EA-Nvidia Deal Mostly Just Marketing
By Mark Hachman
A nebulous deal between software publisher Electronic Arts and graphics chip maker Nvidia Corp. will primarily involve marketing, and won't tie EA content exclusively to Nvidia's chips.
The deal, announced on Thursday, makes Nvidia the "preferred graphics platform" for EA's worldwide studios, according to Nvidia.
ADVERTISEMENT
EA will use PCs equipped with Nvidia graphics cards to design EA games. Nvidia will receive exclusive bundling rights for its add-in card partners, who will be able to ship either demonstration versions or full-fledged EA games in the same package as their Nvidia-based graphics cards.
The most controversial facet of the agreement, however, has been a statement that the two sides will discuss Nvidia-specific features and special effects in several upcoming EA titles for the PC, including Madden NFL Football 2004.
On Friday, an EA spokeswoman attempted to clarify some of the hype.
"The deal is a combination of marketing, product enhancement and bundling," said an EA spokeswoman in an email to ExtremeTech. "They have an 'exclusive' for bundling with OEM's and board makers."
"The bundling is an exclusive," the spokeswoman added. "It does not mean that EA's software will only run on Nvidia's hardware. There will be some custom work (although it might not be proprietary) for Madden '04 and maybe another title or two down the road, but this is mostly a marketing/bundling deal."
The spokeswoman declined to say what the "custom work" done on Madden might entail.
fonte:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1020656,00.asp