New Structure Brings Teams Closer to Customers and Speeds New
Products and Services to Market
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 18, 2007--Electronic
Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced that the company will organize
its business into four Labels: EA Sports, EA Games, EA Casual
Entertainment and The Sims. Each Label will operate with dedicated
studio and publishing teams focused on consumer-driven priorities. The
new structure is designed to streamline decision-making, improve
global focus, and speed new ideas to the market.
The four Labels will be organized as follows:
The Sims - Led by Label President Nancy Smith. This team
created the model on which the new organization is built.
Upcoming releases include: MySims™ for the Wii™ and
Nintendo DS™, SimCity™ Societies, and The Sims Castaway
Stories and many more.
EA Games - Led by Label President Frank Gibeau. This label
includes Need for Speed™, Medal of Honor™, SPORE™,
Battlefield, Burnout™, Command & Conquer™, The
Simpsons™ and more. EA Games will also be home to the EA
Partners publishing business.
EA Casual Entertainment - Led by Label President Kathy
Vrabeck. This team will focus on lighter, more accessible
games for families and new consumers. The portfolio will
include EA franchises and games such as Harry Potter™,
Boogie™ and others. This group will also be home to EA
Mobile™ and EA's casual suite of online games,
Pogo.com™.
EA SPORTS - Without question, the strongest brand in
interactive entertainment. This team is responsible for many
of the company's flagship franchises including Madden NFL, NBA
Live, FIFA Soccer, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR®, NHL® Hockey and
NASCAR®. EA Executive Vice President Joel Linzner will
oversee this group until a president of EA Sports is
announced. The four Labels will be supported by two new groups: Central
Development Services and Global Publishing. Central Development
Services, led by Executive Vice President John Schappert, will include
leadership on technology, operations, EA's online platform, and the
office of the Chief Creative Officer. EA Global Publishing will be
responsible for strategic planning, field marketing, sales and
distribution in Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America.
The new structure maintains worldwide support teams for Finance,
IT, Legal and Human Resources.
"This transition will be implemented over the course of the coming
months," said EA Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello. "EA is
privileged to have a deep bench of proven talent and our new structure
encourages people to bring great ideas into the market more quickly.
There will be more games and services for core consumers and new
gamers and better focus on operational efficiency."
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City,
California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software
company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and
distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems,
personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic
Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS™,
EA™, EA SPORTS BIG™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2007, EA posted
revenue of $3.09 billion and had 24 titles that sold more than one
million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More
information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be
found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.
EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG, POGO, Pogo.com, EA Mobile, The Sims,
MySims, SimCity, Need for Speed, Medal of Honor, Spore, Burnout,
Command & Conquer and Boogie, are trademarks or registered trademarks
of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. John
Madden, NFL, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, Tiger Woods, PGA TOUR and FIFA are
trademarks or other intellectual property of their respective owners
and used with permission. Simpsons TM & ©2007 Twentieth Century Fox
Film Corporation. HARRY POTTER characters, names and related indicia
are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Harry Potter
Publishing Rights © JKR. Wii and Nintendo DS are trademarks of
Nintendo. All other trademarks are the property of their respective
owners.
Some statements in the future tense contained in this release are
forward-looking statements that are subject to change. These
forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual events or actual future results to differ
materially from the expectations set forth in the forward-looking
statements. Some of the factors which could cause the Company's
results to differ materially from its expectations are described in
the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31,
2007. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of
this release and Electronic Arts assumes no obligation and does not
intend to update these forward-looking statements.
CONTACT: Electronic Arts Inc.
Tammy Schachter, 650-628-7223
Senior Director, Corp Comm
tschachter@ea.com
Tricia Gugler, 650-628-7327
Director, Investor Relations
tgugler@ea.com
SOURCE: Electronic Arts Inc.