Electronic Arts has announced BattleForge, a collectible card-based online real-time strategy game slated for release later this year.
A mysterious Forge that can bring legends to life is the last hope of mortals caught up in an epic war between mad gods and ancient giants. Using the forces of Fire, Frost, Nature and Shadow, players will win, trade and buy virtual trading cards to create their armies and make a stand against impossible odds.
“BattleForge is the next step in compelling RTS gameplay by taking the battles completely online,” said EA’s Richard Leinfellner, executive producer on the game. “With co-op play, challenging tournaments, Guilds, chat rooms and a robust marketplace for trading and buying your cards, BattleForge is the first RTS to add integral social and community components to an exciting fantasy RTS.”
EA also noted that the complete game is included with the retail boxed copy, and that microtransactions are “not required to play (the) game, only for new cards.” BattleForge is being developed by German studio EA Phenomic, who previously created the SpellForce franchise. BattleForge is currently targeted for release in fall 2008.
