EA Phenomic stoking BattleForge

Before being acquired by Electronic Arts last August, Phenomic had established itself on the PC gaming scene with the SpellForce franchise, which blended elements of real-time strategy and role-playing games. For its first project under the new regime, the Germany-based studio is working on another genre mash-up.

EA Phenomic's first game as an Electronic Arts subsidiary will be BattleForge, an online fantasy-themed real-time strategy game for the PC that borrows from the world of collectible-card games. Players will be able to buy new cards and trade old ones through an in-game marketplace, form guilds, enter tournaments and chat rooms, and wage card-game-war cooperatively with friends. EA is billing the game as the first fantasy RTS to incorporate social-gaming elements and community features.

BattleForge is set for release this fall. The game has not yet been rated.