Just like its advertising campaign, EA is BIG. The company made net revenue of over 3 billion dollars in 2005 and continues to grow. The recent acquisition of BioWare will only continue to drive this monster forward. This along with its near-monopoly on professional sports games could prove to be a bottomless well for future earnings.

However, EA is so big that it has actually made its inclusion on this list a difficult undertaking, due to its predominant status as a sun-eclipsing monster publisher. But it cannot be denied that EA’s logo is found on so many must-own titles that it has to be acknowledged as an iconic developer.

Electronic Arts got its start when the director of product marketing at Apple decided to head out and establish his own venture back in 1982. The company would turn out to be Amazin’ Software, later updated to the far superior call sign of Electronic Arts.

“We See Farther, 1983 EA Advertisement” Artists listed left to right.
Top: Mike Abbott, Dan Bunten, Jon Freeman, Anne Westfall, Bill Budge
Bottom: Matt Alexander, John Fields, David Maynard

Early on EA made its debut doing what it does best– publishing. A publisher that would step out of the spotlight and let their developers bask in the public eye, EA would develop a reputation for giving their staff the credit they were due.

In 1983, EA released the now classic M.U.L.E. This little piece of software would revolutionize gaming with its multiplayer focus, and would eventually be ported from the Atari 400 to the Commodore 64, PC, and even the NES.

The game was great but it still wasn’t an EA original. That feat wouldn’t come until many years later when the classic skateboarding title Skate or Die! hit shelves in 1987. Skate or Die! didn’t set any milestones, but it would hint at the sports-focused direction that EA would head towards in the future.

EA is such a massive firm, with their hands in so many pies, that it isn’t easy to find out which games were developed completely in-house and which games were constructed by their smaller development companies. Many of the games bearing the EA logo were not actually developed by EA, but a subsidiary.

What cannot be debated about Electronic Arts is that they have cornered a significant market share. EA turns out an annual collection of new professional sports titles that mostly go unchallenged, and the rate at which players eat it up is awe inspiring (anyone remember the Madden addicts on MTV?).

The reason that these games do so well is that kids grow up wanting to field like Derek Jeter. They long to throw the pigskin like Joe Montana. They practice dribbling for hours to get that Alan Iverson crossover and stay out on the greens past sundown to sink that amazing 15-footer they saw Tiger Woods nail in the Masters. Kids want to be their heroes. So why not let them? That’s what EA said back when it started its line of licensed sports games back in the late 80’s, and the whirlwind is still going strong today.

After the success of Madden Football and NHL Hockey, EA decided to devote a specific branch to sports development. That fork in the road would be known as EASN. Catchy name huh? Well too bad ESPN had all four lettered acronyms on lockdown. The new name would have to have a sub-label on every box, leading to the more familiar EA Sports being created. So now with a new name, a new box style (the famous all-white cases) and a fresh new batch of official licenses, which EA is the biggest purchaser of, Electronic Arts would be ready to take no prisoners in the 16-bit console war.

EA Sports NBA Live 97 — watch out for those steals!

The 16-bit era truly built the empire of EA that we know today. Their contributions to the Sega Genesis would make it a console seller. But not one to discriminate, they would develop for the SNES as well. This is when many of the series we still play today would be born– Madden, NHL Hockey, NBA Live, Knockout Kings, FIFA, PGA Tour (later named Tiger Woods) and Triple Play Baseball (dubbed MVP Baseball in 2003) would all be born from this era.

If you like sports games, then chances are at some point in your gaming career you’ve had one of these white-boxed beauties stashed in your entertainment center ready to collect dust when you get the update and never play the old version again. And why would you? You’ve got the new one, and the new one has better announcers, updated graphics and improved puck/ball/racket/bat/club control than the one before it.

Maddenoliday commercial promoting the annual release of Madden

Therein lays the genius. Not only did EA corner the market, but they made it so that they can get repeat customers year in, year out. You may not like sports games, but a lot of people dig em’, and EA is the hardest hitter out there delivering the goods. EA publishes a lot of games, but as far as development is concerned, sports games are the golden goose. EA has become one of the biggest publishers of video games in the world, and EA Sports was the BIG reason for that. Like the slogan says, “it’s in the game”.

Must Haves:
Madden ‘08 (Multi),
NHL ‘08 (Multi),
FIFA ‘08 (Multi)

Have Nots:
Rugby ‘08 (PS2),
NASCAR ‘08 (Multi)

Top Ten Developer List: 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1

Tags: Bioware, EA, EA-Sports, m.u.l.e, madden, nba-live, skate-or-die

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