FIFA, EA SPORTS AND PLAYSTATION BEGIN SEARCH FOR BEST VIRTUAL SOCCER PLAYER IN NORTH AMERICA IN FIFA INTERACTIVE WORLD CUP 2009

FIWC North American Qualifying Events Set For Santa Monica and Baltimore

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - February 6, 2009 - The search for the best virtual soccer player in North America is heating up as FIFA, the world's governing body of soccer, Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Sony Computer Entertainment announced two live qualifying events of the FIFA Interactive World Cup 2009 (FIWC) in North America as well as an online competition, leading to the National Final in New York City where one individual will win the North American championship and the chance to be crowned the FIFA Interactive World Cup 2009 Champion.



The FIWC has become one of the largest and fastest growing sports gaming competitions in the world with players from around the globe battling it out on EA SPORTSTM FIFA Soccer 09 for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3TM) in a bid to be crowned the best virtual soccer player in the world and receive the $20,000 1st place prize.  The best interactive soccer players in North America will be competing for one of 32 berths in the FIWC Grand Final in May in Barcelona, Spain. The 32 finalists will be made up of the winners from live qualifiers which are taking place around the world and will be joined by players who have qualified through the online qualification via PlayStation®Network.

There are two live FIWC North American Regional Qualification tournaments and a National Final, presented by promotional partners VISA and adidas. The West Regional will take place on March 7 in Santa Monica, CA, and the East Regional is scheduled for March 21 in Baltimore, MD. Entrants in each Regional Final will be competing for a prize package valued at $2,000 and three berths into the National Final in New York City. In addition, the FIWC North American online qualifying tournament will run from Feb. 12 to March 5 with two berths in the National Final at stake.

Complete official rules and registration can be found at: http://www.easportsworld.com/en_US/FIFA/FIWC

The FIWC North American National Final will take place on April 4 at the Sony Wonder Technology Lab in New York City, NY. It will be comprised of eight finalists (3 from each regional tournament and 2 online qualifiers) competing for the North American championship and a trip to Barcelona for the chance to be crowned the best virtual soccer player in the world and receive a $20,000 1st place prize. 

For official terms and conditions of the FIFA Interactive World Cup, visit: http://www.fifa.com/interactiveworldcup/organisation/documents/index.html  

For official terms and conditions of the FIFA Interactive World Cup 09 Qualifier Events in North America, visit: http://www.easportsworld.com/en_US/FIFA/FIWC

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EATM, EA SPORTSTM, EA SPORTS FreestyleTM and POGOTM. In fiscal 2008, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.



EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS Freestyle and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Official FIFA licensed product.  "© The FIFA Brand OLP Logo is a copyright and trademark of FIFA. All rights reserved.  "PlayStation", "PLAYSTATION" and "PS3" are trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

About Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), based in London, is responsible for the distribution, marketing and sales of PLAYSTATION®3, PlayStation®2,PSPTM (PlayStation®Portable) and PlayStation®Network software and hardware in 99 territories across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania. SCEE also develops, publishes, markets and distributes entertainment software for these formats, and manages the third party licensing programs for the formats in these territories. Since the launch of PLAYSTATION 3 in November 2006, over 14.4 million units have been sold globally and continue to be sold at a record level.  Maintaining its position as one of the most successful consumer electronic products in history, PlayStation 2 has sold over 131.3 million systems worldwide.  Since its launch at the end of 2004, over 41.3 million PSPs have been sold globally, highlighting the importance of the portable entertainment market.  With the huge increase in interest and accessibility of network applications and network gaming, over 10 million people have registered to the PlayStation Network, the free-to-access interactive environment, and 200 million items have been downloaded.

More information about PlayStation products can be found at www.playstation.com or visit the Virtual Press Office at www.scee.presscentre.com.

PlayStation, PLAYSTATION, PSP and the PlayStation logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

About FIFA

For more than 100 years, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, founded on 21 May 1904 in Paris and better known as FIFA, has continued to provide the essential leadership role to the international football family. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, the eighth FIFA President, Joseph S. Blatter guides the organisation today with a commitment to the evolution of FIFA as a modern and dynamic association. The basis of the world's football family is formed by FIFA's members. From the founding seven, the family has today grown to 208 affiliated football associations, also organised into six confederations spanning the globe.

FIFA's worldwide activities go well beyond its various competitions, such as the world's biggest single-sport event, the FIFA World CupTM. In football development projects such as the FIFA GOAL Programme as well as in corporate social responsibility activities (including the Football for Hope movement to support through football social and human development) FIFA makes material, financial and promotional contributions to develop the game and make the world a better place. For the Game. For the World.  To find out more about FIFA and its initiatives please check out www.FIFA.com.