Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts delivers games, content, and online services for internet-connected consoles, PCs, mobile phones, and tablets. Electronic Arts (EA) is a global interactive entertainment software company that delivers games, content, and online services for internet-connected consoles, personal computers, mobile phones, and tablets. 

The company develops and publishes video games for various platforms, including PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii,iPhone, iPad, Android, and Windows Phone. Some of its popular games include The Sims, Madden NFL, EA SPORTS FIFA, Battlefield, Dragon Age, Plants vs. Zombies, Need for Speed, Battlefield, and Mass Effect. Electronic Arts were founded in 1982 and are based in Redwood City, California.

1982: Public Company Incorporated as Electronic Arts Employees: 1,065 Sales: $418.29 million stock Exchanges: NASDAQSICs: 7372 Prepackaged Software.

1983: EA's first product, shipped in May, was a software game for the Atari 800 game player, but shortly thereafter the market shifted to the Commodore system. 28 years ago today, 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. Released this year, the basketball game enjoyed healthy sales, boosted by the involvement of sports stars Julius Erving and Larry Bird.

1984: In the fall, Larry Probst joined the company as vice president of sales.

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, EA had become the leading supplier of entertainment software in the United States, but this market was limited.

1988: Madden NFL series, 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.

1989: Influenced by system dynamics and architectural theory, he created SimCity.

1990: Nevertheless, a quarter of EA's sales were from games for Genesis. However, it began developing serious video games.

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. Wanting to pursue development on the next generation of console hardware, Hawkins appointed Larry Probst as EA's new CEO in the Fall 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, 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, Sega had already gained a significant portion of the marketplace.

1992: Its first CD-ROM games were introduced.

1993: International sales accounted for about one-third of EA's revenues. In the fall, EA formed its Advanced Entertainment Group, which brought together animators, musicians, photographers, writers, and filmmakers. FIFA series to date.

1994: Hawkins remained as chairman of the board for Electronic Arts until his resignation in July. A plan to merge with Broderbund Software, which was later cancelled, would have further expanded EA's involvement in the edutainment field. In the company was investing 14 percent of its revenues in R&D, up from around 12 percent in the previous two years. Need for Speed series to date

1995: It won a European award for being the best software publisher of the year. Command and Conquer series to date EA’s next big acquisition came 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 breakthrough hit Command & Conquer 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, the American public was ready to make the transition to 32-bit consoles.

1996: Electronic Arts, the top sports titles seller, brought in $532 million in revenue, for the fiscal year which ended in March, earning profits of $41 million. 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.

1997: After spending time as a vice president of EA, Molyneux left to form the independent Lionhead Studios. When EA bought Maxis, 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 when Origin Systems created Ultima Online, a persistent online fantasy world that could accommodate hundreds of thousands of players from across the globe.

1998: Electronic Arts acquired Westwood.

1999: SimCity series to date, 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, a year before Sony’s PlayStation 2.

2000: The company invested 18 months and millions of dollars to develop interactive games for Sony PlayStation 2, which became the hottest toy of the holiday season. Moreover, EA had not released a game for mature audiences, a significant market segment. The success of SimCity launched an enduring franchise that included SimEarth, SimAnt, SimCity 2000, and SimCopter. The Sims reached the market, and Electronic Arts have continued to expand the franchise with a sequel, a massively multiplayer online version, and numerous expansion packs. EA/Maxis' The Sims is the top-grossing PC Game of the first half of the year by PC Data.

2001: The perspective of many consumers, however, shifted dramatically following September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. Electronic Arts acquired Pogo.com. At Lionhead he created Black & White, which was published by EA.

2002: Electronic Arts' moneymaker The Sims, launched online in mid-December, failed to produce the expected results. Battlefield series to date. Nonetheless, EA's fourth quarter revenue managed to thump analyst forecasts for the fiscal year, according to Game Developer. Madden NFL remained a perennial bestseller and, for the 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. Westwood released Earth & Beyond, a complex massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

2003: Software sales alone rose 21 percent, according to Business Week Online in March, 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. Yet, 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.”

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 cancelled and the company was dissolved.

2005: EA acquired JAMDAT Mobile, a successful mobile phone game developer and publisher founded by former Activision executives.

2006: Electronic Arts moved to buy Jamdat Mobile for $680 million. 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 AFL season.

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, provided an array of new additions to the game.

2010: In October, EA announced the acquisition of England-based iPhone and iPad games publisher Chillingo for US$20 million in cash.

2011: In July, EA announced that it had acquired PopCap Games, the company behind games such as Plants vs.

2013: Andrew Wilson was named the new CEO of EA in September.

2015: In April, EA announced that it would shut 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, the vice-president of the company, Patrick Söderlund, announced that the company will start investing more in smaller titles such as Unravel so as to broaden the company's portfolio.

2016: Electronic Arts announced that they had formed a new internal division called Frostbite Labs.

2017: EA announced the closure of Visceral Games in October.

2018: Patrick Söderlund announced his departure from EA as its vice president and chief design officer, after serving twelve years with the company.

2019: In advance of the end of its fiscal quarter ending March 31, Wilson announced they were cutting about 350 jobs, or about 4% of its workforce, primarily from its marketing, publishing, and operations divisions. EA announced in October that it would be returning to release games on Steam, starting with the November release of Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, as well as bringing the EA Access subscription service to Steam.

2020: In December, EA placed a bid to buy Codemasters, a British developer of racing games, in a deal worth $1.2 billion, outbidding an earlier offer set 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.

2021: Former CEO and current chairman Probst stated in May he was retiring from the company. In June, 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.

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