During an Electronic Arts conference call with EA execs Larry Probst and Warren Jenson it was revealed that the highly anticipated Battlefield 2 along with the next console Medal of Honor game have now been delayed until Q1 2006 (April-June 2005).
Here are some more tidbits from the call:
EA execs believes that there is still a lot of strength in current generation console sales, even with the industry on the verge of officially announcing new next-gen console hardware.
In the calendar year 2005, EA execs plan to make the "nessessary investments" for next generation console game development, along with a healthy handheld console line-up for the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS, along with increased development of games for mobile phones.
On EA"s recent purchase of nearly 20 percent of Ubi Soft shares, EA execs stated that they feel it is a good investment, saying, "We have nothing but respect but Ubi Soft and its management." While EA stated they are prepared to be a "long time minority shareholder" they also said, "We want to keep our options open." IF EA does decide to increase their share in Ubi Soft, EA execs stated they would like to do so with the full support and cooperation of Ubi Soft management.
Battlefield 2, the upcoming next game in the multiplayer shooter franchise, has been pushed back from a March release to a release in EA"s first fiscal 2006 quarter (April-June 2005). Likewise the next console Medal of Honor title will also be released in the fiscal first quarter 2006 time period.
During the conference call Q&A, EA execs stated that despite the announcement yesterday of Take Two"s semi-exclusive pro baseball video game licence, EA is pursuing the creation of some kind of baseball title although they declined to go into details.