It's unconfirmed and as yet uncommented on, but the New York Post reports that EA is quietly looking for a buyer - and to get the obvious jokes out of the way, no, it's not trying a free-to-play approach instead of a sale, or planning to bolster any deals made with a little post-contract DLC.

The story claims that it's looking for a deal of around $20 per share (as opposed to a worth of around $13), and is preparing the ground by buying back as many as possible. Activision-Blizzard was in a similar position earlier this year, but its explorations didn't lead to anything. The reasons for the expected sale are suggested to be people not buying as many $60 games as they used to, tablets sapping the handheld market, and a slow start in the worlds of social gaming and free to play. That last one of course is changing in a hurry, with games like Ultima Forever on the way, and the next Command and Conquer being an F2P rebuild of what was originally going to be Command and Conquer Generals 2.

May be something, may be nothing. Watch this space.