(This item was originally written on June 20th)

It seems like only yesterday - wait, it was only yesterday - that we reported on EA's plans to sell mobile games direct. Well, it appears that the story was incorrect, and both IGN and Gamespot have pulled their pieces.

A comment from Girodano on the Moconews story struck a chord though: A move like this is guaranteed to alienate the carriers, and cut off their primary source of revenues. Not a smart move. Whilst I agree with the sentiment, I think this attitude only holds true in the US, where mobile games are still a relatively new concept, and where there are few carriers and high barriers to off-portal content.

In the UK and Europe the largest sellers of mobile games are not always the carriers, but third party portals and companies like Monstermob who sell games direct via their own websites, or through television advertising (like Jamster who saturate the airwaves in the UK with mobile ringtone and game sales advertisements). So whilst getting your game onto a carrier's portal site is a feat not to be sneered at, there's not the absolute reliance on this type of exposure to ensure high game sales anymore.

Although another comment, this time from BJH, perhaps sums it all up: Perhaps we (or the carriers) weren't supposed to know about this so soon?

Update
In an interesting turn, Gamespot has spoken with Mitch Lasky from EA on the content of the news stories. Whilst the majority of the piece reads like a firm denial from the company, one comment made sticks out:

The biggest limitation is billing. The carriers can utilize their existing credit relationship with their customers to make charges for mobile games appear seamlessly on your phone bill. In order to sell directly, one would have to provide an alternative billing mechanism. There is some interesting activity in this area, such as Paypal's mobile platform. But right now, the carriers provide the best solution. There are additional technical limitations imposed by certain carriers and certain platforms.

As a reseller and direct provider of mobile content (including games) I find this statement to be odd at the very least, as from personal experience it's far simpler to implement a premium SMS billing solution that works seamlessly across all operators than trying to integrate with each carriers on-bill solution, as each operator has a different interface, and not all operators allow this type of billing access for third party content providers.

So, is EA going to sell direct? On the face of it, no, but I won't be surprised if they turn around later and start doing it.