Tech Pacific signs Electronic Arts

Distributor Tech Pacific has beefed up its games software portfolio signing on to distribute titles developed by Electronic Arts (EA), following a similar agreement with Take 2 Interactive in March.

Tech Pacific joins a range of other distributors selling EA products. However, EA deals direct with mass market retailers such as Harvey Norman, Coles Myer and Dick Smith.

Under the arrangement, Tech Pacific has access to the full range of Electronic Arts' game titles.

Joshua Velling, systems and peripherals category manager at the distributor, said the arrangement gave EA access to its base of IT and AV resellers. “We will be offering a very extensive range of games in this space,” he said.

The agreement with Tech Pacific would also give EA access to the Leading Edge group of retail stores, he said. “We don't service them [Leading Edge] directly and that's an opportunity we want to explore,” he said.

“They [Tech Pacific] are very keen to see what they can do with our product. We're not putting huge expectations on the business at this stage, [but] I think that it will build gradually over time,” he said.

Shaun Campbell, sales director at EA, said there were around 150 titles available in the developer's range. He said there were opportunities to reach markets outside its existing business through Tech Pacific.

“Because of their [TechPac's] hardware range there are bundling opportunities as well. We've never had a partner that we can consistently build those bundling opportunities with,” he said.

EA develops popular titles such as Battlefield Vietnam, Need For Speed and Lord of the Rings. Its software runs on the Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo Gameboy and PC platforms.

EA and Take 2 Interactive are the number one and two players in the games market respectively. Tech Pacific also distributes for games publishers Sony and Microsoft.