EA has closed its lone Japanese development studio, casting serious doubts as to the publisher's ability to be a presence in that market. Despite being a behemoth in the States, EA titles rarely chart in Japan, a fate surely not helped by this recent closing. EA will still publish games in Japan, but will not develop them in an EA-branded studio.
EA Japan was at work on three titles: Theme Park DS, Sim City DS, and Dragon Zakura DS, which was meant to be aimed directly at the Japanese audience. Those titles will be taken over by other development houses via the EA Partners setup. EA does have another Japanese-flavored game in the works, My Sims, but it's being developed internally by EA in North America.
