Can Harry Potter save the day (and quarter) for EA?
Electronic Arts and Warner Bros. Interactive announced that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince video game will be in stores worldwide on June 30.
The long-awaited launch should be a big deal for EA’s fiscal quarter that ends June 30, and the launch will be just ahead of the July debut of Warner Bros. Pictures film based on the sixth novel in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.
In the game, Harry Potter will return to Hogwarts to survive a sixth year. Players can engage in wizard duels, mix potions, and fly on brooms to lead the Gryffindor Quidditch team. The game was developed by EA Bright Light in Guildford, England, the same team that made other multi-million unit selling Harry Potter games. This game should be pretty polished, since it was delayed last year because the movie schedule pushed back. It will be on all major game systems. For EA, it should prove to be an important title, as will the Sims 3, which ships on June 3.
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About the Author, Dean Takahashi
Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.
