Amid the continuing brouhaha over Tiger Woods and his personal life, videogame maker Electronic Arts signaled its commitment to the professional golf player in two ways this week. EA took the next step in the development of its Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online golf game by opening up the beta version to the public and it announced a June launch for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, its next console game starring the athlete.

“Our relationship is very clear with Tiger,” said Peter Moore, head of EA Sports. “We felt we needed to put to rest some of the swirling that was going on and get out in front of this.”

Mr. Moore says that unlike the marketing relationships that Mr. Woods has with other companies, he is a crucial part of EA’s video games because the company’s intent is to create a world-class golf experience. “Regardless of what’s going on in his personal life, when you talk tennis, you talk Roger Federer and if you talk cycling, you talk Lance Armstrong, and when you talk golf, boy, you’d better be talking Tiger Woods,” says Mr. Moore.

The Tiger Woods online game has a second significance for EA – it’s the first browser-based sports game for the company. Mr. Moore says the game will be completely free to play for now, while it continues testing the game over the next few months. Later on, EA may introduce for-fee subscription options if players want to play on new golf courses, for example, or virtual items for sale, such as a more powerful golf club.

The Tiger Woods game is “a strategic pilot program for looking at brand new business models,” says Mr. Moore, referring to EA’s broader strategy to expand its online offerings to offset declines in disk-based games.

Go to Source