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Electronic Arts
Pioneers in Interactive
Entertainment
By Bryce Gilbert
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WHEN I FIRST STARTED PLAYING
computer games some 15 years ago, I really didn't think the games
at that time could really be improved upon all that much. I thought the sound was
amazing, the graphics were incredible and the animation simply mind-blowing. Little
did I know just how far computer gaming would become. Today's games sound and look
better, they move faster, and they are more in-depth than the games of yesteryear.
So where did it all begin? The game that comes to mind for most people is probably
Pong. Yes, this simple tennis game was a big moment in the history of video games,
but according to www.videogamespot.com, you have to go all the way back to 1961 to
find the first video game. It was then that MIT student Steven Russell coded a game
he called Spacewar, using ASCII characters for graphics running on a million-dollar
mainframe computer. Later, in the late 1970s, the text game "Adventure"
appeared on large main-frame computers. The game was pretty simple, consisting of
commands such as "look at tree," or "move north." Little did
the designers of this game know that it would set the precedent of text-based adventure
games for years to come. There was not an actual market for computer games until
the eighties at which time computer game companies began forming like wildfire. Epyx,
Broderbund, Sierra On-Line (then called "On-Line Systems") and SSI all
began to publish games. It was also in the early eighties that a man by the name
of William Murray Hawkins III entered the gaming scene.
In 1972, William Murray Hawkins III (nicknamed "Trip") entered Harvard
where many of his fellow students programmed computers to simulate entrepreneur Nolan
Bushnell's "Pong." Trip himself created a football computer game in 1973,
called "AccuStat." On it, he ran a simulation of the 1974 Super Bowl in
which the Miami Dolphins beat the Minnesota Vikings 24-7. In his simulated match,
the Dolphins won 23-6. Upon graduation in 1978, Trip was hired by Apple Computer
Inc., where he became the company's first marketing manager (www.gameznet.com).
After profiting from Apple's initial public offering in 1980, Mr.
Hawkins fulfilled his goal. He raised $5 million from private investors and used
it in 1982 to create his own computer game company - Amazing Software, which later
changed its name to Electronic Arts (EA). With Electronic Arts, Trip wanted to explore
the entertainment potential of PCs. He lured people from Apple and Atari to help
him create games such as Dr. J and Larry Bird Go One On One (one of my early favourites),
Skyfox, M.U.L.E., Adventure Construction Kit, Seven Cities of Gold, and countless
others. Electronic Arts had grabbed a foothold in the industry.
Today, Electronic Arts, headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's
leading interactive entertainment software company. In 1999 Electronic Arts posted
revenues of more that $1.2 billion, compared to $900 million the year before (Business
Journal Serving San Jose & Silicon Valley, Vol.17 Issue 16, p67). Their strategy
is "to create new online entertainment experiences and extend its brands and
franchise properties to the Internet" (www.ea.com). The company develops, publishes
and distributes software worldwide for personal computers and video game systems.
Electronic Arts markets its products under seven brand names: Electronic Arts, EA
SPORTS(tm), Maxis(tm), ORIGIN(tm), Bullfrog Productions(tm), Westwood Studios(tm)
and Jane's Combat Simulations.
Electronic Arts pioneered the massively multiplayer online game market with its groundbreaking
Ultima Online. The game debuted in August 1997 and has since attracted 130,000 users,
each of whom pays about $40 for the software and a $10 a month subscription fee.
That would suggest that the game is currently generating about $20 million a year
(San Francisco Business Times, Vol. 13 Issue 40, p3). Ultima Online is the company's
only product exclusively dedicated to online gaming. A few other games, like Tiger
Woods Golf, have online capabilities which allow players to log on and compete with
players around the world and even compete in online tournaments pitting game owners
against one another for cash prizes. "Commerce and pay-for-play games will be
the most successful areas for us," said Rex Ishibashi, general manager and vice
president of EA Online. Electronic Arts is aiming to grow its Internet business from
around $10 million to more than $200 million in the next three years.
Indeed, the future of Electronic Arts and the Online gaming looks bright. Internet
gaming tournaments are attracting big sponsors and the allure of big cash purses.
Says 'professional gamer' Peter Fong, who recently won a Ferrari in an online gaming
tournament, "I think potentially computer gaming will actually be bigger than
all other sports, except maybe soccer" (Brandweek, Vol. 39 Issue 26, p39). If
the people at Electronic Arts have it their way, it may not be long before you're
going to be able to fill out your tax form to say 'professional gamer' - that sounds
like the profession for me.
Bryce Gilbert is a graduate
of the Printing Management Technology Program and is currently in the first year
of the Multimedia Diploma Program at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.
When not in school, Bryce enjoys skiiing, golf, squash, reading, and online gaming.
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