the country being the second-biggest gaming market.

“[We are] exploring everything from established companies to new companies,” said Niermann.

“The relatively young start-up type companies that have promising talent that come from some of the bigger companies – it is very interesting to look at those.”

The statement comes after EA closed its Japanese studio in February of this year, shortly before the completion of a DS port of Theme Park.

Admitting that there were problems with owning their own studio in Japan, Niermann said: “I think EA offers a great global distribution opportunity in terms of taking Japanese products to other parts of the world and in turn there are certainly companies that are much better at local development than we’ve ramped up to be.”

EA Asia already has partnerships in place in China and Korea with The9 and Neowiz respectively. Both of these companies specialise in online games, an area where Niermann is expecting growth.