UTA will help the company develop a comprehensive strategy for moving its intellectual property into the realm of large-budget motion pictures and television series. EA's broad portfolio of titles includes top-selling franchises such as Army of Two and Need for Speed as well as eagerly awaited new titles such as Dead Space and Mirror's Edge.

"UTA is an ideal partner for us to bring the richness and story telling nuance of our popular games into other forms of media that give consumers more ways to experience these creative concepts," said Patrick O'Brien, Vice President of EA Entertainment. "Some of our teams have already made steps to expand our games into other forms of media like online, social networks and print publication. This partnership will help us take these efforts to the next level and match each of our titles with the right artists, producers and financiers."

"We view EA as an emerging entertainment force, not just because they are a great untapped IP rights holder, but because at their core they care most about how viewers respond to their stories and creative vision," said UTA partner Richard Klubeck in making the announcement. "We're excited to work alongside the EA team as they make this important expansion of their intellectual property strategy."

The relationship is expected to significantly ramp up EA's film and television slate, which currently includes a feature version of the popular The Sims game in script development at 20th Century Fox with producer John Davis and a MySims animated television series in development at Film Roman. EA is also in production with Starz/Film Roman on an animated DVD feature version of its new title Dead Space to launch with the game.