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DeathSpank And Shank Signed To EA Partners
Even though EA decided to cut back its distribution plans, the EA Partners program is still alive and well. The publishing group recently signed two new downloadable indie titles.
Gamasutra reports that EA Partners has picked up Shank and DeathSpank as its first two digital distributed releases. EA Partners outreach director Jamil Moledina told Gamasutra that the program is "not going to necessarily limit ourselves because of distribution mechanisms."
If you're not familiar, Shank is a new 2D sidescrolling beat-em-up from Klei Entertainment, the same group that created N+ and Eets. DeathSpank comes from Hothead Games (the developer behind the Penny Arcade Adventures) and Ron Gilbert (of Monkey Island fame). This goofy-looking title (pictured above) has been described as "Monkey Island meets Diablo."
Hothead CEO Ian Wilkinson opened up to Gamasutra about the troubles the new developer faced with Penny Arcade Adventures.
"The Penny Arcade series didn't sell as well as we would have liked," he said. "Critically, it was well-received, but commercially, from our perspective, [it wasn't]. Most companies would be happy with the performance, but we are not.... With Penny Arcade, yes, a lot of people knew about it, but we just couldn't transition those people into buyers."
Moledina pointed out that these games will have a smaller marketing budget but will receive the same quality of marketing as other EA Partners titles such as Brutal Legend, Left 4 Dead 2, and The Beatles: Rock Band.
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