Electronic Arts have announced the purchase of Firemint, the Australian development studio responsible for two massive iOS gaming hits – Real Racing and Flight Control.  According to the press release the deal will close in the next four weeks, however the amount of money changing hands was not revealed.

Firemint will become a part of EA Interactive, their mobile and web unit, where it will join previous acquisitions including Chillingo and Playfish.  EA say Firemint will not only bring Flight Control and Real Racing, but ‘an attractive future slate of games’ too.  Earlier in the year, Firemint did some aquiring of their own, when they purchased fellow Australian studio Infinite Interactive, producers of Puzzle Quest.

So what can we expect from Firemint now they’ve got some EA money behind them?  Well, prior to the sale, they’d already announced their next iOS game as being Agent Squeek, an adventure game described as a ‘spy-inspired tale of intrigue, stealth and misplaced cheese’; which Firemint are hoping will become the ‘Mario of the iPhone gaming world’.

Also, in a recent interview with GigaOm, a Firemint representative spoke of exploring ‘the compelling opportunities’ offered by the iPad 2′s ability to connect with a TV screen; so perhaps we could see some innovations in this area in a future version of Real Racing.

Whether Agent Squeek is up next or not, this is one pairing to watch in the coming months.