300 director inks three-game EA deal

Following in Spielberg's footsteps, Zack Snyder will "lead creative direction" on a trio of unnamed new IPs at megapublisher's LA studio.

In 2005, Electronic Arts announced a deal with Steven Spielberg to oversee development of a trio of original intellectual properties at the publisher's Los Angeles studio. So far, the partnership has yielded the Wii puzzler Boom Blox, although a futuristic PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 action adventure game is still in the works.

Today, EA announced a deal with another filmmaker of note, 300 director Zack Snyder. The agreement will have Snyder "lead the creative direction of the games while working in partnership with the production team at EA Los Angeles." EA will own the new IPs created under the arrangement, with the Dawn of the Dead remake director's production company, Cruel & Unusual Films, leading the effort to turn said games into feature films.

The EA deal will not extend to Snyder's current project, the big-screen adaptation of the celebrated DC Comics graphic novel Watchmen. A PC, 360, and PS3 adaptation of the film is being developed by Danish shop Deadline Games (Chili Con Carnage, Total Overdose) for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. WBIE is the game division of Warner Bros., the studio that will distribute Watchmen to theaters next March if a legal challenge from rival studio 20th Century Fox fails.

60 Comments

  • Toastman923

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 7:09 pm GMT

    Zack Snyder does a great job, i can't wait to see what he has to offer to videogames

  • JustinHendre

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 6:57 pm GMT

    There is a new 300 game being made. It's for the PS3, and XBOX360. For real it was on a leaked game list consisting of 275 new 360 titles coming. And 300 the videogame is one of them, not the PSP version this is gonna be the real version. If done right should be ultra bad A$$.

  • PSdual_wielder

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 6:22 pm GMT

    I would really like to see comic book adaptations directly onto games, instead of something like a movie adaptation and then transferred into games, which would suck because at least anything transferred from a film to a game would suck. Maybe with this guy in the way direct comic book-to-game properties could be upstarted, I'm sure this kind of trend could work out.

  • KevComesRipping

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 5:33 pm GMT

    To cjno13 maybe you should be telling this to the idiots who named the news piece "300 director inks three-game EA deal" it's misleading to begin with, they should have said "Director of 300, Watchman, inks 3 game deal with EA"

    On topic, boo.

  • cjno13

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 4:55 pm GMT

    to all the idiots talking about a 300 game it says nothin about a 300 game and there already is one on the psp. so please learn to read so you dont sound like an idiot.

  • MacBrother

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 4:45 pm GMT

    Oh God no they are making a Watchmen Video Game. And with a really bad developer too. Horrible.

  • mastermune89

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 4:44 pm GMT

    it would be cool if he made a whole universe in this project,like a game and a movie that have little to do with one another but expand the story and flesh it all out.

  • liam72

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 4:30 pm GMT

    300 is not a movie, it's a video game. There is no story, only action. Games can afford to have no story. Movies can't. Bad movie, but it would do a great game.

  • Factor-Zer0

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 4:07 pm GMT

    When I red Spielberg my mind went right to ET.

  • ej1041

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 3:57 pm GMT

    dark being 300 is not a crappy movie. its AWSOME! ^_^

  • worldind913

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 3:54 pm GMT

    *Can't help myself* THIS IS MADNESS!

  • StealthKnife

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 3:53 pm GMT

    not EA!!!!

  • nymets819

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 3:49 pm GMT

    300 game would be awesome

  • Louisville18

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 3:48 pm GMT

    i know it's not about games but i really hope Watchmen makes it to theaters next march, i think Snyder is a great director and it would be a real shame if arguably the greatest graphic novel of all-time(and my favorite)doesn't get made into a movie because of a legal issues, especially after how amazing that first trailer looked

  • redskinStu

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 3:36 pm GMT

    So this is the idiot responsible for the "Dawn" remake?

  • O2k4

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 3:08 pm GMT

    I doubt he'll direct a game, it's just marketing... like "some famous guy" -insert game name here- so the people who likes his movies gonna buy "his" games

  • Faller88

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 2:40 pm GMT

    Regardless of My opinion of the guy, its not because someone's a good filmmaker that they know the mechanics of games....Following this logic, writers to can make games.Hell, R.A. Salvatore is working on an MMO at 38 Studios.(You know, where that Rich Gallup guy is working now.)....

  • dark_being

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 2:38 pm GMT

    300 was a crappy movie. a friend of mine actually fall asleep during the screening, and I don't blame him. The remake of Dawn of the Dead was good, though, so I'm hoping there is still hope for this deal. Anyway, I wont be holding my breath for Snyder's games.

  • hashmanalum

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 2:34 pm GMT

    Well we all know that 300 is a great movie so I HOPE that Zack makes those games AT LEAST as good as the movie...
    I'll accept nothing less! =D

  • LostSoul1974

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 2:33 pm GMT

    Got mixed feelings about this, but who am I judge? Guess I'll just see how it plays out...

