Electronic Arts was a notable name missing when Sony rolled out its list of studios working on the Next Generation Portable back in January, but a small slip on a professional networking site suggests the publisher is very much on board. A LinkedIn profile belonging to an EA software engineer lists FIFA 12 among his current projects, and the list of platforms attached to that entry includes the PSP2, the internal name widely used for the NGP.
The profile, which belongs to engineer Juan José Galera Pérez, lays out FIFA 12 for a remarkable spread of hardware: Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, PSP2, PC, Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS. The details were spotted over the weekend, and Italian site SpazioGames was among the first to flag the LinkedIn listing as a possible NGP reveal while noting that nothing has been made official.
Shadows Of The Damned And Burnout Crash Also Listed
The same profile names two other EA projects, Shadows of the Damned and Burnout Crash, but both are listed only for Xbox 360 and PS3. Shadows of the Damned is the demon hunting action game from Suda 51’s Grasshopper Manufacture that EA is publishing under its EA Partners label, and it is currently dated for June 7. Burnout Crash has not been formally announced by EA, so its appearance here is its own small surprise for fans of Criterion’s long running series.
So is this confirmation? Not in the press release sense. EA has not commented on the listing, and the publisher has not confirmed an NGP version of anything. Still, it is hard to imagine an engineer inventing a platform list like this one, and a FIFA game on Sony’s new handheld would hardly be a shock. The series has appeared on nearly every piece of hardware Sony and Nintendo have released in recent years, including the original PSP.
Why FIFA Fits Sony’s New Handheld
It would also fill an obvious gap. When Sony unveiled the NGP at its PlayStation Meeting in Tokyo on January 27, it showed off a 5 inch OLED touchscreen, a rear touch pad, twin analog sticks, motion sensors and both WiFi and 3G models. A large roster of partners was named, with Activision, Capcom, Konami, Sega and Ubisoft all on board, but EA and THQ were conspicuously absent from that list. Given how much of EA’s catalog lives on sports titles that sell year after year, leaving the NGP alone would have been an odd choice.
Twin analog sticks in particular should suit a football game far better than the single nub on the original PSP, and the touch surfaces open the door to new ways of passing and shooting if EA Sports wants to experiment. The 3DS listing is notable as well, since it suggests EA is planning FIFA 12 for both of the new handhelds arriving this year rather than picking a side.
Sony has said the NGP will launch by the end of 2011, and FIFA traditionally arrives each autumn, so the timing could line up neatly if EA chooses to make FIFA 12 an early title for the system. We will keep an eye out for an official word from EA or Sony. Until then, treat this as a strong hint rather than a done deal.