EA Mobile To Sell Games Direct

EA Mobile hopes to change the way cell phone gamers get their interactive entertainment. Despite the fact that cell phones are ubiquitous, the majority of people don't actually buy cell phone games. Not even many gamers bother to go through the process of ordering a game through their carriers, at least in the U.S. EA Mobile Senior Vice President Mitch Lasky said EA will embark an "off portal" strategy that will bring synergy to games across platforms. Gamers will be able to purchase mobile games on EA's Web site and download the game directly to their phone. Part of this strategy is the contnuation of expanding EA's original IPs across console, PC and mobile gaming applications. EA is bringing popular game franchises like "Medal of Honor," "Battlefield," "Need for Speed" and the upcoming "Spore" to mobile phones.

EA purchased Jamdat and its vast library of games last year for a whopping $680 million. Analysts see nothing but potential growth with cell phone games, but the reality in the U.S. has been a reluctance of people to actually pay to download and play games. Ringtones, wallpapers and other purchases are outselling games. By creating a direct link to the consumer and using the marketing of big game brands to cross-promote cell phone games, EA should be able to reach out directly to gamers. Making the purchase of a game easy is one of the keys.

While carriers will remain a prominant seller of mobile games, if more publishers can reach out to their consumers via the Web, the U.S. cell phone gaming market has the potential to fulfill the promises of interactive gaming.

There are several problems with the current state of mobile gaming when it comes to purchasing a game through a carrier. Just as real estate is hard to come by at retail for console and PC games, the limited screen capacity of cell phones keeps the number of games, and the position of games, in a numerical order. There are thousands of cell phone games out there, and the majority of them are a waste of money. Good games compete with bad games in this virtual environment.

EA doesn't have to deal with real estate if it's speaking directly to its customers. Making the purchase of games a drag-and-drop experience allows consumers to browse all of EA's mobile offerings and select the ones they want to buy. By cutting out the carrier's cut, this could allow mobile game prices to drop. Many games are still selling for $5 or $6 through carriers, which is a lot for a mobile game. Some of these purchases come with time limits of a few months, which makes it that much less enticing to buy.

Selling mobile games directly to consumers will also save mobile publishers millions in TV advertising, which is saving that can be shared with the gamers. Game companies like Ubisoft and sister company Gameloft have successfully cross-promoted console, PC and mobile games that launched together. EA certainly has the brands to follow this type of model.