  • Jinzo99881

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 2:31 pm GMT

    Anyone who knows anything about the video game industry will have enough history to conclude that this will have an overwhelming possibility(over 80% for sure) of turning out to be mediocre, throw-away games like almost every movie->game tie in. Worse still is the fact that EA is helming these projects.

  • Krusnikzero2

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 2:31 pm GMT

    I don't see this producing anything special, but who knows, I've been surprised before, and boom blox showed that at least spielberg could make a good game

  • -HaloHitman-

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 2:29 pm GMT

    Might be Cool.

  • VenomRitual

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 2:23 pm GMT

    @shadow. there was a game. a medicore 300 for the psp. i hope we get to see a big ps3/360 300 done right.

  • ShadowBass989

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 2:18 pm GMT

    dont mess this up, 300 was epic, if done right, this game can b epic too.

  • Lord__Darkstorn

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 2:07 pm GMT

    It will probably fail, but I'll keep up hope. 300 was a fairly good movie that I enjoyed...

  • Hott-FuzZ

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:59 pm GMT

    dawn of the dead and 300 were good, but why a game deal? Oh well, i guess if any director could do it, zack snyders the guy.

  • flclempire

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:58 pm GMT

    Lame. Casualize everything....

  • methodkiller335

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:57 pm GMT

    300 director making a game? Epic.

  • SethSOMT

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:56 pm GMT

    I don't particularly see this as a good thing...

  • peeweeshift

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:36 pm GMT

    the guy who made cheesy lines work is making games :O...ah well...This is SPARTA!!!

  • Richmaester6907

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:35 pm GMT

    Wow a 300 game.........

  • Henninger

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:25 pm GMT

    not very optimistic about this.

  • KosMos12

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:21 pm GMT

    When I think Of a 300 game, two types of games come to mind. A Dynasty Warrioresque game or a strategy game, which the latter doesn't seem too bad, but I can't say the same for the Dynasty route. Either way I hope they go a different direction.

  • Senor_Kami

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:17 pm GMT

    This could be good. Maybe games will have stories that are better than F quality made for TV movies. I think video game nerds have taken game writing, direction and acting as far as they can possibly take it. We now need serious people who do this stuff for a living and win awards for it in order for games to move beyond the rut they're in.

  • sphinx-shadow

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:15 pm GMT

    i like steven spielberg's boom blox but now that 300 director is now making a game that makes me jump up for joy.

  • Myzz617

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:10 pm GMT

    eww halo this is sparta...naaa..it will be better than halo and multi plat obviously.

  • luc11044

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 12:44 pm GMT

    Let's ask Peter Molyneux or Cliff Blezinsky if they want to start directing movies.

  • moatartareque

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 12:37 pm GMT

    300 guys directing games? next halo THIS IS SPARTA

  • mikewalsh69

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 12:31 pm GMT

    well it's not really a director that makes the film good. it's the script that makes a film good. green mile and lotr were great books which is why they became great films

  • mikewalsh69

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 12:31 pm GMT

    well it's not really a director that makes the film good. it's the script that makes a film good. green mile and lotr were great books which is why they became great films

  • CTUDude

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 12:29 pm GMT

    At first glance I thought it said '360 director inks three-game EA deal'.

  • eagles_band

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 12:09 pm GMT

    so film directors are directing games not, that cant be good

  • iamnessie

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 12:02 pm GMT

    He's got some cool movies coming up. Like a new 300 movie.
    Brash is supposedly making a new 300 game, but after all the crap they've made so far, i don't have any expectations other than it will suck.

  • GC4ever

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 12:00 pm GMT

    i watched a repeat of gt tv on friday and snyder is interested in making a remake of the 300 game
    that game really needs it
    i hope these games will be awesome

  • HardcoreBunni

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 12:00 pm GMT

    @jazilla:
    I think that the problem with game-to-movie productions is that people have a hard time transforming a video game to a movie because a video game is pretty long and they have to shorten the story by cutting out a lot of parts. Then the movies (and the character\s)lose a lot of their identity in the process because a lot of its best parts are cut out to focus on the main storyline or just on the special effects.
    I'm preferring games these days because in games like Mass Effect(to name a recent example), because you spend more time with your fellow characters than you would with a movie- that gives the person who is playing more oppurtunities to relate or to actually give a damn about the characters.

  • combatsoldier

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 11:50 am GMT

    grand 17 they made a 300 game on psp, however it was very lack luster. It would be nice to see a next gen of 300 that would be totally amazing. Especially this is already great that this guy is getting into making video games. He has a promising future.

  • supersonic125

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 11:46 am GMT

    who cares

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