Full Description

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), incorporated in 1982, develops, markets, publishes and distributes video game software and content that can be played by consumers on a variety 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 wireless devices, such as cellular phones and smart phones, including the Apple iPhone. The Company’s products for videogame consoles, PCs and handhelds are delivered on physical media (disks and cartridges) that are sold at retail stores and through mail-order (packaged goods products). It also provides content and services electronically, directly to consumers, for each of the platforms. Some electronically 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 wireless devices, and Internet-only games, are available only through electronic delivery. In November 2009, the Company acquired Playfish, a creator of social network games.

In May 2008, the Company acquired ThreeSF, Inc. In May 2008, it acquired certain assets of Hands-On Mobile Inc. and its affiliates relating to its Korean Mobile games business based in Seoul, Korea. On January 4, 2008, the Company acquired VG Holding Corp. (VGH), owner of BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios, LLC, which create action, adventure and role-playing games. In December 2008, the Company announced the acquisition of J2MSoft Inc. (J2M), a Korean developer of PC online games. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009 (fiscal 2009), the Company had three Labels: EA Games, EA SPORTS and EA Play, and its Global Publishing Organization. Global Publishing operates in three regions: North America, Europe and Asia.

EA Games Label

The EA Games portfolio comprises primarily of wholly owned properties and includes several established franchises, such as Need for Speed, Battlefield, Mercenaries, Burnout and SKATE. In addition, EA Games has launched franchises, including SPORE and Dead Space, and has additional titles in development. In addition to traditional packaged-goods games, 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. Examples of MMOs developed by the EA Games Label include Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning launched in fiscal year 2009 and Star Wars: The Old Republic, which is in development at the Company’s BioWare Studio, in collaboration with LucasArts. EA Games titles are developed primarily at the following EA studios: BioWare (Edmonton, Canada and Austin, Texas), Criterion (Guildford, England), DICE (Stockholm, Sweden), EA Los Angeles, EA Montreal, Visceral (Redwood City, California), Maxis (Emeryville, California), EA Mythic (Fairfax, Virginia), EAX (Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada) and Pandemic Studios (Los Angeles, California). EA Games also includes the EA Partners group, which contracts with external game developers and third party companies, to provide these partners with a variety of services, including development assistance, publishing, and distribution of their games.

EA SPORTS Label

The EA SPORTS Label brings together a collection of sports-based video games marketed under the EA SPORTS brand. EA SPORTS games range from simulated sports titles with realistic graphics based on real-world sports leagues, players, events and venues to more casual games with arcade-style gameplay and graphics. Its EA SPORTS franchises include FIFA Soccer, Madden NFL Football, Fight Night, NBA Live, NCAA Football, NCAA Basketball, Tiger Woods PGA Tour and NHL Hockey. EA SPORTS games are developed primarily at EA Canada studio located in Vancouver, British Columbia and EA Tiburon studio located in Orlando, Florida.

EA Play Label

The EA Play Label is focused on creating compelling games for a mass audience of core and non-core gamers alike. EA Play Label products include wholly owned franchises, such as the life simulation games, The Sims and MySims, and games published under licenses, such as Harry Potter under license from Warner Bros., and video games based on Hasbro board games and toys, including Littlest Pet Shop, MONOPOLY, SCRABBLE (North America only), TRIVIAL PURSUIT, NERF, and GI JOE. The Company’s EA Play Label oversees internal studios and development teams located in Redwood City, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, and the United Kingdom and works with third party developers.

Global Publishing Organization

Global Publishing is responsible for distribution, sales and marketing of the Company’s products (including planning, operations, and manufacturing functions), and for centralized development services in support of its Labels (such as product certification, quality assurance, motion capture, art outsourcing and localization within the local markets in which it operates). Global Publishing also includes EA Interactive business unit, which includes Pogo online games service and EA Mobile wireless games publishing business. Through the Company’s Pogo online service, it offers casual games, such as card games, puzzle games and word games. The Company had approximately 1.8 million paying Club Pogo subscribers as of March 31, 2009.

Through EA Mobile, the Company is a global publisher of games and other content (ringtones, images) for wireless devices. EA Mobile contracts with outside development and production studios to produce the games it publishes and, develops games for wireless devices internally at development and production studios located in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Romania and India. Its internal development includes producing variations of the same game for compatibility with a variety of wireless devices, carriers and geographies.

The Company competes with Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Activision, Activision Blizzard, Capcom, Infogrames Entertainment SA, Koei, Konami, LucasArts, Midway, Sega, Take-Two Interactive, THQ, Ubisoft, Fox, Disney, Time Warner, Viacom, Gameloft, Glu Mobile, Namco, Pangea, Sony Pictures, NC Soft, Big Fish, MSN, Popcap, Real, AOL, Yahoo! and Nexon.