MSO Tyrone Miller Trudy Muller
For Ozzy Osbourne EA for Madden NFL 08 For EA Trax
818-380-0400 tmiller@ea.com trudy@sutherlandgold.com
“I Don’t Wanna Stop” First Announced Song for
Madden NFL 08 in-game Soundtrack
Los Angeles, Calif., May 22, 2007 – Pop culture icons unite as Ozzy Osbourne’s newly released I Don’t Wanna Stop single today was revealed to be the first song in the EA SPORTS™ Madden NFL 08 in-game soundtrack. Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) punctuates the scene every year with the Madden NFL videogame soundtrack and has demonstrated a proven track record in breaking new bands and partnering with music legends innovating with their music. The full Madden NFL 08 soundtrack list will be revealed in the coming weeks.
EA will work with Epic Records on coordinated marketing activities through the release of Ozzy’s new album BLACK RAIN, now available, and the release of Madden NFL 08, available on August 14. BLACK RAIN is the highly-anticipated first album of new studio material released by Ozzy Osbourne in six years. Last year’s Madden NFL 07 sold over 7 million copies at retail and was the number one selling game in North America in 2006.1
“The anticipation for both Ozzy’s album and this year’s Madden NFL creates a perfect storm of excitement which made I Don’t Want to Stop an ideal lead song for the Madden NFL 08 soundtrack,” said Steve Schnur, EA’s Worldwide Executive of Music and Marketing. “Now, The Prince Of Darkness meets The King Of Videogames and we're enormously proud to have a killer new song from a legendary artist as our first announced track. This is going to be the biggest, wildest and best Madden NFL soundtrack yet."
“I Don’t Want to Stop”, along with the rest of Ozzy’s new album BLACK RAIN, is available on EA’s music website at www.ea.com/eatrax. Internal EA research has shown that songs featured in past Madden NFL Football iterations have received more than 1 billion ‘spins’ each, through typical gameplay of Madden NFL Football.
"Ozzy Osbourne has continued to draw fans both young and old across five decades with his legendary rock voice, so to be able to include "I Don’t Wanna Stop", the first single off Black Rain which is currently Ozzy’s biggest rock radio single ever within Madden NFL 08 – the biggest selling sports video game in America – is another fantastic addition to the campaign," said Scott Greer, Vice President Marketing of Epic Records.
Coming into its 18th year and with more than 60 million2 copies sold and having generated over $2 billion in retail sales, Madden NFL Football continues to stand out as one of the most popular videogame franchises of all time. Developed in Orlando, FL by EA Tiburon, Madden NFL 08 will be available in August on the Xbox 360™ and Xbox® videogame and entertainment systems from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systems, Nintendo GameCube™, Nintendo DS™, Wii™, PC, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) handheld entertainment system. For more information check out www.madden08.com.
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: EA SPORTS™, EA™, EA SPORTS BIG™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2007, EA posted revenue of $3.09 billion and had 24 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.
1. Source: The NPD Group, Inc/Retail Tracking Service
2. Source: Internal data
EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. John Madden and NFL are trademarks of their respective owners and used with permission. Microsoft, Xbox and Xbox 360 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. ™, ®, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo DS and the Wii are trademarks of Nintendo. “PlayStation”, “PLAYSTATION” and “PSP” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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EA SPORTS’ MADDEN NFL 08 FANS TO ROCK WITH OZZY OSBOURNE I Don’t Wanna Stop” First Announced Song for Madden NFL 08 in-game Soundtrack