Product development

Over the years, there have been several game franchises that has been produced by EA games. One of the best-selling franchise has been Fifa. Every fall a new game is released in the franchise and the latest edition to the franchise was Fifa 16 which boasted various key new features in the game ranging from; Defensive swing steps, Reactive AI marking, Escapable slide tackles, Logical interceptions, no-touch dribbling, and angled crosses. These were said to be the key improvements from its predecessor Fifa 15. These may sound like a minor change however looking back at the first ever Fifa game which was staggering. Below is an image of the gameplay from Fifa 94 and a more up to date game*: 

The digital age had helped many technical aspects of product development for EA games. The increase in technological advancement has allowed for a better gaming experience for the gamers as well as advanced methods of production for EA. The creation of games has gone several steps ahead as it now merges other technologies such as CGI and motion capture images into the creation of the game. Motion capture has been key to the advancement in games such as the Fifa franchise seeing as it helps monitor the players real motion to simulate that into the game. The motion capture allows a more realistic gaming experience as everything is similar to real life. This would have not been so easy without the use of the new technologies. This is how other technologies have played a key role in the creation of new games for companies such as EA.

The digital impact: Old & New

Over the digital age, EA games had seen various changes in many forms such as development of games to advertisement. In the early days of digital technology, the company had used coding as a basic mean to create its games. As the company progressed through the digital age it had begun integrating other technology such as motion caption and updated graphics to help create its games which helped boost its appeal with the audience as games had become more realistic.

Another way in which EA had benefitted from the digital age was the way it advertised its products. To begin with EA had used billboards and television as a form of advertisement however as technology advanced it started using new means to reach its audience such as social networking and smart phones. Social networking currently plays a huge role in advertisement for most businesses and EA as use it to their advantage. Social networks have helped EA reach a wider audience as it is something used worldwide especially social sites such as Facebook and YouTube. EA uses these sites to advertise its new games especially the big franchise titles that are released annually such as Fifa and NBA.  

Smartphones are a great method of advertisement for EA seeing as most people have smartphones. Advertisement through smart phones can be done via apps in the form of pop up adverts which also help them reach niche audiences as they can advertise on specific apps. Another common way of advertising games is by using online banners that can be found on most of the websites and apps. Along with this, YouTube channels plays a huge role in advertisement for gaming such as ‘KSI’ and ‘comedyshortsgamer’. Channels similar to these are great seeing as companies often sponsor and send them the latest games which these YouTubers would do reviews on. This often helps generate a large audience for the games itself.

Where it all began

Electronic Arts (EA) is a company that is a leading global interactive entertainment software company.  EA games is an American company that develops, markets, publishes, and distributes games around the world. EA create games across many platforms such as gaming consoles, personal computer, mobile phone, and tablets.

This company was found on May the 28th 1982 by Trip Hawkins. Initially, the company was named Amazin’ software however due to the disapproval of the company name by most employees it was later changed to Electronic Arts (EA). Around 1982 the company was mainly used as a publishing house and then it furthered into producing computer games that could be used in households including supported consoles. Trip Hawkins used to work for Apple Inc. before he worked for EA. Don Valentine aided Tom Hawkins financially to start the company. Trip Hawkins left after some time and Larry Probst filled up his position. To add on to that, the company used to publicise the programmers and designers that were responsible to the game more. EA games only became a big success around the early 2000s. EA had a variety of games that were a great success to its company, some of these games were called; ‘Medal of Honor, Need for Speed, Battlefield, The Sims, Command & Conquer, Madden NFL, NCAA Football, FIFA, NBA Live, and SSX.’