Electronic Arts facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Electronic Arts Inc.

The EA headquarters building at Redwood City, California, in May 2011
Type	Public
Traded as	NASDAQ: EA Nasdaq-100 component S&P 500 component
Industry	Video games
Founded	May 27, 1982; 43 years ago (1982-05-27) in San Mateo, California, US
Founder	Trip Hawkins
Headquarters	Redwood City, California , US
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Andrew Wilson (CEO and chairman) Laura Miele (president of EA Entertainment) Cam Weber (president of EA Sports)
Products	See list of Electronic Arts games
Revenue	US$7.46 billion (2025)
Operating income	US$1.52 billion
Net income	US$1.12 billion (2025)
Total assets	US$12.4 billion (2025)
Total equity	US$6.39 billion (2025)
Number of employees	c. 14,500 (2025)
Divisions	EA Entertainment EA Sports
Subsidiaries	See § Company structure
Footnotes / references Financials as of March 31,  2025 (2025 -03-31)[update].

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is a big American company that makes and publishes video games. Its main office is in Redwood City, California. Trip Hawkins, who used to work at Apple, started EA in May 1982. The company was one of the first to make games for home computers. EA liked to call its game designers and programmers "software artists."

EA has published many games and even some helpful computer programs. At first, other people or groups made all their games. But in 1987, EA made its first game, Skate or Die!, by itself. After that, EA started buying other game studios, like Distinctive Software, which became EA Canada in 1991.

Today, EA creates and publishes games for popular series. These include Battlefield, Need for Speed, The Sims, Medal of Honor, Command & Conquer, Dead Space, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Army of Two, Apex Legends, and Star Wars games. They also make many EA Sports titles like FC, FIFA, Madden NFL, NBA Live, NHL, PGA, and UFC.

Since 2022, you can find EA's computer games on their own online store called the EA App. This app competes with other game stores like Valve's Steam and Epic Games' Store. EA also owns famous game studios such as BioWare, Criterion Games, DICE, Motive Studio, and Respawn Entertainment.

History of Electronic Arts

Early Years: 1982–1991

Founder Trip Hawkins in 2013

Trip Hawkins worked at Apple Inc. when it was a small company. By 1982, home computers were becoming very popular. In February 1982, Hawkins decided to start his own company. He got help from Don Valentine of Sequoia Capital and used their office space. Hawkins officially started the company on May 27, 1982, investing his own money.

For several months, Hawkins worked on his business plan for Electronic Arts. He hired his first employees, including Rich Melmon, Dave Evans, Pat Marriott, and Jeff Burton. They first called the company "Amazin' Software," but everyone disliked the name.

Electronic Arts' original corporate logo, 1982–1999

Hawkins wanted to treat software like an art form and call developers "software artists." He liked the idea of "Electronic Artists" or "Electronic Arts." Another employee, Steve Hayes, said, "We're not the artists, they [the developers] are..." This helped everyone agree on "Electronic Arts." The company moved to a new office in San Mateo, California. Hawkins hired people from top tech companies like Apple and Atari. He even got Steve Wozniak, Apple's co-founder, to join the board.

EA sold games directly to stores, which helped them earn more money and become well-known. Larry Probst, who later became CEO, joined in 1984 and helped the company grow.

In the early days, EA celebrated its game developers. Games came in square boxes that looked like album covers. EA called developers "artists" and showed their photos in game ads. They also shared a lot of their profits with developers, which made EA a popular place to work.

In the mid-1980s, EA focused on games for the Amiga computer. Commodore, the company that made Amiga, gave EA special tools to develop games. EA released famous non-game programs for Amiga, like Deluxe Paint (1985), which was a popular drawing program. They also created the Interchange File Format, a way to store images, animations, sounds, and documents, which became a standard for Amiga.

Sometimes, working with outside developers was hard because they missed deadlines. So, in 1987, EA released Skate or Die!, their first game made completely in-house. This led EA to start buying other successful game companies. Trip Hawkins also loved sports games. He signed a deal with football coach John Madden, which led to the yearly Madden NFL games.

