EA quietly opens '8lb Gorilla' to make smaller iPhone games

by Ben Gilbert { Jul 11th 2009 at 2:30PM }

There's a lot of excitement around the iPhone game market these days, what with people making lots of money and investing so little to do so. EA has apparently opened up a studio (without saying a peep about it) named "8lb Gorilla," simultaneously announcing the upcoming Zombies & Me for Apple's mobile platform. Unlike the recent emphasis on bringing major franchise ports to the handheld, 8PG will supposedly be focusing on the sub-$3 market, and thusly, more bite-sized game experiences.

According to Touch Arcade, Zombies & Me features quick, motion-controlled gameplay that testers could understand "within 5-10 seconds." Set during the apocalypse, the government is dropping missles and you're tasked with guiding zombies in as large a group as possible into a nearby explosion -- the folks at 8PG say it's set to release "very soon." EA is apparently targeting to release something from the "twenty-something year old developers" once a month, pending App Store approval. Looks like even the big guys are jumping on the low-priced iPhone app ~~bandwagon~~ cash train.

Tags: 8-pound-gorilla, 8lb-gorilla, 8pg, app-store, business, ea, electronic-arts, iphone, zombies-and-me

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Zinger314 @ Jul 11th 2009 2:50PM

Joystiq provides much better coverage than ATT and Verizon.

[tre] @ Jul 11th 2009 2:57PM

An eight-pound gorilla?!? Impossible.

Alexisonfire @ Jul 11th 2009 3:13PM

Well, if it's a gorilla that is only 8 pounds, no wonder no one heard it coming.

deanb @ Jul 11th 2009 3:31PM

"what with people making lots of money and investing so little to do so" - I thought this had been proven to be a complete fallacy. Unless you were a big or well known developer (i.e EA, PopCap, id) then it would be very difficult to make cash from the iphone. Especially with you earlier report that games mostly sell at $2 or less.

Sly @ Jul 11th 2009 4:37PM

ngmoco has found a good deal of success, but they are in the minority...

whylekat @ Jul 11th 2009 5:27PM

No you're incorrect. The guy who made iShoot made 30 or 60 thousand (can't rememer exactly) the 1st month I believe. And he expects to be a millionare by the end of the year if he isn't already.

And that's just a simple version of scorched earth.

deanb @ Jul 11th 2009 5:54PM

How the hell is he making money off that iShoot? Surely that's free?
http://www.freeonlinegames.com/arcade-games/tanks.html -cos this flash game version is.
But this article paints a much more realistic picture -
http://www.businessinsider.com/2008/10/iphone-app-store-s-brutal-reality-get-viral-or-don-t-quit-your-day-job
Which reinforces the fact you need to be a big developer, or get well known through viral or the iTunes charts. Which with 50,000 pieces of potential shovelware can be pretty hard

whylekat @ Jul 11th 2009 7:41PM

It was 99 cents and it sold incredibly well. The story was in most newspapers, USA Today & NY times for sure. Also on G4tv's Attack of the Show segment during The Feed. I think even joystiq had a post about it.

whylekat @ Jul 11th 2009 7:47PM

Wow it's actually $1.99 now. And states that it was the #1 app from Jan-feb '09. So those months alone = bundles of cash.

Bootes @ Jul 12th 2009 4:11PM

"Which reinforces the fact you need to be a big developer, or get well known through viral or the iTunes charts. Which with 50,000 pieces of potential shovelware can be pretty hard"

Well duh, if no one hears about your game in any way then no one buys it and you don't make money. It's not like people can make games for the Xbox and not tell anyone and make millions.

Chibi Chaingun - blackhivemedia.com @ Jul 11th 2009 10:07PM

Looks like a fun game. However, I remember when EA basically said there is no place for indies.. Seems like they are trying hard to make sure that statement was correct.

valgas @ Jul 12th 2009 1:29AM

EA's gonna have to do better than this to compete with some of the indie games already on the app store. This game looks like it would be fun for about as long as it takes a lightning bolt to produce 1.21 gigawatts of electricity.

samfish (uses the Joystiq Comment-Kill filter!) @ Jul 12th 2009 11:42AM

I downloaded the iPhone SDK the other day, took one look at it and realized I have no freakin' clue how to do any of that crazy coding stuff. My fantasy of making an iPhone game went right straight out the window!

But hey, more power to EA's new studio, I say.