Electronic Arts to Co-publish The Secret World

Funcom shot over a press release this morning announcing that EA will be co-publishing their upcoming modern day MMORPG, The Secret World. It’ll be interesting to see how this one turns out with Electronic Arts backing it:

FUNCOM AND EA TO CO-PUBLISH ‘˜THE SECRET WORLD’ MMO

Award-winning independent developer Funcom and global game publisher EA set to co-publish Funcom’s upcoming modern-day MMO ‘˜The Secret World’

Durham, USA January 10th, 2011 Funcom, the award-winning game developer responsible for titles such as ‘˜Anarchy Online’ and ‘˜Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’, and EA Partners, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS), today announced their agreement to co-publish Funcom’s highly anticipated modern-day massively multiplayer online game ‘˜The Secret World’. Hundreds of thousands of gamers have joined the ever-growing community surrounding the game, and have even before launch become active members in the game’s secret societies: the Illuminati, the Dragon and the Templar.

(We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Funcom, one of the world-leaders in the development of massively multiplayer online games,) says David DeMartini, Senior Vice President and General Manager of EA Partners. (We are very excited to be able to take part in the growing online gaming category with such a highly anticipated title as ‘˜The Secret World’.)

‘˜The Secret World’ is a next-generation massively multiplayer online game for the PC platform, where players are given total freedom to create and progress their characters, unbound by the restrictions of classes and levels. Players will get the opportunity to join one of the three secret societies and fight for power over important locations throughout our own world.  Players will also journey through familiar places across the globe, such as Egypt, New England, London, New York and Seoul and battle monsters of myth and legend.

(We are tremendously excited to be working with what is undoubtedly the world-leading games publisher for the past decade, and it is also a great testament to the fantastic work of our development team,) says Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas. (The experience and the knowledge that Electronic Arts brings to the table will be instrumental in allowing us to realize the full potential of ‘˜The Secret World’.)

‘˜The Secret World’ is Funcom’s third massively multiplayer game, having previously developed the award-winning ‘˜Anarchy Online’ and the best selling new MMO of 2008 ‘˜Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’. No release date has been announced.

For more information, visit the official website at www.darkdaysarecoming.com.

ABOUT FUNCOM – Funcom is an independent developer and publisher of online games for PC and consoles. Funcom has provided outstanding entertainment since 1993 and continues to expand its track-record of more than twenty released games. Recent titles include ‘˜Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’, ‘˜The Longest Journey’, ‘Anarchy Online’ and ‘Dreamfall: The Longest Journey’. For corporate information please visit www.funcom.com. For information about Funcom games visit www.anarchy-online.com www.dreamfall.com, www.darkdaysarecoming.com or www.ageofconan.com. Funcom is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker FUNCOM.

ABOUT ELECTRONIC ARTS – Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world’s leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTSâ„¢, EAâ„¢, EA Mobileâ„¢ and POGOâ„¢.  In fiscal 2010, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.7 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million units. EA’s homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.