Speculation is rampant about EA Sports' new title to be announced in January. Some are speculating the game is another arcade game while others think it's a FIFA World Cup game. However, the most intriguing of the rumors is an EA/WWE gaming partnership. But does it make sense?

First, we know THQ's license with the WWE expires in 2010 and there has been no real public talk of renewal between either party. It's not like THQ and the WWE have had a rosy relationship to begin with, with WWE filing two lawsuits to get out of their deal with THQ and Jakks over the past five years.

Second, with video game sales slumping, EA is laying off quite a few workers and cutting back on their projects. It is reasonable to surmise that any new title by EA is either not that big of a deal (World Cup or a small XBLA game) or it is a bigger project. Thus, I don't expect the new game to be any kind of a rugby, lacrosse or any other smaller sport title.

Third, the WWE extended the deadline for the license to be renewed by THQ until December 31. This was most certainly done to allow the THQ-Jakks lawsuit -- which stems from THQ claiming Jakks had no right to extend their joint licensing contract -- to run through the courts. THQ's reasoning was they simply weren't sure if they were going to renew the WWE license just yet even though Jakks renewed both companies' contract with WWE unilaterally.

So what does it all mean? Despite many industry insiders who believe the contract will be renewed, I don't think THQ has a shot to get the WWE license again if the WWE sued them twice to try to get it nullified. I agree with many others (including Pasta) that the possibility is very real that EA might be the next WWE license holder.

I think we're either going to have a big story come January, or a lot of gamers will be very disappointed with the announcement of a relatively minor XBLA title. I'm going to try to have more on this story next week.