Electronic Arts announced today that it has struck an exclusive, worldwide, multi-year deal with Ludlum Entertainment to produce video games based on the works of author Robert Ludlum, which most notably includes the Jason Bourne series. As part of the announcement, EA revealed that it's already working on a Jason Bourne game with Swedish developer Starbreeze, best known for first-person awesomeness like The Chronicles of Riddick and The Darkness. Those crazy Swedes have a knack for producing rock-solid licensed games, and the Bourne fiction is arguably much stronger source material than what they've had to work with so far, so I feel pretty comfortable getting excited about this.
Of course, this isn't the first time the Bourne series has gotten the video-game treatment. Vivendi previously held this license, having picked it up back in 2005, though following the release of the flashy-but-short Bourne Conspiracy and Vivendi's subsequent Activision merger, it released the license back to Ludlum Entertainment late last year. At the time, the folks at Ludlum were gracious about being dropped, with CEO Jeffrey Weiner stating that "Our colleagues at Vivendi Games did a tremendous job of capturing the spirit and allure of Robert Ludlum's writing with The Bourne Conspiracy." Weiner dropped the pleasantries while talking to Variety about the switch from Vivendi to EA today, offering up praise for EA and scorn for Vivendi in one fell swoop by saying that “We're dealing with grown ups now.” Oh snap.
Of course, this isn't the first time the Bourne series has gotten the video-game treatment. Vivendi previously held this license, having picked it up back in 2005, though following the release of the flashy-but-short Bourne Conspiracy and Vivendi's subsequent Activision merger, it released the license back to Ludlum Entertainment late last year. At the time, the folks at Ludlum were gracious about being dropped, with CEO Jeffrey Weiner stating that "Our colleagues at Vivendi Games did a tremendous job of capturing the spirit and allure of Robert Ludlum's writing with The Bourne Conspiracy." Weiner dropped the pleasantries while talking to Variety about the switch from Vivendi to EA today, offering up praise for EA and scorn for Vivendi in one fell swoop by saying that “We're dealing with grown ups now.” Oh snap.