EA eyes Japanese studios

Electronic Arts is looking to acquire or partner with developers based in Japan to help it expand in the region, according EA Asia president Jon Niermann.

Speaking in an interview with the FT.com, Niermann said that Japan was the next target for the publishing giant, following recent moves in China via its 15 per cent purchase of The9, and its 19 per cent stake in Korean firm Neowiz.

"[We are] exploring everything from established companies to new companies," he said.

"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 question is] can we get to the scale that we want to more quickly if we work with someone [in Japan] that actually has had success in the market," said Niermann.

Niermann believes that any partnership would be a two-way street for both companies, allowing a Japanese firm to reach a much wider audience outside of its local region.

"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 weâve ramped up to be."