EA Sports

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EA Sports, Inc
Type Subsidiary of Electronic Arts
Founded 1982
Headquarters Flag of Canada Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Key people John Riccitiello, CEO
Frank Gibeau, President, EA Games Label
Peter Moore, President, EA Sports
Kathy Vrabeck, President, EA Casual Entertainment
Nancy Smith, President, The Sims Label
Larry Probst, chairman of the board and former CEO (1991-2007)
Trip Hawkins, founder and former CEO (1982-1991)
Industry Interactive entertainment
Revenue ▲$4.02 billion USD (2008)[1]
Net income ▲$339 million USD (2008)
Employees 7,900 (2007)[2]
Website www.easports.com

EA Sports is a brand name used by Electronic Arts since 1993 to distribute games based on sports. Formerly a gimmick inside Electronic Arts sports games, that tried to mimic real-life sports networks, calling themselves "EA Sports Network" (EASN) with pictures or endorsements of real commentators such as John Madden, it soon grew up to become a sub-label on its own, releasing game series such as NBA Live, FIFA, NHL, Madden NFL, and NASCAR. Most games under this brand are developed by EA Canada, the studio of Electronic Arts in Burnaby, British Columbia, as well as at EA Blackbox, Vancouver, British Columbia and EA Tiburon in Maitland, Florida.

EA Sports' early motto, If it's in the game, it's in the game, (later abbreviated to just It's in the game.) reflects the aim of the early games to portray reality as best as the technology would allow. This tag line, strategized by Don Transeth, written by Jeff Odiorne, and viscerally delivered with its trademark staccato cadence by the voice of EA Sports, Andrew Anthony, has become a cultural rallying cry throughout the sports universe.[3] Unlike some other companies, EA Sports has no special ties to a single platform, which means that all games are released for the best-selling active platforms, sometimes long after most other companies abandon them. For example, FIFA 98, Madden NFL 98, NBA Live 98, and NHL 98 were released for the Sega Genesis and the Super NES throughout 1997; Madden NFL 2005 and FIFA 2005 had PlayStation releases in 2004 (FIFA 2005 was also the last PlayStation title to be released); and NCAA Football 08 had an Xbox release in 2007. Madden NFL 08 also had Xbox and GameCube releases in 2007, and was the final title released for the GameCube, with Madden NFL 09 following as the final Xbox title. Additionally, NASCAR Thunder 2003 and NASCAR Thunder 2004 were released not only for the PlayStation 2, but for the original PlayStation as well.

Contents

[edit] Series and games

Most EA Sports games are distinguished by year, as most games are released on a yearly basis. However, as EA Sports is the leading purchaser of official licenses, it's not uncommon that in a short span several games of the same sport but with different licenses are released: FIFA 98 was shortly followed by World Cup 98 (as EA has the license for the FIFA World Cup and the European Football Championship, each happening regularly in four-year intervals), and college football and basketball games are released that are based on Madden NFL and NBA Live, respectively. The titles released before 1996 are referred by fans as the classic series.[citation needed]

  • Madden NFL series, 1988 (games prior to 1993 did not have an NFL license)
  • NCAA Football series, 1993 (prior to 1996 the name of the franchise was Bill Walsh College Football and College Football USA)
  • EA Sports GameShow, 2008 EA Sports GameShow is a nationwide, online trivia game hosted by a live, on-air DJ.
Three Elitserien titles were also released in Sweden
Three SM-liiga titles were released in Finland
A Japanese version called NHL Pro Hockey '94 was released on the Super Famicom
Preceded by FIFA Soccer Manager (1996) and the Premier League Manager series.
Started at Rugby World Cup 1995 on Sega Mega Drive which went on to Rugby 2001 (A late version of Rugby World Cup 1999) PC only, Rugby, Rugby 2004, Rugby 2005, Rugby 06 and Rugby 08 all on PlayStation 2 and Xbox as well as PC

In a recent interview for PS3 magazine Peter Moore hinted at a Rugby game coming soon to Next-Gen Consoles. He said,"Stay tuned for Rugby and Cricket debuting on PS3."

Australian Rugby League was released on Sega Genesis as the player goes through the 1995 ARL season and the other ARL 96 was on PC depicting the 1996 ARL season.
First version released in February 2006
Cricket started out with Ian Botham International Cricket 1996 (called Cricket 96 in Australia); Its sequel was Cricket 97 which was complemented with Cricket 97: Ashes Tour Edition. Following releases include Cricket Ashes Tour (1998), Cricket World Cup 99 (1999) and Cricket 2000. From then onwards, the series was a biennial one, with the releases of Cricket 2002 and 2004. It has returned to being an annual release with the releases of Cricket 2005 and Cricket 07.

In a recent interview for ps3 magazine Peter Moore hinted at a Cricket game coming soon to Next-Gen Consoles. He said,"Stay tuned for Rugby and Cricket debuting on PS3."

Follows your career either as a boxer of your creation, or as a legend.

