EA Sports Active series sales top $125M, PS3/360 spin-offs hinted at

It didn't take long for EA to find success in the nascent fitness game genre. It launched the neoprene-band-equipped workout game EA Sports Active for the Wii in May 2009, which sold nearly 2 million units by the end of June. EA launched a Wii follow-up for the game in November, imaginatively titled EA Sports Active More Workouts, and label president Peter Moore told GameSpot in January that the game is "doing well."

Today, Moore spoke at Morgan Stanley's Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference, affixing a dollar figure to just how well the EA Sports brand is doing. According to the former Microsoft executive, the franchise has brought in $125 million during the publisher's current fiscal year, which ends March 31. The original EA Sports Active retails for $59.99--$10 more than a standard Wii game--while More Workouts carries a $39.99 price tag.

Moore went on to tell the investor conference that EA Sports Active and other fitness titles present a chance for the gaming industry to bust into the $200 billion fitness market. Already, he said, fitness games are a "billion-dollar industry." With Microsoft's Project Natal and Sony's camera-based motion-sensing controller due this holiday, Moore was quick to note that EA's success in the genre comes from just the Wii alone.

The EA executive didn't explicitly state that versions of EA Sports Active would be available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. However, he did say that EA plans to apply the lessons it learned in making successful games for the Wii to Microsoft's and Sony's new motion-based control schemes.

Those lessons, he said, included "creating an experience that's specific to the technology." In Sony's case, that involves building an experience where gamers still have a controller in their hand, while Natal games would work to eschew the gamepad completely in favor of having players use their whole bodies. "Authentic sports motion is the real key," he noted.

In August, EA said as part of a postearnings conference call that it plans to announce specific titles for Sony's and Microsoft's motion-sensing devices during the first half of this year.