Electronic Arts, Inc. (EA) (NASDAQ: ERTS)[3] is an American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers responsible for its games. It is one of the largest video game publishers in the world.
Originally, EA was a home computing game publisher. In the late 1980s, the company began developing games in-house and supported consoles by the early 1990s. EA later grew via acquisition of several successful developers. By the early 2000s, EA had become one of the world's largest third-party publishers. In May 2008, the company reported net annual revenue of US$4.02 billion in fiscal year 2008.[4]
Currently, EA's most successful products are sports games published under its EA Sports label, games based on popular movie licenses such as Harry Potter and games from long-running franchises like Need for Speed, Medal of Honor, The Sims, Battlefield and the later games in the Burnout and Command & Conquer series. EA also owns the world's largest video game testing studio, EA Canada in Burnaby, that houses more than 2000 employees and is also EA's largest in-house game development division.
EA reported a US$1.08 billion loss for the financial year ending March 2008. Revenue for the same period was up to US$4.2 billion, a 15 percent rise from the previous year's US$3.6 billion.

Electronic Arts Inc., incorporated in 1982, develops, markets, publishes and distributes video game software and content that can be played by consumers on a range of platforms, including video game consoles, such as the PLAYSTATION 3, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii; personal computers (PCs), including the Macintosh; handheld game players, such as the PlayStation Portable (PSP) and Nintendo DS, and mobile devices, such as cellular phones and smart phones, including the Apple iPhone. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010 (fiscal 2010), the Company was organized into three Labels: EA Games, EA SPORTS and EA Play, its EA Interactive organization (EA Mobile, Pogo and Playfish) and Global Publishing Organization. Global Publishing operates in three regions: North America, Europe and Asia. The Company’s products for videogame consoles, PCs and handhelds are delivered on physical media (disks and cartridges) that are sold at retailers (packaged goods products). It also delivers game content and services online, directly to consumers, for each of the platforms. Some online delivered content and services are add-ons or are related to its packaged goods products (add-on content or matchmaking services); while other games, content and services that it offers, such as games for mobile devices, and Internet-only games, are available through online delivery. On November 9, 2009, the Company acquired Playfish Limited. In October 2010, the Company acquired Chillingo Ltd., a games publisher.
EA Games Label
The EA Games portfolio comprises wholly owned properties and includes a number of franchises, such as Need for Speed, Battlefield, Mass Effect and Dead Space. In addition, EA Games has launched franchises, including Dante’s Inferno and Dragon Age, and has additional titles in development. EA Games also develops massively-multiplayer online (MMOs) role-playing games, which are persistent state virtual worlds where thousands of other players can interact with one another. The Company’s MMOs include Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning and Star Wars: The Old Republic, which is in development at its BioWare Austin Studio, in collaboration with LucasArts during fiscal 2010. EA Games titles are developed primarily at the EA studios, including BioWare (Edmonton, Canada, Austin, Texas, and Montreal, Canada), Criterion (Guildford, England), DICE (Stockholm, Sweden), EA Los Angeles, EA Montreal, Visceral (Redwood City, California), EA Mythic (Fairfax, Virginia), and EA Canada (Burnaby, Canada). EA Games also includes the EA Partners group, which contracts with external game developers and third party companies, to provide these partners with a range of services, including development assistance, publishing and distribution of their games.
EA SPORTS Label
The EA SPORTS Label includes a collection of sports-based video games marketed under the EA SPORTS brand. EA SPORTS games range from simulated sports titles with graphics based on real-world sports leagues, players, events and venues and casual games with arcade-style gameplay and graphics. The Company’s EA SPORTS franchises include FIFA Soccer, Madden NFL Football, Fight Night, NBA Live, NCAA Football, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, and NHL Hockey. EA SPORTS games are developed primarily at its EA Canada and EA Tiburon studio located in Orlando, Florida.
EA Play Label
EA Play Label products include wholly owned franchises, such as The Sims, MySims, and Spore and games published under licenses, such as Harry Potter under license from Warner Bros., and video games based on Hasbro board games and toys. The Company has agreement with Hasbro, which provides the Company with the worldwide rights to create digital games for all platforms based on most of Hasbro’s toy and game properties, including LITTLEST PET SHOP, MONOPOLY, SCRABBLE (United States and Canada), TRIVIAL PURSUIT, NERF and RISK (excluding Italy). The Company’s EA Play Label oversees internal studios and development teams located in California, United States, Utah, United States, Montreal, Canada and Guildford, England, and works with third party developers.
EA Interactive
EA Interactive reports into the Company’s Global Publishing Organization and is focused on interactive games for play on the Internet and mobile devices. EA Interactive includes EA Mobile, Pogo and Playfish. Through EA Mobile, the Company is a global publisher of games for mobile devices. Its customers purchase and download its games, through a mobile carrier’s e-commerce service and mobile application storefronts accessed directly from their mobile devices. EA Mobile develops games for mobile devices internally at studios located in Canada, Romania, Australia, India, and Korea. The Company also contracts with third parties located in the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, and China to develop games that will be produced by EA Mobile. The Company, through Pogo online service, offers casual games, such as card, puzzle and word games. It had approximately 1.6 million paying Club Pogo subscribers as of March 31, 2010. In addition to paid subscriptions, Pogo also generates revenue, through Internet-based advertising and sales of digital content. Through Playfish, it offers free-to-play social games, including Restaurant City, Pet Society, Country Story, and Gangster City, that can be played on social networking platforms, such as Facebook, MySpace, Google, Bebo, iPhone and Android. As of March 31, 2010, it had approximately 46 million monthly active players across Playfish’s 11 titles. Playfish generates revenue through sales of digital content and Internet-based advertising.
Global Publishing Organization
Global Publishing is engaged in the distribution, sales and marketing of the Company’s products. It includes operations and manufacturing functions, and for development and global online services in support of its Labels (such as product certification, quality assurance, motion capture, art outsourcing and localization within the local markets in which the Company operates).
The Company competes with Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Activision Blizzard, Atari, Capcom, Koei, Konami, LucasArts, Namco, Sega, Take-Two Interactive, THQ, Ubisoft, Fox, Disney, Time Warner, Viacom, Capcom Mobile, Gameloft, Glu Mobile, Namco, PopCap, NC Soft, AOL, Big Fish, MSN, Nexon, Real, Yahoo!, Zynga and Facebook.


