Story Topics: EA - Facebook

TechCrunch — We haven’t heard much from PlayFirst since we covered the San Francisco-based casual gaming startup’s last funding round back in December 2007, but that doesn’t mean things aren’t moving for the venture-backed company. Earlier this year, the startup inked a major deal with Big Fish Games and today it has announced that social game industry ...More executive Mitali Pattnaik has joined PlayFirst as General Manager, Social Games. Pattnaik started her career at Microsoft at the beginning of the millennium, and joined Electronic Arts as Marketing Manager after a four-year stint at the software company. She didn’t stick around for long: she was hired by Yahoo in September 2005 to fill the role of Senior Marketing Manager, where she oversaw worldwide marketing for Yahoo! Search. Most recently, she led the marketing and monetization efforts for social gaming at Electronic Arts, where she returned as Online Marketing Manager and later, Head of Marketing, in April 2008 before leaving the company for the second time around late last year. In her new role at PlayFirst, she will lead all company’s social gaming initiatives, including the development and publishing of games for Facebook and other social platforms. PlayFirst’s chief executive, on a sidenote, is also a woman. The company is led by Mari Baker , former Executive in Residence at Kleiner Perkins and founding CEO of KPCB/Sequoia-backed Navigenics. (Photo from Facebook ) CrunchBase Information PlayFirst Information provided by CrunchBase ...Less

paidContent — Electronic Arts ( NSDQ: ERTS )—which continues to try to move its business “beyond the console”—is bringing Madden NFL to Facebook. It isn’t ...More exactly clear what EA has in mind for the Facebook version of its blockbuster video game; EA Sports President Peter Moore tells Bloomberg vaguely that it will be a “simpler experience” and that the company wants to make the game “more accessible.” A big economic shift is likely involved, since Madden NFL would presumably be ad- and virtual goods-supported on the social network. Considering EA’s promises to invest heavily in “digital,” along with its recent purchase of social gaming giant Playfish, it wouldn’t be surprising if this was the first of several of EA’s existing titles to make its way to the social network (We’ve asked the company and will update if we hear back). Already, EA has had success in bringing many of its games, including Madden , to the iPhone and is launching an online version of another one of its major franchises, Tiger Woods PGA Tour . The Madden news comes as EA is set to report its quarterly earnings this afternoon. In recent quarters , the company’s digital business has been its solitary positive point—and expect more talk about that today, especially since packaged game sales will likely be down again; the company lowered its guidance for the quarter and full year last month, citing “weakness for EA and the overall packaged goods sector in Europe” during the holiday shopping season. Related The Deal's Done: EA Acquires Playfish For $275 Million Up-Front, Plus $100 Million Earnout EA, Gameloft Dominate The App Store's Best-Selling Games Of '09 EA Banks On Subscription Revs With Tiger Woods Game—Not In-Store Sales ...Less

Webware.com — An exec at the gaming company hinted that its 'Madden NFL' franchise will launch a Facebook version, the first application we've seen of EA's Playfish acquisition ...More to its existing game titles. Originally posted at The Social ...Less

Wall Street Journal — Electronic Arts posted a smaller loss in the holiday quarter, despite a 25% drop in sales, but the company issued a weak outlook for the current quarter. Shares ...More tumbled. ...Less

The Social — An exec at the gaming company hinted that its 'Madden NFL' franchise will launch a Facebook version, the first application we've seen of EA's Playfish acquisition ...More to its existing game titles. ...Less

Kotaku — Electronic Arts has is aiming for the first quarter of 2011 for two of its bigger upcoming releases, pegging Visceral Games' Dead Space 2 and BioWare's next Dra