Popular game studio Electronic Arts, better known as EA is undergoing a major internal change. EA Games and EA Sports are splitting, with the former being renamed EA Entertainment, hinting that EA might be dipping its toes into spaces beyond gaming.
The split was announced by CEO Andrew Wilson on June 20 and claims to be happening to allow studio leaders to work with “more creative ownership and financial accountability to make faster and more insightful decisions around development and go to market strategies”. Which seems to be the truth, to some extent at least.
EA Entertainment will be led by Laura Miele, previously working as EA’s Chief Operating Officer, who will also take over Technology and Central Development at EA Entertainment. The EA Sports branch, popular for making sports-based titles like FIFA, Madden, NFL and UFC will continue to be led by Cam Weber. Both divisions will have more control over their respective labels and in turn more oversight over budgets and greater decision-making flexibility.
Those aren’t all the changes EA is undergoing though. While Wilson remains CEO and will preside over the two newly split organisations, Chief Experiences Officer Chris Bruzzo is retiring and Chief Financial Officer Chris Suh is leaving the company. David Tinson and Stuart Canfield are poised to take up the open positions respectively.
The changes seem pretty significant on the surface, but everything essentially works the same. EA Sports will continue developing the company’s sports-related titles including Madden, NHL, PGA Tour, recently acquired Super Mega Baseball, the upcoming College Football reboot, F1 series (which just released its current instalment — F1 23) and of course, EA Sports FC, after the game studio had a falling out with FIFA, subsequently dropping the name after its latest title, FIFA 23.
EA’s business remains strong, as pointed by CEO Wilson in his announcement, with EA Sports continuing to be the biggest cash grabber for the company. EA Entertainment on the other hand will continue working with Respawn, Dice, Ripple Effect, Ridgeline Games (responsible for the Battlefield series), Full Circle, Motive Studio, BioWare and last but not least, the EA Originals label.
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