News
New acquisition has EA Singing
Michael French Feb 12 2007, 8:00pm
EA will add social networking - and perhaps music games - to its development capabilities thanks to the acquisition of SingShot, a San Francisco-based online karaoke community.
SingShot as a site lets members of the public record their own renditions of famous songs, share recordings, rate and comment on other members' submissions, customise recordings with photos and videos, and compete in a variety of contests.
The site's technology can, the company added, be "applied to several different community projects within EA" underlining a move that sees the company expedite its approach to online.
EA said buying the company will enhance its efforts in community-building and promoting user-generated content. Both of these elements are seen as key factors for games to embrace as networking features take hold and progress beyond simple connected multiplayer games.
The site's CEO Ranah Edelin and CTO Niranjan Nagar are set to take roles at EA in the roles as VPs and the five-man SingShot will join EA's Sims Division, suggesting that the Sims player community, and the games themselves, will be first to benefit.
"[SingShot] are tremendously talented, technically adept and true experts in developing user-generated communities through music. We see a bright future for the technology and each of these individuals within EA," said the company's executive vice president and group general manager, Nancy Smith
