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Electronic Arts history
Electronic Arts company history timeline
Public Company Incorporated: 1982 as Electronic ArtsEmployees: 1,065Sales: $418.29 millionStock Exchanges: NASDAQSICs: 7372 Prepackaged Software
EA's first product, shipped in May of 1983, was a software game for the Atari 800 game player, but shortly thereafter the market shifted to the Commodore system.
28 years ago today, On May 20, 1983, EA shipped its very first games.
Electronic Arts shipped its first titles, Hard Hat Mack, Pinball Construction Set, Archon, M.U.L.E., Worms?, and Murder on the Zinderneuf in the spring of 1983.
Released in 1983, the basketball game enjoyed healthy sales, boosted by the involvement of sports stars Julius Erving and Larry Bird.
In the fall of 1984, Larry Probst joined the company as vice president of sales.
In 1986 $1.5 million of its $30 million in revenues were from international sales.
Having developed its software to run on a variety of computers, by 1986 EA had become the leading supplier of entertainment software in the United States, but this market was limited.
Madden NFL series in 1988
However, as the Nintendo Entertainment System brought some stability back to the business, EA began its first in-house development with Skate or Die, which was published by Konami in 1988.
Influenced by system dynamics and architectural theory, he created SimCity in 1989.
Nevertheless, a quarter of EA's 1990 sales were from games for Genesis.
However, it began developing serious video games by 1990.
In 1991 EA, originally incorporated in California, was reincorporated in Delaware and became Electronic Arts Inc.
EA capitalized on its leadership in sports games by introducing the EA SPORTS brand name in 1991.
Wanting to pursue development on the next generation of console hardware, Hawkins appointed Larry Probst as EA's new CEO in Fall 1991, and started a new company called the San Mateo Software Group, which soon evolved into The 3DO Company.
When Frank Gibeau, Electronic Arts' Executive Vice President and General Manager of North American Publishing interviewed at the company back in 1991, he was fresh out of graduate school and looking to get in on the ground floor.
When Nintendo brought its Super Nintendo Entertainment System to North America in the fall of 1991, Sega had already gained a significant portion of the marketplace.
Its first CD-ROM games were introduced in 1992.
International sales accounted for about one-third of EA's revenues in 1993.
In the fall of 1993 EA formed its Advanced Entertainment Group, which brought together animators, musicians, photographers, writers, and film makers.
FIFA series in 1993 to date
Hawkins remained as chairman of the board for Electronic Arts until his resignation in July of 1994.
A 1994 plan to merge with Broderbund Software, which was later cancelled, would have further expanded EA's involvement in the edutainment field.
In 1994 the company was investing 14 percent of its revenues in R&D, up from around 12 percent the previous two years.
Need for Speed series in 1994 to date
In 1995, it won a European award for being the best software publisher of the year.
Command and Conquer series in 1995 to date
EA’s next big acquisition came in 1995 when it purchased designer Peter Molyneux’s UK studio, Bullfrog.
Westwood Studios was an early innovator in the real-time strategy genre with their game Dune II. Out of that game’s success came the break through hit Command & Conquer in 1995 and many sequels and expansion packs followed.
Although the 3DO failed to catch on at retail, when the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation came to market in 1995, the American public was ready to make the transition to 32-bit consoles.
Electronic Arts, the top sports titles seller, brought in $532 million in revenue, for the 1996 fiscal year which ended in March, earning profits of $41 million.
As 1996 drew to a close, EA, Activision, and Midway Games were the players left most strongly positioned to take advantage of a market resurgence, according to Fortune.
After spending time as a vice president of EA, Molyneux left in 1997 to form the independent Lionhead Studios.
When EA bought Maxis in 1997, Wright set to work on a new project that would become The Sims, one of EA’s best-selling computer games.
Electronic Arts entered the online market in 1997 when Origin Systems created Ultima Online, a persistent online fantasy world that could accommodate hundreds of thousands of players from across the globe.
In 1998 Electronic Arts acquired Westwood.
SimCity series in 1999 to date
Back in 1999, when EA chose to focus on creating games for PlayStation 2 forgoing the hot Dreamcast console, the company drew its share of barbs.
Sega kicked off the transition to the sixth generation of consoles by bringing its Dreamcast console to market in 1999, a year before Sony’s PlayStation 2.
The company invested 18 months and millions of dollars to develop interactive games for Sony PlayStation 2, which became the hottest toy of the 2000 holiday season.
Moreover, EA had not released a game for mature audiences, a significant market segment, since 2000.
The success of SimCity launched an enduring franchise that included SimEarth, SimAnt, SimCity 2000, and SimCopter.
The Sims reached the market in 2000, and Electronic Arts has continued to expand the franchise with a sequel, a massively multiplayer online version, and numerous expansion packs.
EA/Maxis' The Sims is top-grossing PC Game of first half of 2000 by PC Data.