In 1988, EA released F/A-18 Interceptor, a flight simulator for Amiga with advanced graphics. Another important game was Populous (1989), made by Bullfrog Productions. This game helped create the "god game" style. In 1990, Electronic Arts started making games for the Nintendo Entertainment System console. On March 26, 1990, Electronic Arts became a public company, meaning its shares could be bought and sold on the stock market.

Growth and Success: 1991–2007

In 1991, Larry Probst became EA's new CEO, taking over from Trip Hawkins. Hawkins then started another company called 3DO Company, which made a powerful game console called the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. EA was a big supporter of the 3DO console. However, the 3DO console was very expensive (about $700) compared to other consoles. When Sony's PlayStation came out in 1995, it was cheaper and more powerful. So, the 3DO console didn't sell well, and EA stopped supporting it.

EA headquarters in October 2007

In 1994, EA and THQ made a deal to release EA games like John Madden Football and FIFA International Soccer on different consoles. In 1995, EA won an award for being the best software publisher. As the company grew, they built a new headquarters in Redwood Shores, California, which opened in 1998.

By 1997, Electronic Arts was known as one of the few companies that consistently made money from video games. In 1999, EA changed its logo. They also started using different brand names for their studios, like Westwood Studios, Maxis, and Bullfrog Productions. The EA Sports brand was kept for major sports games, and a new label, EA Sports Big, was created for fun, arcade-style sports games.

EA also started selling digital games directly to players. They bought the online gaming site Pogo.com in 2001 and the social gaming company Playfish in 2009. In 1998, EA formed partnerships with the Japanese company Square to publish games in Japan and North America. These partnerships ended in 2003 when Square merged with another company.

In 2004, EA gave a lot of money to the USC Interactive Media Division to help teach people how to make games. In 2006, EA bought Mythic Entertainment, a company that made online role-playing games. After a competing football game, ESPN NFL 2K5, became popular, EA made exclusive deals with the NFL and ESPN for their sports games. They also made a deal with the Collegiate Licensing Company for college football content.

EA became very successful by releasing new versions of its sports games every year, like Madden and FIFA. These updates included new players and small changes to graphics and gameplay. In 2006, EA decided to focus more on creating new, original games. They also partnered with Nokia to provide mobile games for Nokia phones.

New Leadership and Changes: 2007–2022

John Riccitiello at Web Summit 2017

In February 2007, John Riccitiello became the new CEO of EA. He had worked at EA before and then left for a while. In June 2007, Riccitiello changed EA's structure, dividing it into four main groups. The goal was to let each group make decisions faster, be more creative, and release games more quickly. This change happened because some people thought EA's earlier strategy of buying smaller studios and making them part of EA had hurt creativity. Riccitiello wanted studios like Maxis and BioWare to have more freedom.

During 2007, EA started bringing some of its big games to Mac computers. These included Battlefield 2142, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, and Crysis.

In February 2008, Electronic Arts tried to buy another game company, Take-Two Interactive, but Take-Two's board said no. EA later dropped its offer. In May 2008, EA bought Hands-On Mobile Korea, a mobile game company in South Korea.

In November 2008, EA closed its Casual Label and combined it with The Sims Label. This meant that casual games would be handled by other parts of the company. Around this time, EA also had to lay off some employees and close some offices due to the economic crisis. In February 2009, they laid off about 1,100 employees and closed 12 facilities.

In May 2009, the studio EA Redwood Shores changed its name to Visceral Games. In June 2009, EA combined two of its development studios, BioWare and Mythic, to create a big team for role-playing and online multiplayer games. In November 2009, EA announced more layoffs, affecting about 1,500 employees and leading to the shutdown of Pandemic Studios.

In October 2010, EA bought Chillingo, a company that published games for iPhone and iPad, for $20 million. Chillingo had published popular games like Angry Birds and Cut the Rope, but EA did not get the rights to those specific games. In May 2011, EA reported $3.8 billion in revenue. By January 2012, EA had earned over $1 billion from digital sales in one year.

In June 2011, EA launched Origin, an online store to sell computer games directly to players. For a while, EA stopped releasing games on Steam, a competing online store, and sold all its computer games through Origin. However, EA returned to Steam in 2019.

