EA hoping to sign up more Japanese developers

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Sep 4th 2008 at 4:30PM }

Having already come to an arrangement with Japanese star developers Goichi "Suda 51" Suda and Shinji Mikami to publish a mysterious horror franchise*, who could blame EA for ~~stalking~~ showing interest in other Eastern talent? Speaking to MTV Multiplayer, David DeMartini, who oversees the EA Partners program and a board swathed in secret plans, candidly admits, "EA looks at the top 20 developers in the world and we try to sign anything those guys are working on."

DeMartini explains that deals such as the Suda/Mikami one represent "something that is very unique and very special," despite being, like many of our relationships, "slightly uncomfortable for both parties." We're dying to see the results of EA's collaboration and share DeMartini's unshaken hope that it "will serve as a springboard to a successful formula that we can apply to some of the other great Japanese designers." You know, like Gackt.

*It's the franchise that's mysterious, not the horror. We're quite certain it'll have obvious, horror-inducing things like ghosts or Rihanna albums.

Tags: EA, EA-Partners, Japan, Shinji-Mikami, Suda-51

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

wass007 @ Sep 4th 2008 4:37PM

lmao haha loving the pic but no1 wants ta employ a hippy wanabe!! lol

Fullmetal Salchemist @ Sep 4th 2008 6:57PM

That, and he's also a terrible developer and designer.

Dirty @ Sep 4th 2008 4:41PM

Whats horrifying is Itagaki's acne scars.

(this is probably where someone tells me that those are burns from when his whole family died in some sort of fire and that I am an insensitive prick).

Haggard @ Sep 4th 2008 5:01PM

That's why he wears the shades. He can't stand to look at bright lights anymore.

Pointz @ Sep 5th 2008 12:02AM

Nah you're spot on. And if the "new EA" wants to keep their "new" image they're better off looking past this perv and looking at Platinum games. Wasn't Itagaki fired from Tecmo?

syrik zero @ Sep 4th 2008 4:46PM

You forgot Duffy Ludwig

syrik zero @ Sep 4th 2008 4:47PM

You may remember her better as "Duffy Mercy"

ComicShaman @ Sep 4th 2008 4:54PM

Here's something I've wondered about EA -- what happened to the SSX series? Was SSX4 "On Tour" such a bomb that they decided to kill it? I know they put a Wii game out early in the life cycle of the console, but that seemed to be more of a tech experiment for using motion-sensitive controllers than a full-fledged game (from what I hear -- I never did play it).

Anyway, I haven't heard a thing about SSX for this generation, which surprises me. Yes, SSX4 was a huge disappointment, but the series still has three superb games in its history. Seems strange that it would be abandoned.