EA Inks Game Deal with Robert Ludlum

Game studio Electronic Arts has announced it has reached a deal for the exclusive game licenses to the works of writer Robert Ludlum, including the well-known Jason Bourne franchise, recently re-popularized in a trilogy of films starring Matt Damon. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but EA has already sent it’s first game to be built on the Jason Bourne franchise off to Sweden’s Starbreeze Studios for development.

“Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne is the most exciting action hero to emerge in decades, thrilling audiences around the world,” said EA Games Label group VP of marketing Mike Quigley, in a statement. “EA is excited to enter into a long-term relationship with Ludlum Entertainment, bringing the action, intrigue, and intensity of Robert Ludlum’s fiction to life for casual and core gamers around the globe.”

Ludlum was a prolific writer of espionage, mystery, and thrillers; he died in 2001. Ludlum Entertainment, which manages the rights to the author’s works, also has several film deals in place with Universal, MGM, Paramount, and Summit Entertainment.

Sweden’s Starbreeze Studios also develops The Chronicles of Riddick video game.

The move makes sense for Electronic Arts, which—like pretty much every other game studio—wants to create franchises that keep selling new titles year after year…and tapping into an existing media franchise like the Jason Bourne series makes the job even easier. Of course, writers have already faced difficulty translating Ludlum’s books to the screen (anyone remember the version of The Bourne Identity with Richard Chamberlin?), opting in the recent installments for simplified stories with cinematic flash and highly complex action sequences. EA will likely follow the same approach with Bourne-based video games, tapping into the action reputation of the recent film installments.

Previous Bourne-based games were published by Sierra Entertainment.