EA shake-up: Welcome EA Sports, EA Games, EA Casual Entertainment and The Sims

Electronic Arts (EA) is one of the biggest game developing/publishing companies in the world. The company has recently announced that it will be reorganizing its business under four labels, mainly:  EA Sports, EA Games, EA Casual Entertainment and The Sims.

According to the recent press release, this is to “streamline decision-making, improve global focus, and speed new ideas to the market.” However, these teams are not stand alone entities, they will be receiving support from two new groups: Central Development Services and Global Publishing.

These auxiliaries will be led by Executive Vice President John Schappert. In addition to this, all four labels will be served by centralized teams to handle Finance, IT, Legal and Human Resources. Now while this may interest some industry members, what most gamers would probably be wondering about is under what label would their games fall on.

To answer that here’s a short background on each label, their respective heads along with what upcoming games will be classified and handled by it.

• 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 – 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.

EA Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello also gave a few words on how these changes should benefit both the company and gamers in general:

This transition will be implemented over the course of the coming months. 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.

That said, does this drive for smaller divisions mean a more service-oriented approach by the company? While we can’t say for certain, it looks like the company is headed in that direction. Be sure to keep checking back here for the latest gaming industry news.

Electronic Arts (EA) is one of the biggest game developing/publishing companies in the world. The company has recently announced that it will be reorganizing its business under four labels, mainly:  EA Sports, EA Games, EA Casual Entertainment and The Sims.

According to the recent press release, this is to “streamline decision-making, improve global focus, and speed new ideas to the market.” However, these teams are not stand alone entities, they will be receiving support from two new groups: Central Development Services and Global Publishing.

These auxiliaries will be led by Executive Vice President John Schappert. In addition to this, all four labels will be served by centralized teams to handle Finance, IT, Legal and Human Resources. Now while this may interest some industry members, what most gamers would probably be wondering about is under what label would their games fall on.

To answer that here’s a short background on each label, their respective heads along with what upcoming games will be classified and handled by it.

• 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 – 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.

EA Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello also gave a few words on how these changes should benefit both the company and gamers in general:

This transition will be implemented over the course of the coming months. 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.

That said, does this drive for smaller divisions mean a more service-oriented approach by the company? While we can’t say for certain, it looks like the company is headed in that direction. Be sure to keep checking back here for the latest gaming industry news.