The perspective of many consumers, however, shifted dramatically following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.
Electronic Arts acquired Pogo.com in 2001.
At Lionhead he created Black & White, which was published by EA in 2001.
Electronic Arts' moneymaker The Sims, launched online in mid-December 2002, failed to produce expected results.
Battlefield series in 2002 to date.
Nonetheless EA's fourth quarter revenue managed to thump analyst forecasts for fiscal 2002, according to Game Developer.
Madden NFL remained a perennial bestseller and, for the 2002 holiday season, EA scored a hat trick with Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and James Bond games.
Ironically, Hollywood box-office receipts fell short of United States sales of game hardware, software, and accessories in 2002.
In 2002 Westwood released Earth & Beyond, a complex massively multiplayer online role-playing game.
Software sales alone rose 21 percent, according to Business Week Online in March 2003, and EA was a beneficiary of the surge, posting strong revenue and earnings gains.
Continuing EA.com shortfalls prompted Electronic Arts to consolidate its results beginning in April 2003.
Yet in 2003, Forbes called the move a smart one. "There are now 42 million PlayStation 2s in homes worldwide; Sega pulled the plug on Dreamcast after selling 4.5 million consoles in 17 months.
Westwood was closed in 2003, and its remaining staff moved from Las Vegas to EA’s Los Angeles studio, where Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars is currently being developed.
Fiscal 2004 sales hit $2.95 billion.
At the end of 2004, EA acquired nearly 20 percent of French game publisher Ubisoft, although the move was unwelcome.
Later, several of Origin’s high-profile projects were canceled and the company was dissolved in 2004.
In 2005, EA acquired JAMDAT Mobile, a successful mobile phone game developer and publisher founded by former Activision executives.
Electronic Arts moved to buy Jamdat Mobile in early 2006 for $680 million.
In 2006, EA bought Mythic Entertainment, creators of the MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot.
The company acquires the exclusive rights to develop a game based on the 2006 AFL season.
In 2008 EA’s Maxis studios produced Spore, a game in which users create and evolve life-forms in a virtual world.
An expansion pack, Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack (2008), provided an array of new additions to the game.
In October 2010, EA announced the acquisition of England-based iPhone and iPad games publisher Chillingo for US$20 million in cash.
In July 2011, EA announced that it had acquired PopCap Games, the company behind games such as Plants vs.
Andrew Wilson was named as the new CEO of EA by September 2013.
In April 2015, EA announced that it would be shutting down various free-to-play games in July of that year, including Battlefield Heroes, Battlefield Play4Free, Need for Speed: World, and FIFA World.
During E3 2015, vice-president of the company, Patrick Söderlund, announced that the company will start investing more on smaller titles such as Unravel so as to broaden the company's portfolio.
In May 2016, Electronic Arts announced that they had formed a new internal division called Frostbite Labs.
EA announced the closure of Visceral Games in October 2017.
On August 14, 2018, Patrick Söderlund announced his departure from EA as its vice-president and chief design officer, after serving twelve years with the company.
In advance of the end of its financial quarter ending March 31, 2019, Wilson announced they were cutting about 350 jobs, or about 4% of its workforce, primarily from their marketing, publishing, and operations divisions.
EA announced in October 2019 that it would be returning to release games on Steam, starting with the November 2019 release of Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, as well as bringing the EA Access subscription service to Steam.
In December 2020, EA placed a bid to buy Codemasters, a British developer of racing games, in a deal worth $1.2 billion, outbidding an earlier offer placed by Take-Two Interactive.
Due to COVID-19 lockdowns and growing demand for online games, EA's revenue grew to $1.4bn in the first quarter of 2020.
Former CEO and current chairman Probst stated in May 2021 he was retiring from the company.
In June 2021, EA confirmed that they had suffered a data breach, with game and engine source code taken from their servers, including the source for the Frostbite Engine and FIFA 21, though assuring no player or user data had been obtained.
Hedden, Heather; Peippo, Kathleen "Electronic Arts Inc. ." International Directory of Company Histories, Volume 85. . Retrieved June 21, 2022 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/reference/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/electronic-arts-inc
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Electronic Arts competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daybreak Game | 2015 | $25.0M | 450 | 12 |
| Rockstar Games | 1998 | $63.0M | 2,001 | 80 |
| Take-Two Interactive Software | 1993 | $5.3B | 6,495 | 83 |
| Sony Interactive Entertainment America | 1995 | $450.0M | 8,000 | - |
| Epic Games | 1991 | $500.0M | 1,001 | 111 |
| Monolith Productions | 1994 | $8.4M | 100 | - |
| Glu Mobile | 2001 | $540.5M | 800 | - |
| SEGA | 1940 | $1.9B | 3,238 | 45 |
| PlayStation | 1995 | $25.0B | 8,000 | 148 |
| 2k | - | $7.5M | 3,000 | 56 |
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