Publisher Electronic Arts will be producing thefilm--a first for the company--alongside Scott Stuber, with The Bourne Ultimatum co-writer Scott Z. Burns handling the script. Variety, which broke the story, reports that Universal Pictures hopes to begin production next year.

"I told EA right off the bat I wasn't a gamer, and that appealed to them because they didn't want to simply replicate the game," explained writer Burns. "Because people experience the game in pairs, playing two guys who go against the world, Scott and I agreed this format presented an opportunity to make a great buddy film."

"You have contractors with their own agendas, and two guys whose friendship supersedes all the politics,"he added. "The ambiguity of these private military corporations lends weight to an intelligent thriller with relevance to what's going on in the world right now."

The film marks EA's latest expansion into Hollywood, with a live-action The Sims movie in production, and hints that franchises like Need for Speed, Dead Space and Mirror's Edge could make the jump from consoles to tinsel town.