EA (Electronic Arts)

In 1997, EA acquired game developer and publisher Maxis, a group that went on to develop the bestselling Sims product line. Other acquisitions by EA have included Westwood Studios, Origin Systems, Distinctive Software, Tiburon Entertainment, Blackbox Games, Dreamworks Interactive, Bullfrog and NuFX.

EA Today

EA is a leading developer and publisher of video game and computer game software. EA publishers games for the Sony PlayStation and PlayStation 2, the PSP (PlayStation Portable), Microsoft's Xbox, Nintendo's GameCube, GameBoy Advance and Nintendo DS and the PC. EA has also indicated they are developing games for the next generation console systems including Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's next offering.

Today, Electronic Arts is headquartered in Redwood City, California and Larry Probst is the CEO and Chairman. EA had $3.1 billion in revenue for fiscal 2005 and employs 6100 people worldwide. The company has major development studios in Redwood City, Los Angeles, CA, Orlando, FL, Vancouver, Canada and in Chertsey in the UK. Additional development is done in Chicago, Montreal and Tokyo.

EA Games

EA publishes games based on their own intellectual property as well as games based on third-party licenses. Some of the most popular games in the EA lineup in 2005 included The Sims, Harry Potter, Burnout, The Lord of the Ring, The Godfather and James Bond franchises. Medal of Honor and Battlefield 2 have also been successful products for EA.

EA Sports

Some of the most popular video games of all time have come out of the Electronic Arts business unit known as EA Sports. The EA Sports brand includes the Madden NFL, FIFA Soccer, and NBA Live franchises. Other popular EA sports titles include Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Fight Night, Need for Speed, and NCAA Football product lines.

In 2004, EA acquired the exclusive NFL license including all of the official players and teams for a period of five years. A month later, they announced a 15-year partnership with ESPN, locking up the sports network and its broadcast personalities.

Another EA Sports brand is the EA SPORTS BIG brand which includes the NFL Street and NBA Street titles.

POGO

EA's Pogo.com web site offers online gaming including a subscription service. The web site has well over three quarters of a million players with close to that number in paying subscribers. This brand of the company is currently expanding into games for mobile technology, drawing from EA's existing licenses. EA has announced a deal with Verizon to provide versions of Madden NFL 06, NBA LIVE 06, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 06, FIFA 06, Need for Speed™ Most Wanted, The Sims™ 2, Pogo.com's Tri Peaks Solitaire, Turbo 21™ and Poppit™ for Verizon customers.

EA.COM

Pogo actually has its origins in a grander EA project. In 1999, EA made waves with a serious investment in internet gaming via their portal, EA.COM. They also bought exclusive rights to handle all of AOL's game-related content for $81 million over five years. They believed that this was the next big thing, and they felt that they could build an unbeatable subscription business leveraged on titles like Majestic and Ultima Online. EA went to the dot-com businesses and hired a lot of talent, gearing up for what they believed would be a steady income-producer.

However, this turned out to be a big misstep. Majestic and UO are both long dead, EA.COM became the less ambitious Pogo, and EA let go of much of the talent they recruited for EA.COM. However, to EA's credit, AOL rewrote their agreement in 2003, agreeing to pay EA $27.5 million over two years to handle the gaming content for the big internet service.

Griping about EA

The game industry is ripe with stories about EA, and certainly it's gone through its eras and developmental stages. One of the most common gripes is logical - EA does less with more than most game companies ever will. They build up simple franchises, especially in the sports arena, and continue to micro-innovate, releasing sequels that are good enough to keep sweeping in cash, but never really breaking the doors down with games that make players sit up and say, "Wow, that's refreshing" or "What a cool idea."

Say what you like, though, EA is certainly consistent, and they know how to pick developmental talent so their key franchises never fall into disrepair.