At the unveiling of Microsoft' Inc.'s new Xbox One, game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. introduced, Wednesday, a new sports gaming engine called Ignite which will power four new sports titles on the console and titles on Sony Inc.'s forthcoming PlayStation 4 (PS4).
The Ignite engine will be utilized on EA's Madden 25, FIFA 14, NBA Live, and UFC titles. The touted improvements in graphics, rendering, animation, and artificial intelligence will, according to company spokesman Andrew Wilson, "blur the lines between the real and the virtual." With nearly four times greater computational power on the new console, Wilson believes the new Ignite engine can deliver, "ten times as much animation detail" for gamers.
Despite being conspicuously absent from Sony's PlayStation 4 announcement earlier this year, EA's Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen, in a seperate statement, today confirmed that its new sports games titles will appear on that future console. Given the enormous success of game titles such as FIFA, whose latest iteration sold an estimated 6.5 million units globally on the PS3, getting its newest titles on the PS4 is critically important for EA as well.
Interestingly, the push to publish its latest titles on Microsoft and Sony's newest consoles, stands in stark contrast with the other company EA once developed a "strategic partnership" with, Nintendo. In a statement released just last week from company spokesman Jeff Brown announced, "there are no games in development for the Wii U currently."
The Xbox One will launch "later this year," according to Microsoft, and EA stated that its new sports game titles will be released during the year as well. No details were given about pricing or availablity.