In July 2011, EA bought PopCap Games, the company behind games like Plants vs. Zombies, Peggle, and Bejeweled.

Andrew Wilson Era: 2013–2022

In March 2013, John Riccitiello stepped down as CEO, and Andrew Wilson became the new CEO in September 2013. In April 2013, EA reorganized again, which included laying off about 10% of its employees.

In May 2013, EA got an important deal from Disney: the exclusive right to make games based on Star Wars. This deal lasted until 2023. EA then assigned new Star Wars projects to several of its studios, including BioWare and DICE.

In April 2015, EA announced it would shut down several free-to-play games, including Battlefield Heroes and Need for Speed: World. EA's stock value increased steadily after these changes. In July 2015, EA's stock reached an all-time high, partly because of the highly anticipated game Star Wars Battlefront.

At E3 2015, EA announced it would invest more in smaller games like Unravel to offer a wider variety of games. In December 2015, EA created a new division called Competitive Gaming Division, which focuses on ESports events. In May 2016, EA formed Frostbite Labs to work on virtual reality and "virtual humans."

In October 2017, EA closed Visceral Games. This studio had been working on a Star Wars game. Some people thought EA was worried about making money from a single-player game and that the development was too slow.

EA faced a big discussion in the gaming world because of how they used "loot boxes" in Star Wars Battlefront II. At first, players felt they had to pay extra money to get advantages in the game or unlock characters. This made many players and journalists upset. EA changed the system to be fairer and removed the "pay to win" parts. This controversy caused EA's stock value to drop and led to discussions in governments around the world about whether loot boxes were like gambling.

In January 2018, EA announced eMLS, a new competitive league for FIFA 18. They also partnered with ESPN and Disney XD to broadcast Madden NFL competitions. In August 2018, Patrick Söderlund, a vice-president at EA, left the company.

In February 2019, Electronic Arts' stock value dropped after their game Battlefield V sold fewer copies than expected. The game's mixed reviews and lack of a "Battle Royale" mode (which was very popular at the time) were factors. However, stocks quickly went up after the surprise release of Apex Legends, which gained 25 million players in just one week. In March 2019, Andrew Wilson announced that EA was cutting about 350 jobs, mainly in marketing and operations.

In October 2019, EA announced it would start releasing games on Steam again, beginning with Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order in November 2019. They also brought their subscription service, EA Access, to Steam. In August 2020, EA Access and Origin were rebranded as EA Play.

In December 2020, EA bought Codemasters, a British company known for racing games, for $1.2 billion. This deal was completed in February 2021. In January 2021, Disney announced that EA's exclusive Star Wars game license was not extended, but EA could still make Star Wars games. By February 2021, EA's Star Wars games had sold over 52 million copies.

In February 2021, EA announced it would return to making college sports games with EA Sports College Football, planned for 2023. They also bought Glu Mobile, a mobile game company, for $2.1 billion in April 2021. In June 2021, EA confirmed a data breach where game code was stolen, but no player data was taken. They also bought Playdemic Studios, another mobile game developer, for $1.4 billion.

Recent Changes: 2023–Present

In January 2023, EA stopped development on Apex Legends Mobile and Battlefield Mobile, leading to the closure of Industrial Toys. In February 2023, EA laid off 200 quality assurance testers. In March 2023, EA announced it would lay off 6% of its workforce, which was about 775 employees.

In June 2023, EA reorganized the company into two main groups: EA Sports and EA Entertainment. Laura Miele became president of EA Entertainment, and Cam Weber became president of EA Sports. The company also saw changes in its leadership team, with new people taking on roles like Chief Financial Officer.

In August 2023, EA laid off about 50 employees at BioWare. In December 2023, EA laid off an unknown number of employees at Codemasters. In February 2024, EA announced more layoffs, affecting 670 employees (5% of its global workforce). This included canceling a Star Wars first-person shooter game. EA stated it would focus more on its own game series instead of licensed ones.

In July 2024, the actor labor union SAG-AFTRA started a strike against several video game publishers, including EA. The strike was about concerns over A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) and how it might be used to copy actors' voices or appearances in games.

