Steven Spielberg got serious game.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker is joining forces with Electronic Arts, the world's biggest videogame maker, to develop three original games that Spielberg may eventually turn into movies.
"There is no greater storyteller than Steven Spielberg," says EA's chariman and CEO, Larry Probst, in a statement. "In addition to his gift for pleasing movie audiences, he has an innate understanding of games and how to immerse players into a fantastic world of action and characters."
No word how much the War of the Worlds director is being paid for his creative contributions, but, according to the folks at EA, he'll be more than just a high-priced consultant.
The deal calls for Spielberg to collaborate closely with EA's Los Angeles studio to create three new franchise properties, having a firm hand and weighing in on everything from concept and design to characters, story and artistic visualization. He'll also have first dibs at turning the titles into potential big-screen blockbusters or television series. EA, on the other hand, will own the intellectual property rights and develop, publish and distribute the games worldwide.
"I have been playing EA games for years and have watched them master the interactive format," says Spielberg. "Having watched the game industry grow from a niche into a major creative force in entertainment, I have a great deal of respect for EA's understanding of the interactive format. I'm looking forward to working closely with the team in Los Angeles."
When news of partnership hit the wires, shares of EA went up by $1.82 to $54.22 on the NASDAQ.
Spielberg, whose résumé includes Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Jaws and the Indiana Jones trilogy, is no stranger to the interactive gaming world, having been a passionate gamer himself for many years. He's also the first major Tinseltown player to take the plunge and actually immerse himself in production aspects of the industry beyond lending his name.
As a cofounder of DreamWorks, he oversaw the studio's videogame unit, DreamWorks Interactive, which developed and distributed the World War II-themed Medal of Honor game series. The division was sold in 2000 to Electronic Arts and became EA Los Angeles. Spielberg also masterminded two games in the mid-'90s, hatching the story for Dig, a computer game developed by pal George Lucas' LucasArts, and presiding over Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair, which let would-be moguls put together a film featuring Jennifer Aniston, Quentin Tarantino and Penn & Teller.
While those games failed to live up to expectations at the sales counter and, in the case of the latter title, crippled by technological limitations, EA hopes that Spielberg will not only be able to make the new troika of videogames more exciting visually and action-wise, but also engage players emotionally.
Last year, Spielberg offered a hint of where he thinks cinema will go in the 21st century, urging an audience of film students to play more videogames because gaming may one day change the way movies are made, especially since people prefer to stay home than pay a visit to their local cineplex.
To underscore that point, the gaming industry now dwarfs Hollywood studios in terms of revenue. Last year's domestic movie receipts totaled $9.4 billion, less than the $9.9 billion raked in from the sale of videogame hardware and software.
Spielberg, who is currently on location in Europe filming the terrorist drama Munich, will begin his collaboration with EA later this year, but no specific timetable has been announced for the release of the games.