[edit] Exclusivity deals

 This section has been nominated to be checked for its neutrality.
Discussion of this nomination can be found on the talk page. (May 2008)

In 2002 EA purchased the license to NASCAR for 6 years, ending competition from Papyrus and Infogrames.

On December 13, 2004, EA Sports signed an exclusive deal with the NFL and its Players' Union for 5 years. On February 12, 2008, EA Sports announced the extension of its exclusive deal until the 2012 NFL season.

Less than a month after the NFL Exclusive deal, EA SPORTS signed a 4-year exclusive deal with the Arena Football League.

On April 11, 2005, the NCAA and EA Sports signed a deal to grant EA Sports the sole rights to produce college football games for six years.

EA lost the rights for MLB games to 2K Sports in 2005, ending EA's MVP series; however EA has made NCAA Baseball games annually since losing the MLB license.

In 2005, EA Sports and ESPN signed a massive 15-year deal for ESPN to be integrated into EA Sports video games. EA's use of the ESPN license has steadily increased over the early life of the deal. EA's early usage of the ESPN license began with ESPN Radio and a sports ticker in titles like Madden NFL, NBA Live, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, and NCAA Baseball and Football. The ESPN integration now includes streaming podcasts, text articles (including content only available previously to ESPN Insider subscribers), and ESPN Motion video (including such programs as Pardon The Interruption).

In January 2008, EA Sports decided not to renew their NCAA College Baseball license while they evaluate the status of their MVP game engine.[4]

[edit] Windows games

In June 2009, EA Sports announced that for the year 2010 the games Madden NFL, NCAA Football, NASCAR, NHL, NBA Live and Tiger Woods PGA Tour would not be shipped for Microsoft Windows.[5][6]

The head of EA Sports at that time, Peter Moore cited as underpins to that decision piracy and the fact the "PC as a platform for authentic, fully-licensed, simulation sports games has declined radically in the past three years as the next generation consoles [...] have attracted millions of consumers."[7][8]

The company noted however that the games FIFA and FIFA Manager would still be released for the PC platform.

[edit] PlayStation Home

On April 23, 2009, EA Sports released the long awaited "EA Sports Complex" for the PlayStation 3's online community-based service, PlayStation Home.[9] In the Complex, users can play a series of mini-games including poker, kart racing, golf, and coming soon, a Virtual EA Shop. There are also a number of advertisements for upcoming EA Sports games. Originally, the Complex just featured two rooms; the EA Sports Complex and the EA Sports Complex Upstairs. With the June 18, 2009 update, the Complex's name changed to the EA Sports Racing Complex and the Upstairs changed to the EA Sports Complex Green Poker Room.[10] On July 2, 2009, the update added golf and it now features four rooms; the EA Sports Racing Complex, the EA Sports Golf Complex, the EA Sports Complex Green Poker Room, and the EA Sports Complex Red Poker Room. The Racing Complex features Racing with a total of eight karts and playing one race for the first time rewards a t-shirt. The Golf Complex features a Practice Range for golfing with rewards; by hitting the boat, users get a boat ornament, and by making 50 shots users get a golf t-shirt. A Golf Pro-shop is coming soon for the Golf Complex. The Green Poker Room features four green poker tables in which winning a green poker table rewards a silver bracelet. The Red Poker Room features four red poker tables in which winning a red poker table rewards a gold bracelet, Also, in order to play a red poker table, users need to have 1000 points. By just playing a game of poker for the first time, users get a t-shirt. Another space that will be added to the Complex is a space dedicated to Fight Night Round 4 and will be called "Club Fight Night".

[edit] 08 games

[edit] 09 games

[edit] 2010 games

[edit] References

  1. ^ EA Reports Fourth Quarter And Fiscal Year 2008 Results (PDF) from Thomson Reuters
  2. ^ Electronic Arts 2007 Proxy Statement and Annual Report (PDF) from Thomson Reuters
  3. ^ http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/features/eas-bing-gordon-honored-at-nite-to-unite/?biz=
  4. ^ "EA Benches MVP". Jon Robinson (gametap.com). 2008-01-11. http://www.gametap.com/home/read/article/3048. Retrieved on 2008-03-04. 
  5. ^ Sports on the PC - Peter Moore Blog
  6. ^ PC News: Peter Moore comes clean on EA Sports PC - ComputerAndVideoGames.com
  7. ^ Addressing the Core Issues - Peter Moore Blog
  8. ^ Sports games not viable on the PC, says EA | News | Custom PC
  9. ^ "EA SPORTS Complex Now Live in PlayStation Home". SCE. http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/04/23/ea-sports-complex-now-live-in-playstation-home/. 
  10. ^ "Coming to PlayStation Home: New SOCOM Space, Ghostbusters Apartment, EA SPORTS Complex Update + More!". SCE. http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/06/17/coming-to-playstation-home-new-socom-space-ghostbusters-apartment-ea-sports-complex-update-more/. 
  11. ^ http://mmajunkie.com/news/15059/ea-sports-to-release-mma-videogame-ea-sports-mma-in-2010.mma

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EA_Sports"
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