In January 2025, EA lowered its expected yearly revenue because EA Sports FC 25 and Dragon Age: The Veilguard did not sell as well as hoped. BioWare also saw further restructuring and downsizing, with many experienced staff leaving. In April 2025, EA laid off around 300 employees as part of a company-wide restructuring. This included about 100 roles at Respawn Entertainment and the cancellation of two early-stage projects. In May 2025, EA made more layoffs at Codemasters and stopped further development in the World Rally Championship series. On May 28, 2025, EA shut down Cliffhanger Games, which led to the cancellation of a Black Panther game.

Games by Electronic Arts

Since 1983, Electronic Arts has published many games. After 1987, with Skate or Die!, they also started developing games themselves. They have also released some helpful computer programs in the past.

How Electronic Arts is Organized

As of April 2021, EA's biggest purchase was Glu Mobile for $2.4 billion. EA has bought 39 companies in total. Most of these companies and studios are no longer active, or they have joined other parts of EA.

Since June 2023, EA is organized into two main groups: EA Entertainment Technology & Central Development (or just EA Entertainment) and EA Sports.

EA Entertainment

This group includes many studios that make a variety of games:

• BioWare in Edmonton, Canada; bought in October 2007.
  • BioWare Austin in Austin, Texas; bought in October 2007.
• Criterion Games in Guildford, England; bought in August 2004.
  • Criterion Cheshire in Cheshire, England
• DICE in Stockholm, Sweden; bought in October 2006.
  • Frostbite Labs in Stockholm, Sweden and Vancouver, Canada; started in May 2016.
• EA Baton Rouge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; started in September 2008.
• EA Galway in Galway, Ireland.
• EA Gothenburg in Gothenburg, Sweden; started in March 2011.
• EA Korea Studio in Seoul, South Korea; started in 1998.
• EA Mobile in Los Angeles, California; started in 2004.
  • EA Capital Games in Sacramento, California; bought in 2011.
  • EA Redwood Studios in Redwood City, California; started in 2016.
  • Firemonkeys Studios in Melbourne, Australia; bought in July 2012.
  • Glu Mobile in San Francisco, California; bought in April 2021.
    • PlayFirst in Delaware; bought by Glu in September 2014.
  • Playdemic in Manchester, England; bought by EA in June 2021.
  • Slingshot Games in Hyderabad, India.
  • Tracktwenty Studios in Helsinki, Finland; started in 2012.
• Full Circle in Vancouver, Canada; opened in 2021.
• Maxis in Redwood City, California; bought in July 1997.
  • Maxis Texas in Austin, Texas; opened in 2019.
  • Maxis Europe in multiple locations in Europe; opened in 2021.
• Motive Studio in Montreal, Canada; started in July 2015.
  • Motive Studio Vancouver in Burnaby, Canada; started in June 2018.
• Pogo Studios in New York City; bought in March 2001.
• PopCap Games in Seattle, Washington; bought in July 2011.
  • PopCap Shanghai in Shanghai, China; bought in July 2011.
  • PopCap Hyderabad in Hyderabad, India; bought in July 2011.
• Respawn Entertainment in Sherman Oaks, California; bought in December 2017.
  • Respawn Vancouver established in 2020 in Vancouver.
  • Respawn Wisconsin established in 2023 in Madison, Wisconsin.
• Ripple Effect Studios in Los Angeles, California; started in May 2013.

EA Sports

This group focuses on all of EA's sports games. It was first called Electronic Arts Sports Network in 1991. Some of its well-known games include FC, Madden NFL, Fight Night, NBA Live, NCAA Football, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, and NHL.

• Codemasters in Southam, England; bought by EA in February 2021.
  • Codemasters Birmingham in Birmingham, England
  • Codemasters Kuala Lumpur in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• EA Cologne in Cologne, Germany
• EA Madrid in Madrid, Spain; started in October 2018.
• EA Orlando in Orlando, Florida; bought in April 1998.
• EA Romania in Bucharest, Romania; bought in 2006.
• EA Vancouver in Burnaby, Canada; bought in 1991.
• Metalhead Software in Victoria, British Columbia; bought in May 2021.

