EA: Flips can grow DS audience

Electronic Arts is confident that its new Flips range of e-books for kids can not only be a sales success – but actually widen the audience of Nintendo’s DS.

And the firm told MCV this week that it believes any prospect of introducing Harry Potter books into the range would be very cool”.

The Flips series will feature titles from popular authors Enid Blyton, Eoin Colfer and Cathy Cassidy, and follows a deal between EA and book publishers Penguin and Egmont.

Each title features multiple books and the first four will be released on December 4th. They were made by EA’s Bright Light studio, best known for the Harry Potter games.

I know a lot of parents both in and outside the industry and I’ve had so much positive feedback on Flips already I really do believe we can bring new consumers to the DS,” VP of EA Play and Bright Light boss Harvey Elliott told MCV.

I’m not sure we’re selling more hardware just yet, but I do think that the Flips books will encourage people to pass their DS to a child to read, and broaden the audience.”

The firm said it had no solid plans to bring the franchise to Wii or iPhone – but admitted that it had a growth plan in mind should the initial launch go well”.

When asked if EA could use its Harry Potter rights to team the book series with Flips, Elliott said: Well that would be cool – we’re always looking at what comes next.

But, for now, we are focused on, and really happy with, our current line-up. Between the four products I believe we’ve covered the kid audiences particularly neatly. Time will very quickly tell if I’m right.”