Hot Topics

The sixth entry in the Littlest Pet Shop series of games is to be released for the Nintendo DS in March 2009.

Just yesterday EA and Hasbro were beating their chests about the success enjoyed by their game ventures in 2008 – and now the duo have announced that they are to launch a dedicated Hasbro Family Game Night channel on the recently rejuvenated Xbox Live Marketplace.

Following news of a successful 2008 for the EA-Hasbro partnership, the US games publisher has announced that the pair are to release a handheld version of popular board game Scrabble on the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP.

Global games publisher EA and toys and games giant Hasbro have announced that their recent casual games partnership has been a tremendous success, with its three titles to date reaching combined sales of two million units.

A new development studio, Red Rocket Games, has been created by Jung Suh, co-founder of GameFly, and Scott Yu, a former art director at EA.

US games publisher EA has warned that its Q4 and fiscal year revenue and earnings are likely to be lower than previously forecast by the firm – and the subsequent announcement that EA’s 2009 SKU range is to be reduced could lead to some casual projects being cancelled.

Publisher EA is to give its NASCAR racing a brand a drastic makeover with the release next February of new Wii racer NASCAR Kart Racing.

Leading global console and casual games publisher EA has acquired Korean online games developer J2MSoft in a move designed to open up the lucrative world of Asian internet microtransactions to the firm.

Do we overestimate the importance of Wii as a casual gaming platform on this site? Maybe. After all, it’s the millions of hours logged everyday on online casual games that really forms the meat and veg of the casual games industry. But the disparate wares of the globalised internet and PC user base means that tracking the economic importance of online based Flash gaming is a tough job. The Wii’s impact is statistically far simpler to measure. And regardless of the larger argument, to dismiss its colossal impact is unjust.

Peter Moore, the outspoken boss of EA Sports, has admitted that the publisher has had trouble establishing its annual sports franchises on Nintendo’s Wii – a challenge it pins on the massively popular Wii Sports.

US publisher EA has announced that its Pogo.com games portal is to work with PlayFirst to create a new multiplayer-orientated version of the popular casual game Diner Dash.

Leading global games publisher EA has reportedly closed down its mysterious Blueprint division, an area of the business that was supposedly working on casual-orientated gaming across a range of media.

Industry heavyweight and former Xbox boss Peter Moore has given casual gaming a huge thumbs up whilst casting doubt over the long-term validity of the established hardcore console market.

Just one day after Koch-owned publisher Deep Silver announced it’s own competitor in a marketplace already catered to by the likes of Nintendo’s Wii Fit and Atari’s Family Trainer, EA has announced its debut entry into the market – EA Sports Active.

The head of EA’s Casual Entertainment Division, Kathy Vrabeck, has resigned from the company after 18 months in charge. In addition, EA CEO John Riccitiello has told employees that the firm’s Casual label will now be merged with its The Sims label, which is to be headed up by former Everquest head Rod Humble.

It has been revealed that UK-based creative brand communications agency SASS was appointed to work on EA’s latest casual console title Monopoly, becoming only the second ever third party outfit to land an outsourcing appointment from EA in the process.

Two of EA’s most senior execs involved in casual games have stuck up for the role of women in the industry.

EA's official opening of a new casual studio today might seem like a run of the mill publisher announcement. At a time when casual customers are driving games industry growth, it's no surprise to see the publisher's Pogo.com team expand. But what is interesting about this latest news is how this move stands as another example of the 'casualisation' (for want of a better word) of the core games industry.

EA has unleashed the first licence from its Hasbro deal specifically created for girls – The Littlest Pet Shop.

EA has opened its third Pogo studio – this time in Austin, Texas – which will be dedicated to creating family-friendly games based on Hasbro properties.

EA Casual president Kathy Vrabeck has admitted that the core market still generates “the lion’s share” of games industry revenue – but observed that “the growth is coming from casual”.

EA Mobile – which works under the firm's Casual Entertainment division - is to publish the mobile version of Eidos’ upcoming Tomb Raider: Underworld.

The delay to EA Casual Entertainment’s Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince game will costs the publisher $120m in this financial year.

Top execs from the likes of MySpace, Electronic Arts and PlayFish are set to speak at a new social gaming event in Amsterdam this month.

EA’s Casual Entertainment division has confirmed that the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has been delayed until summer 2009 – following Warner Bros’ decision to move back the movie of the same name.

EA Mobile has shown its belief in iPhone as a gaming platform by confirming nine games currently in development, in addition to today's release of Spore Origins and the three titles it has already released.

EA Mobile has extended its licensing agreement with PopCap for exclusive worldwide mobile publishing rights to Bejeweled and Bejeweled 2 until 2010.

Electronic Arts' Casual Entertainment team is the latest to use a celebrity face to help promote a mass-market console title - the firm has signed up Natasha Bedingfield as the spokesperson for its new Boogie SuperStar game for the Nintendo Wii.

A hot topic which has dominated conversations amongst the casual set for some time has been games for social networks. And the rush of companies looking to own that area has been a very public affair.

Sega Of America CEO Simon Jeffery has said that monetary success with games on social networks is ‘challenging’ – and warned that the involvement of huge publishers such as EA could ruin its appeal.

EA has announced the first Wii release for its Freestyle brand will be Celebrity Sports Showdown – a Wii Sports-esque battle between avatars resembling entertainers.

