Electronic Arts, Inc.

Founded in 1982 as Amazin' Software by Trip Hawkins, Electronic Arts (EA) has built an empire of brand labels. Initially, EA published its titles under three different logos: EA Sports, EA Games, and EA Sports Big. The company is considered one of the largest players in the industry, often through acquisitions of successful development studios.

Electronic Arts Distribution (EAD) was EA's third party publishing house, which distributed titles from the likes of Disney Interactive, LEGO, LucasArts, Squaresoft, and more through-out Europe, the United States, and Asia-Pacific (Australia). EAD was in existence from 1987-1991 and lead by Larry Probst, Senior VP at the time. Distribution of third-party titles continued with the division EA Distribution, until September 1997 when it was reformed to include full publishing, with development and marketing as well. In June 2003 the initiative was renamed EA Partners. In 2016, the initiative was revived with the EA Originals label.

EA Studios was EA's development arm, which consists of studios dotted around the United States, with the more common studios in use in Seattle and Canada. EA also has development studios in Japan and London.

The company had a disappointing fiscal year in 2007. They miscalculated the success of the Nintendo Wii and focused mainly on the Xbox 360 and the PS3, resulting in only two Wii launch titles, ports of existing games: Need for Speed: Carbon and Madden NFL 07. To catch up, they acquired Headgate Studios which they had been working together with for the Tiger Woods PGA series since 2000, and turned it into EA Salt Lake, focusing the studio entirely on Wii development.

In June 2007, the company was reorganized into four labels:

• EA Casual (led by Kathy Vrabeck)
• EA Games (led by Frank Gibeau)
• EA Sports (led by Joel Linzner)
• The Sims (led by Nancy Smith until October 2008, then Rod Humble)

The four labels are supported by two new groups: Central Development Services and Global Publishing. Central Development Services, both led by Executive Vice President John Schappert. The Casual label was closed in November 2008 and merged into The Sims label along with the Hasbro partnership. The Sims as a label also disappeared.

In February 2008, the company also set its sights on major publisher Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. and most importantly the Rockstar studios it owns, mostly in response of the merger between Activision and Vivendi, but eventually in October 2008 it was confirmed there was no agreement.

In November 2009, EA announced to axe 1,500 jobs by the end of March 2010 as part of a new cost reduction plan, following net losses that increased during its second quarter to USD 391 million. Several studios are said to be closed or restructured.

Labels and product lines used by the company

• EA Games (2000-2005 with branding, until early 2010s officially; mainline label)
• EA Sports (1992-present; sports games)
• EA Sports BIG (2000-2008; casual and extreme sports games)
• EA Mobile (2005-present; online and mobile games)
• EA Partners / EA Originals (latter is active; externally developed games)
• Pogo.com (active; casual online games)
• EA Play and EA Casual (inactive; casual games)
• EA Interactive (inactive; online and mobile games)
• EA Classics, EA Collector and EA Value Games (inactive; budget-price re-releases)

Acquired and formed development studios and companies

• Distinctive Software (acquired in 1991 - renamed to EA Canada, then EA Vancouver)
• ORIGIN Systems (acquired in 1992 - closed in 2004)
• Bullfrog Productions (acquired in 1995 - absorbed into EA Bright Light in 2001, until that studio was closed in 2012)
• Manley & Associates (acquired in 1996 - renamed to EA Seattle - closed in 2002)
• Maxis Software (acquired in 1997; multiple studios formed - Maxis Emeryville closed in 2015)
• ABC Software AG (acquired in 1998)
• Westwood Studios (acquired in 1998 - closed in 2003, staff partially absorbed into EA Los Angeles)
• Burst (acquired in 1998 - renamed to Westwood Pacific, then EA Pacific - merged into EA Los Angeles in 2003)
• Tiburon Entertainment (acquired in 1998 - renamed to EA Tiburon, then EA Orlando)
• PlayNation (acquired in 1999)
• Kesmai (1999)
• Dreamworks Interactive (acquired in 2000 - now Ripple Effect Studios, formerly known as EA Los Angeles, Danger Close, DICE Los Angeles)
• Black Box Games (acquired in 2002 - renamed to EA Black Box - closed in 2013)
• Studio 33 (2003)
• NuFX (acquired in 2004 - absorbed into EA Chicago - closed in 2007)
• Criterion Software (acquired in 2004 - later part of EA Bright Light until that studio was closed in 2012, then individual subsidiary)
• JAMDAT Mobile (2005)
• SC JAMDAT Mobile (acquired in 2005 - renamed to EA Mobile Romania SRL, then EA Romania SRL)
• Mythic Entertainment (acquired in 2006 - renamed to BioWare Mythic, then Mythic - closed in 2014)
• Phenomic Game Development (acquired in 2006 - renamed to EA Phenomic - closed in 2013)
• Digital Illusions CE (acquired in 2006)
• Headgate Studios (acquired in 2006 - renamed to EA Salt Lake)
• BioWare Corporation (Edmonton) and BioWare Austin (acquired in 2008)
• Pandemic Studios (Los Angeles) (acquired in 2008 - closed in 2009, partly folded into EA Los Angeles, now known as Ripple Effect Studios)
• Pandemic Studios (Brisbane) (acquired in 2008 - closed in 2008)
• Hands-On Mobile Korea (acquired in 2008 - now EA Mobile Korea)
• J2MSoft (acquired in 2008)
• Bight Interactive (acquired in 2009 - renamed to Bight Games)
• J2Play (acquired in 2009 - renamed to EA Kitchener)
• Playfish (acquired in 2009)
• Chillingo (acquired in 2010)
• IronMonkey Studios (acquired in 2010 - absorbed into Firemonkeys in 2012)
• Firemint (acquired in 2011 - absorbed into Firemonkeys in 2012)
• Infinite Interactive (acquired in 2011 - through the Firemint acquisition)
• PopCap Games (acquired in 2011)
• Respawn Entertainment (acquired in 2017)
• Industrial Toys (acquired in 2018 - closed in 2023)
• The Codemasters Software Company (acquired in 2021)
• Glu Mobile (acquired in 2021)
• Metalhead Software (acquired in 2021)
• Playdemic (acquired in 2021)

Established development studios

• EA Manchester (formed cca 1994 - closed in 1997)
• EA Baltimore (formed cca 1996 - closed in 2000)
• Visceral Games (formed in 1998 - closed in 2017 - formerly Electronic Arts Redwood Shores Studio)
• EA Chicago (formed in or before 2005 - closed in 2007)
• Easy Studios (formed in 2008 - status unknown as of 2015)
• Electronic Arts Asia Pacific Pte
• Pogo Austin (formed in 2008)
• EA Capital Games (formed in 2008)
• BioWare Montréal (formed in 2009 - absorbed into Motive Studios in 2017)
• 8lb Gorilla (formed in 2009)
• Visceral Games Melbourne (formerly Electronic Arts Melbourne - closed in September 2011)
• Victory Games (formed in 2010 - briefly known as BioWare Victory - closed in 2013)
• EA Gothenburg (formed in 2011 - formerly Ghost Games)
• tracktwenty (formed in 2012)
• Motive Studios (formed in 2015)
• Spearhead (unknown formation date, formerly EA Seoul)
• EA Red Crow Studios (formed between 2014 and 2016)
• Redwood Studios (formed in 2016)