During today's earnings-report conference call, Electronic Arts chief executive officer Larry Probst revealed that the publisher has eight to 12 titles in development for Sony's upcoming handheld console, the PSP. According to Probst, all PSP titles will be launched during the company's fiscal year 2005, which runs from calendar March 2004 to March 2005.

　　Probst echoed the console's expected ship date of November 2004 and also gave a possible price point of between $199 and $249--lower than the expected $299. However, Probst admitted it was only "speculation on our part" and that nothing was for sure until the PSP's official unveiling at the 2004 E3.

　　Responding to analysts' questions, Probst admitted he has "not yet seen the PSP business model" from Sony. However, he expected the format's profit margins to be good, since PSP games will come on discs instead of the cartridges required by the Game Boy Advance. "We expect that they will be better," he said of the margins. The CEO also predicted the PSP would spark an industry shakeout. "Publishers must adopt or pass on the PSP," said Probst. "There will be winners and losers."

　　EA's enthusiastic PSP push stood in stark contrast to its tepid reaction to the Nintendo DS. When asked by an analyst about EA's plans for the DS, Probst demurred. "It's a technology we're evaluating, but we haven't made any decisions as to whether we are going to support it yet." To date, Namco is the sole third-party publisher that has officially announced support for the Nintendo portable, although Konami is reportedly close to signing on.