EA Sports

EA Sports
legal form	Brand name of Electronic Arts
founding	1991 ; (as Electronic Arts Sports Network)
Seat	Burnaby , British Columbia , Canada;
management	Patrick Söderlund
Number of employees	8000 (2012)
Branch	Computer and video games
Website	www.easports.com

EA Sports (spelling EA SPORTS) is a trademark of the US video game developer and publisher Electronic Arts . The sports simulations developed by EA are published under this name , including the series FIFA and Madden NFL . The label is considered a leading provider of sports simulations for computers and game consoles.

description

EA first marketed its sports games in the early 1990s under the Electronic Arts Sports Network (EASN) label. EAs sports games were characterized by their television-like presentation with commentators, slow-motion playback of plays and the inclusion of statistics on real players. In the spring of 1993, the division was finally given its current name. The name was changed at the request of the sports broadcaster ESPN . The title Madden NFL '94 (1993) was the first game to use the longstanding advertising slogan "EA Sports - It's in the Game".

Most of the games under the brand name EA Sports are by EA Canada in Burnaby ( FIFA , NHL ) and EA Tiburon in Maitland ( Florida ) ( Madden NFL , NBA Live , PGA Tour developed). The Canadian developer studio EA Black Box ( Need for Speed , Skate ), which was closed in 2013 , was also part of the EA Sports group.

One of EA Sports' most important brands is the Madden NFL series, which sold over 100 million units by 2013. The series, which has existed since 1988, is particularly important to Electronic Arts' American home market and is synonymous with the company's rise to become one of the world's largest computer game manufacturers. The most successful EA Sports series is FIFA with also over 100 million units sold (as of November 2010). The introduction to football simulation took place in 1993 with FIFA International Soccer . The approval of the project was preceded by intensive lobbying by the European EA branch, which was able to prevail against the initial resistance of the group management. One reason was the complete insignificance of football in the USA, so the corporate management feared too little prospect of success. In 2013, Madden NFL and FIFA together generated 67% of total EA Sports sales, laying the foundation for EA's leadership in sports simulations. In 2011 Forbes Magazine listed EA Sports as 8th of the 10 most important sports brands, behind sports goods manufacturers such as Nike , Adidas and Reebok or the sports channel ESPN.

The often annual new editions of EA's sports series are considered to be relatively easy money, EA Sports thereby contributes a significant proportion to the Group's total sales. In the press and the public, this is sometimes interpreted as EA's dependence on its sports series. The comparatively small changes in the annual new editions in terms of price are also often the subject of criticism. EA is also accused in places of securing a monopoly position through exclusive licenses, as in the case of Madden NFL , for example in order to use them to enforce excessive sales prices. In 2005 EA signed an exclusive license deal with ESPN for the exclusive use of its logos and the promotion of EA Sports titles. The deal ended ESPN's previous collaboration with EA Sports competitor Take Two / Sega on their 2k Sports series. The exclusive license agreement also concluded in 2005 with the NFL and the National Football League Players Association was considered the death knell for the NFL 2k game series by Take Two, which had previously presented an even higher value offer than EA. In 2012, only the sports series NBA 2K by Take Two (basketball) and Pro Evolution Soccer by Konami (soccer) competed with EA Sports products.

Game series

Most of the EA Sports game series are released annually.

Game series	Release years	sport
Madden NFL	from 1988	American football
PGA tour	since 1990	golf
NHL	from 1991	ice Hockey
FIFA	from 1993	Soccer
NBA Live	from 1995	basketball
NCAA football	1993-2013	American football
rugby	1995-2008	rugby
Cricket	1996-2007	Cricket
Soccer manager	1997-2013	Soccer
MVP baseball	1997-2007	baseball
NASCAR	1997-2010	Stock car racing
NCAA basketball	1998-2010	basketball
Fight Night	1998-2011	Boxing
AFL	1998-1999	Australian football
SSX	from 2000	Snowboard
F1	2000-2003	formula 1
Arena football	2006-2007	Arena football
Grand Slam Tennis	2009–2012	tennis
EA Sports Active	2009-2010	training
UFC	since 2014	Mixed martial arts