Well-known EA IP going social in 2010

Playfish has announced plans to turn a well-known EA brand into a social gaming experience this year.

We don't know what or when, but Playfish did tell the Wall Street Journal that iPhone and Facebook are two key platforms for the genre, which places them as likely targets.

"Social gaming as an industry has grown pretty quickly, but it also means it has to grow up pretty quickly. I think we're going to see it rapid maturing over the next 12 to 24 months," said Playfish boss Kristian Segerstrale.

The London-based developer was bought by EA last year for $300m.

The signs of a blossoming market are there. FarmVille, Facebook's most popular game, attracts over 70 million users each month, while Mafia Wars hasaround 26 million active players.

Rival videogame publisher 2K is busy making Civilization Network for the Facebook platform, which hopes to spread the well-loved series to millions of households worldwide.

Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch and more importantly the App Store have also transformed the social gaming space. When unveiling the iPad recently, Apple boss Steve Jobs announced that there are over 140,000 Apps available today and around three billion have been downloaded so far.

Between the App Store and iTunes there are over 125 million credit-card backed accounts ready and waiting to snap up the latest digital content.