Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the designers and programmers responsible for its games as “software artists.”
EA published numerous games and some productivity software for personal computers, all of which were developed by external individuals or groups until 1987’s Skate or Die!. The company shifted toward internal game studios, often through acquisitions, such as Distinctive Software becoming EA Canada in 1991.
The company’s milestones:
1982: Company founded as Amazin’ Software by Trip Hawkins.
1983: Company changes name into Electronic Arts.
1984: Company begins to built their own distribution network.
1985: Company begins to distribute games produced externally. Electronic Arts aggressively marketed products for the Amiga, a home computer introduced in same year.
1987: EA begins to expand outside North America by opening an European office near London.
1988: EA published a flight simulator game exclusively for Amiga, F/A-18 Interceptor, with filled-polygon graphics that were advanced for the time.
Aug 04, 1998: Company enters into long term development agreement and makes investment in software developer Kodiak Interactive, who will develop WWF wrestling titles for EA.
1999: Company signs contract with Wizards of the Coast to jointly develop internet-based game.
2000:
– EA/Maxis’ The Sims is top-grossing PC Game of first half of 2000 by PC Data.
– The company wins worldwide interactive rights for Harry Potter books and films.
2004: The company announces that they hired the services of Fonix to develop voice-command interfaces for upcoming games.
2005:
– EA establishes Electronic Arts Mobile (Romania) S.R.L.
– The company teams up with Nettwerk Music Group to launch EA Recordings, a digital music distribution label that brings EA’s catalogue of wholly-owned musical compositions and remixes to Digital Service Providers worldwide.
2007:
– The company starts selling the music and soundtracks from its best-selling games on Apple’s iTunes music store.
– The company announces to reorganize itself into four labels: EA Sports, EA Games, EA Casual Entertainment and The Sims . 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.
June 2011: EA launched Origin, an online service to sell downloadable games for personal computers directly to consumers.
May 2016: Electronic Arts announced that they had formed a new internal division called Frostbite Labs. The new department specializes in creating new projects for virtual reality platforms, and “virtual humans”. The new department is located in Stockholm and Vancouver.
According to en.wikipedia; mobygames.com; Source of photos: internet
