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In honor of Electronic Arts' 30th birthday, Gamasutra presents a previously-published retrospective detailing the challenges and triumphs of the long-lived publisher.
June 1, 2012
[Gamasutra Classics is a weekly article that flashes back to content published years ago, because the most valuable lessons grow better with age. This week, we celebrate EA's 30th birthday with a retrospective on the company's multifaceted history. ] February 16, 2007 -- With several decades of experience under its belt, Electronic Arts has weathered some of the game industry's biggest transitions and greatest crises. While in its infancy, the company even endured the video game crash of 1983, largely thanks to the vision of its founder, Trip Hawkins. In a new feature article on Gamasutra, Hawkins reflects on his initial vision for Electronic Arts, which dates back well before the company's actual inception. "In the summer of 1975 I learned about the invention of the microprocessor and about the first retail store where a consumer could rent a timesharing terminal to use from home," he remembered. "That very day I committed to found EA in 1982. I figured that it would take seven years for enough computing hardware to get into homes to create an audience for the computer games that I wanted to make." After spending several years at Apple and filling his pockets with cash from its IPO, Hawkins quit his job and later founded Electronic Arts on May 28, 1982. Even from the beginning, Hawkins had an ambitious view of what games could be. "We learn by doing," he said, "and computer simulation was the most efficient way to do this. I wanted to help the world transition from brain-deadening media like broadcast television to interactive media that would connect people and help them grow." Shortly after shipping titles like Pinball Construction Set, Hard Hat Mack, and Archon, however, the game industry ran into one of the biggest crises in its history: the game crash of 1983. The extremely popular Atari 2600 had worn out its welcome, and video games as a whole suffered as retailers slashed prices and warehouses filled up with unsold games. Electronic Arts, like all other publishers, found itself at a crossroads, and had to come up with a plan to survive. "I made a conscious decision to ignore Atari and to focus on the next generation of technology," Hawkins said. "We had to operate like the Fremen of Dune, recycling our own saliva to live in the desert, to survive. We had to rebuild the industry brick by brick over a period of years." Early in its lifespan, the company has focused on promoting individual game designers, but quickly realized that consumers were more attuned to the games themselves. Thus, Electronic Arts chose to focus instead on proven genres and building brand recognition. The company grew, and built a diverse catalog of games over the 1980s. Titles were produced across multiple computer platforms, from the Apple II and Macintosh, to the Amiga, Commodore 64, IBM PC, Atari 800, and Atari ST. Some of the highlights included The Bard's Tale, Wasteland, Starflight, and Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer. EA even branched out into productivity software, publishing Deluxe Paint, one of the key applications for the Amiga computer. Even though the company faced the dreaded game crash while still in its infancy, Electronic Arts went on to find success across a wide range of genres, platforms, and franchises. Today, it remains one of the industry's leading publishers with games nearly all major consoles and devices. Much more about the history of Electronic Arts is available in the complete retrospective, which is live now on Gamasutra (no registration required).
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