EA looking to boost Real Racing 3 take up on Android with ZTE deal

Almost four months after it first hit the digital shelves, EA is looking to secure a steady flow of new players for Real Racing 3 by taking advantage of its newly announced deal with ZTE.

The partnership between the two parties will see Real Racing 3 pre-installed on ZTE Android handsets, building on the 30 million downloads the game has already amassed.

This is set to be the first act in what's being pitched as a wide-scale agreement between the two companies, with EA's VP of new platforms and OEMs Glenn Roland claiming the publisher is "excited to extend its collaboration with ZTE."

Shifting gear

"More than 285 million registered users worldwide already play our games," added Roland.

"This partnership will accelerate our ability to provide more users with a high quality mobile gaming experience via ZTE handsets."

In the case of Real Racing 3, however, the issue is less the number of people playing the game, but rather the number paying.

The game is the first F2P release in the series, and an angry reaction by some fans was only built upon when initial statistics suggested it wasn't monetising quite as well as expected.

For ZTE, VP of the firm's handset division George Hou said the partnership with EA is about building its profile among mobile gamers, with the firm looking to "deliver the best mobile game experience by partnering with the best mobile game publishers and developers."

"Consumers know and love EA games and we believe that preloading EA games will give consumers the confidence to purchase ZTE devices and enhance their experience with ZTE smartphones," he added.

ZTE has ambitions to become a top three global handset manufacturer within the next three years, with the company citing IDC figures that currently place it within the top five.