14 DAY TRIAL // Electronic Arts has announced that it has entered into an agreement with VISA in order to offer a new debit card co-branded with the EA Sports logo that will allow those who use it to get bonus points that can then be employed to purchase some of the videogames released by the publisher.
The official name of the product is “EA Sports DebitSmart Visa Prepaid Card” and the official site allows all those interested to sign up for it.
Users are able to transfer money to the card as they would do with any other card. It's not clear how many points they will get with each use of the new EA Sports debit card but Electronic Arts is saying that for 6,500 points, a game for the Xbox 360 or for the PlayStation 3 can be redeemed, while a Nintendo Wii title can be obtained for 5,500.
The publisher has not outed a list of the titles that can be redeemed through the new offer. The official site does not yet list the shops where bonus points are awarded, with mentions only made to “thousands of participating merchants.”
It's a pretty unusual move for a videogame publisher like Electronic Arts to make, as it is essentially lending its image for a sort of service well outside its business niche.
The co-branded debit card might attract a sizable following among those who are interested in EA Sports big franchises, such as Madden NFL or FIFA, but as long as the publisher and its partner are not revealing more details, like the full list of games that can be redeemed and the entire list of stores where bonus points can be obtained, it only seems a quick move designed to boost the public profile of both companies.