A new action-puzzler is on the way to DS from Electronic Arts – based on completely original IP.

The famous yellow of the ‘For Dummies’ series will soon be making its way to EA boxed product – in the shape of PC and DS releases.

CASUAL CONNECT 08: Pogo is bringing a casual games version of classic family board game Operation to its portal in August – with a retail version following in September.

EA has revealed a new Sims title which allows gamers to rear animals and craft a garden paradise, entitled Sims Animals.

EA used part of its conference at E3 in Los Angeles to push its commitment to iPhone and iPod – and show off its games’ ability to take advantage of the ‘motion-sensing’ accelerometer in Apple’s devices.

The iPhone/iPod Touch App Store is officially open for business and the leading lights in mobile games are falling over themselves to put their wares in the shop window.

Electronic Arts will release MySims for the PC this autumn, complete with online features and new characters.

Looks like the days ahead for unofficial Facebook game Scrabulous are numbered - EA has launched its own official Scrabble app for the social networking site backed by Hasbro.

Electronic Arts’ Mobile division has announced the release of Monopoly and The Sims DJ for Apple’s iPod.

Electronic Arts' EA Sports label has unveiled further details of its new 'All Play' line of games - new versions of its football, soccer, golf and basketball titles designed specifically for the Wii.

EA Sports will push its own peripherals for consoles into the market in the next 12 months – and announcements may even be ready in time for E3 in July.

While some executives at EA disagree what parts of their portfolio are casual and which aren't – or even what the word means – one of the company's key creative staff knows that his game is skewed towards the mass market, and says that in time the casual market will race ahead of the core one.

EA’s Casual Entertainment label is to release a challenger to Nintendo’s Brain Training on DS later this year.

EA Sports president Peter Moore has defended the publisher’s decision to take a more mainstream route with some of its games – protesting that the firm is not “dumbing down”.

Electronic Arts continues to make good use of its Hasbro licence - the firm has just rolled out a new version of Monopoly for the classic Apple iPods on the European iTunes Store.

The boss of EA’s Casual Entertainment division Kathy Vrabeck has said that she expects the total global casual games market to be worth around $13.5 billion in the next “couple of years”.

Head of EA Casual Entertainment Kathy Vrabeck has spoken at length about her views of where casual gaming will go over the next few years – candidly answering questions on all aspects on the industry.

Electronics Arts has bought the South Korean arm of games publisher Hands-On Mobile.

The march of Electronic Arts into the casual space continues - the company has just announced a new console game based on a number of Hasbro board games which it is aiming at a family audience.

I spent a chunk of my free time last weekend playing through new Wii casual game Boom Blox - or, as it says in the press release, Steven Spielberg's Boom Blox. It's a great game, which deserves all the praise it's getting, but it highlights some embarrassing games industry truths.

The global president of MTV Networks’ digital division has predicted that EA and other established boxed video games publishers face a "huge challenge" in making serious money from free-to-play casual titles.

Electronic Arts has revealed that casual gaming subsidiary Pogo enjoyed over $100 million in revenues in the 12 months to March 31st, 2008.

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has condemned the 'soft' state of PC gaming – but praised the casual sector for keeping the format viable.

The global boss of EA’s The Sims division has said that the publisher does not see the series as part of the casual gaming phenomenon.

The head of Hasbro Europe's digital media & gaming group has told CasualGaming.biz that the company is following demographic trends via its games agreement with Electronic Arts, saying the casual audience is "our target customer".

Electronic Arts has unveiled a new sub-brand for its EA Sports label - a casual-oriented line of games under the EA Sports Freestyle umbrella.

Embracing games for bigger audiences has created a big strategy change for Electronic Arts when it comes to making and marketing games, the company's Casual Entertainment label VP Russell Arons has told CasualGaming.biz.

Electronic Arts has agreed a partnership with AOL Sports, to market and promote its free online trivia game EA Sports GameShow.

President of EA Sports Peter Moore has called into question the longevity of the term ‘casual games’ – despite Electronic Arts owning its very own Casual division.

EA’s Casual Entertainment Label will publish the video game version of Warner Bros movie Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince later this year.

The head of EA’s casual and mobile games business Kathy Vrabeck has forecast that interactive entertainment may evolve to the point that it is now longer referred to as ‘games’.

EA Mobile has confirmed five major new titles including two new Sims games. The new line-up include The Sims 2 Castaway and The Sims Pool, plus Monopoly Here & Now, Yahtzee Adventures and Merv Griffin's Crosswords.

Sprint and EA have launched Sprint Arcade, a subscription casual games channel.

Electronic Arts’ casual games department used the company’s E3 presentation to unveil upcoming product – but no game could match the audience reaction to Harmonix-developed rhythm title Rock Band. The company said that it had a goal to capture the spending power of 200 million casual gamers before demonstrating EA Mobile titles including Madden, NBA Live and Harry Potter.

Electronic Arts has appointed ex-Activision exec Kathy Vrabeck as head of a new Casual Entertainment department. The division will develop and publish games for consoles, PCs, handheld devices and mobile phones. “All over the world, consumers are playing games that don’t require hours of intense concentration,” said Vrabeck. “The common denominator is casual fun. Whether it will be playing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on the Wii with the family or downloading Madden NFL 08 on a phone, quick-to-the-fun games are bringing new players and new demographics to interactive entertainment.”