Electronic Arts, Inc. (EA) is an
American developer, marketer,publisher and distributor of video
games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 byTrip 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. On May 4, 2011,
EA reported $3.8 billion in revenues for the fiscal year ending March
2011, and on January 13, 2012, EA announced that it had exceeded $1 billion in
digital revenue during the previous calendar year.n a note to employees, EA CEO
John Riccitiello called this “an incredibly important milestone” for the
company.EA began to move toward direct distribution of digital games and
services with the acquisition of the popular online gaming site Pogo.com in
2001.In 2009, EA acquired the London-based social gaming startup Playfish,and
in June 2011, EA launched Origin, an online service to sell downloadable
games directly to consumers.In July 2011, EA announced that it had acquired PopCap
Games, the company behind hits such as Plants vs. Zombies and Bejeweled.EA continued its shift toward digital goods in 2012, folding
its mobile-focused EA Interactive (EAi) division "into other organizations
throughout the company, specifically those divisions led by EA Labels president
Frank Gibeau, COO Peter Moore, and CTO Rajat Taneja, and EVP of digital
Kristian Segerstrale."EA is currently the No. 1 publisher in Western
markets with a 16% segment share,and the second-largest social games company
on Facebook. EA's rankings have been propped up by the launch of The Sims Social, which is currentlythe fastest-growing
game on Facebook.On May 4, 2011, EA reported $3.8 billion in revenues for the
fiscal year ending March 2011. On July 27, 2011, EA reported fiscal
first-quarter profits had more than doubled on brisk sales of
"highly-anticipated sports and shooter games".EA earned $221 million,
or 66 cents a share, in the three months that ended June 30. "That's up
from earnings of $96 million, or 29 cents a share, in the same period a year
earlier. Revenue rose 23 percent to $999 million from $815 million."EA’s
earnings are marked by an ongoing difference between non-GAAP and GAAP
accounting – which, for example, mandates deferrals of revenue related to
services provided for online-enabled packaged goods and digital content.
Consequently, EA’s quarterly reports reflect hundreds of millions of dollars
which, under GAAP accounting, are deferred for a period of months – then appear
in the earnings over multiple quarters subsequent to the original sale. Other
companies with significant online revenues face similar issues. This can make
it extremely difficult to understand the company’s GAAP profitability.Currently,
EA develops and publishes games under several labels including EA
Sports titles, Madden NFL, FIFA Soccer, NHL, NCAA Football, SSX and NBA Jam. Other EA labels produce established franchises such as Battlefield, Need for Speed, The Sims,Medal of Honor, Command & Conquer, as well as newer franchises such as Dead Space, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Army of Two andStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republic,produced in partnership with LucasArts.
Net income $ 76.0 million (2012)
Total assets $ 5.491 billion (2012)