Former Studios

Many studios that EA bought have since closed or merged with others. Some examples include:

• BioWare Montreal (merged into Motive Studio in 2017)
• Bullfrog Productions (closed in 2001)
• Cliffhanger Games (closed in May 2025)
• Danger Close Games (closed in 2013)
• EA Black Box (closed in 2013)
• Industrial Toys (shut down in January 2023)
• Mythic Entertainment (closed in 2014)
• Origin Systems (closed in 2004)
• Pandemic Studios (closed in 2009)
• Ridgeline Games (closed in February 2024)
• Visceral Games (closed in 2017)
• Westwood Studios (closed in 2003)

EA Labels

EA Sports

This label publishes all of EA's sports games. It was first introduced in 1991. Some of its well-known games include FC, Madden NFL, Fight Night, NBA Live, NCAA Football, Cricket, NCAA March Madness, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, NHL, NASCAR and Rugby. The FIFA series is no longer made by EA Sports.

EA All Play

EA All Play is a label for mobile games. Since 2012, it has published digital games like The Simpsons, Tetris, and Battlefield. It also publishes digital versions of Hasbro board games like Scrabble.

EA Competitive Gaming Division

The EA Competitive Gaming Division (CGD) was started in 2015. It focuses on creating and organizing global eSports competitions for EA's biggest games, such as FIFA, Madden NFL, and Battlefield.

SEED

SEED stands for "Search for Extraordinary Experiences Division." It was announced in 2017 as a technology research group. SEED uses tools like deep learning and neural networks to help create more exciting stories and games for players. SEED has offices in Los Angeles and Stockholm.

Former Labels

• EA Kids — This label made educational games. It was sold in 1995.
• EA Sports Big — This label was used from 2000 to 2008 for arcade-style sports games.
• EA Sports Freestyle — A short-lived label from 2008 to 2009 for casual sports games.
• EA Games — This label was used for non-sports games between 2000 and 2005. After 2005, non-sports games just used the main EA label.

Partnerships and Programs

EA Partners Program (1997–Present)

The EA Partners program helps other game developers publish and distribute their games. It started in 1997. EA Partners works with outside developers to bring their games to players. Early partners included Looking Glass Studios and DICE.

Over the years, EA Partners has worked with many major game companies, including Valve for the physical release of The Orange Box, and Harmonix for the Rock Band games. Other notable partnerships included Crytek, id Software, and Epic Games.

Some well-known games published or distributed through EA Partners include:

• Alice: Madness Returns
• Brütal Legend
• Bulletstorm
• Crysis series
• Rock Band series
• Shank series

EA Originals Label (2017–Present)

EA Originals is a special label within EA's Partners program. It helps support independently made video games. EA provides money for development, and once EA gets its money back, all extra earnings go to the studio that made the game. The studio also gets to keep the rights to their game and has creative control over it.

This program was announced at the E3 Conference in 2016, building on the success of Unravel from Coldwood Interactive. The first game supported by this program was Fe by Zoink, released in 2018. Other games include A Way Out from Hazelight Studios, Unravel Two, and Sea of Solitude.

In 2019, EA teased new titles for the program, including Lost in Random from Zoink and an unnamed game from Hazelight Studios. In June 2020, Hazelight Studios' project was revealed as It Takes Two, which was released in 2021 and received great reviews.

In February 2023, Jeff Gamon, who leads EA Partners, said the label would also invest in bigger games. However, the deals for these larger games might not be as generous as for smaller ones. EA still plans to release smaller and unique games. Wild Hearts by Omega Force and Immortals of Aveum were released in 2023 under this label.

In December 2023, EA announced Tales of Kenzera: Zau under the Originals label. In December 2024, EA announced Split Fiction as their third game with Hazelight Studios.

Images for kids

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  The EA headquarters building at Redwood City, California, in May 2011

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  Founder Trip Hawkins in 2013

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  Electronic Arts' original corporate logo, designed by Barry Deutsch, 1982–1999

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  EA headquarters in October 2007

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  John Riccitiello at Web Summit 2017

See also

In Spanish: Electronic Arts para niños