An even more significant contribution to hardware development was EA's leading role in establishing a joint-venture technology company, 3DO Inc. 3DO was set up to license technology to hardware developers for the next generation of video game players, the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, which has a 32-bit RISC microprocessor and a double-speed CD-ROM drive. EA was the largest of the original shareholders of 3DO, with approximately a 20 percent share. Other participants included Time Warner Inc.'s Time Warner Enterprises unit, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., MCA, AT&T, and two venture capital firms. EA helped develop 3DO's system software, and Hawkins, who was the driving force behind venture, became CEO of the new company, while remaining chairman of EA. The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer permitted quality of sound and graphics that was unmatched for video games played on a television set. In 1993 EA was one of the first companies to introduce games for the 3DO format, which would hopefully become the new standard for video games.
In addition to the 3DO CD player, EA began developing more products for the PC and Macintosh CD-ROM formats. Its first CD-ROM games were introduced in 1992. With the emerging base of computers with CD-ROM drives in homes, CD-ROM software was expected to be the fastest growing category in the mid-1990s.
As equipment became more advanced, EA pursued its Hollywood model of entertainment software publishing even further, developing more sophisticated software. In the fall of 1993 EA formed its Advanced Entertainment Group, which brought together animators, musicians, photographers, writers, and film makers. Through this venture, live actors have been filmed in Hollywood sound stages, and the videotaped performances have been digitized and integrated into the software. EA also began joint projects with Colossal Pictures, creators of the MTV show Liquid Television. Advanced Entertainment Group Senior Vice President Stewart Bonn explained in a company brochure: 'We want to create a place where artists and craftsmen from various disciplines are inspired to gather and collaborate on exciting new forms and images.' The resulting multimedia software combined CD-quality digitized stereo sound, full-motion video, and 3D-modeled animation. The more creative and realistic software helped extend EA's video game market beyond children and teenagers to adults.
To create these highly sophisticated games, EA increased its already deep investment in research and development. In 1994 the company was investing 14 percent of its revenues in R&D, up from around 12 percent the previous two years. EA's innovative development techniques have included its Artist Work Station, a computerized means of efficiently designing software and adapting it for multiple platforms. EA also came up with new ways to merge computer animation and live-action video. In 1993 the company formed a special group to oversee software development for the 32-bit hardware format, involving both the creation of entirely new games and the extensive redesign of existing games. Each new game for the 32-bit machine cost over $1 million to develop due to their complexity. Even if the 3DO were not to become the standard, the 32-bit system was expected to be the next trend, as Sega and Nintendo began developing 32-bit game players. Always looking toward the future, in the mid-1990s EA had other plans in the works, including interactive movies, travel-based entertainment, and access to its software through interactive cable television.
Principal Subsidiaries: Origin Systems; Electronic Arts Puerto Rico Inc.; Electronic Arts Canada Inc.; Electronic Arts Ltd. (U.K.); Electronic Arts Pty. Ltd. (Australia); Electronic Arts GmbH (Germany); Electronic Arts S.A. (France); Electronic Arts Victor, Inc. (Japan; 65%).


OVERALL
Beta: 1.33
Market Cap (Mil.): $6,659.58
Shares Outstanding (Mil.): 334.32
Annual Dividend: --
Yield (%): --
FINANCIALS
ERTS.O Industry Sector
P/E (TTM): -- 24.37 13.77
EPS (TTM): 48.11 -- --
ROI: -13.72 4.48 1.32
ROE: -16.02 4.73 2.19


Statistics:
Public Company
Incorporated: 1982 as Electronic Arts
Employees: 1,065
Sales: $418.29 million
Stock Exchanges: NASDAQ
SICs: 7372 Prepackaged Software

Name Age Since Current Position
Probst, Lawrence 60 2007 Chairman of the Board
Riccitiello, John 50 2007 Chief Executive Officer, Director
Brown, Eric 45 2008 Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
Gibeau, Frank 41 2007 President - EA Games Label
Moore, Peter 55 2007 President - EA Sports Label
Toledano, Gabrielle 43 2007 Executive Vice President - Human Resources and Facilities
Smith, Nancy 57 2010 Executive Vice President - Global Publishing
Linzner, Joel 58 2005 Executive Vice President - Business and Legal Affairs
Humble, Rodney 44 2008 Executive Vice President - EA Play Label
Barker, Kenneth 43 2006 Chief Accounting Officer, Senior Vice President
Bene, Stephen 46 2004 Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary
Coleman, Leonard 62 2001 Director
Srere, Linda 55 2001 Director
Maffei, Gregory 51 2003 Director
Paul, Vivek 51 2005 Director
Simonson, Richard 52 2006 Director
Laybourne, Geraldine 63 2008 Director
Huber, Jeffrey 42 2009 Director
Ubinas, Luis 2010 Independent Director


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