EA Mobile

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EA Mobile Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded2004 (2004)
FounderJohn Batter
Headquarters
Los Angeles, California
,
United States
Key people
Jeff Karp (SVP, EA Mobile)[1][2]
RevenueIncrease$637 million (2017)[3][4]
Number of employees
Increase800+ (2017)
ParentElectronic Arts
Subsidiaries

EA Mobile Inc. is an American video game development studio of the publisher Electronic Arts (EA) for mobile platforms.

The studio's primary business is producing games for mobile phones. It has also produced other entertainment-related software such as ringtone applications, as well as games for other platforms such as PDAs and personal computers. EA Mobile produces games in a wide variety of genres, such as fighting games, puzzle games, and sports titles. Their most well-known products to date include The Sims, Need for Speed, and FIFA as well as a mobile conversion of the widely known puzzle game Bejeweled, a conversion for Pocket PC of the PC game Worms World Party and their NFL, NBA, and MLB -branded games, in addition to holding the license for the mobile versions of Tetris and various Monopoly games. Tetris by EA Mobile is the best-selling paid mobile game of all time, and third best-selling game of all time altogether.[5][6] They have relationships with all major North American wireless service carriers, such as Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T, as well as many minor North American and some major European and Asian carriers. They have offices in Los Angeles, Montreal, London, Tokyo, Hyderabad, Honolulu, Bucharest and São Paulo.

As a publishing company in the wireless video game industry, EA Mobile's primary service is linking game developers, who generally develop the games from idea to playable software, with wireless telecommunications service providers or "carriers", who sell the games to their customers. To this end, they maintain strong relationships with major companies in both groups. In addition, they create, purchase, and maintain proprietary software libraries to aid developers with whom they have working relationships, a common practice among electronic game publishers. They also do the majority of the work regarding quality assurance for their games.

History

Foundation

EA Mobile was founded in 2004 by a group of EA company veterans. The group was formed/led by John Batter (General Manager) and included Linda Chaplin (head of US sales), Lincoln Wallen (CTO), John Burn (head of European sales), Jay Miller (US sales) and Mike McCabe (head of Asian sales). EA Mobile launched the division and products simultaneously in the US, Europe and Asia.

JAMDAT acquisition

In 2006, EA Mobile expanded its footprint by acquiring JAMDAT Mobile. JAMDAT was founded by Scott Lahman and Zack Norman, two ex-Activision executives, and Austin Murray in March 2000. They were joined in November of that year by Mitch Lasky, who had also worked at Activision, who became the CEO of JAMDAT. JAMDAT went public in late 2003 and gained immediate success after the release of several The Lord of the Rings tie-in mobile games.[7] JAMDAT acquired Montreal game studio Hexacto in May 2003, increasing its game portfolio.[8]

On December 9, 2005, EA announced their purchase of JAMDAT for $680 million. The acquisition closed on February 14, 2006, and the JAMDAT name was retired.

Further expansion

On August 8, 2007, it was announced that Barry Cottle will join EA Mobile as the new Senior Vice President and General Manager.

In October 2010, EA Mobile announced the acquisition of UK-based iPhone and iPad games publisher Chillingo for US$20 million in cash. While Chillingo publishes the popular Cut the Rope game, the deal did not include those properties.

In July 2015, Samantha Ryan became the new SVP and General Manager of EA Mobile replacing Frank Gibeau. And the following year in a restructuring across parent company EA, she also added oversight of Maxis and BioWare.

As of 2017, EA Mobile have an annual revenue topping almost $700 million and employees around 800 people.[9]

In May 2022, it was announced that EA Mobile along with EA Capital Games will partner with Middle-earth Enterprises to release a new mobile RPG titled The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth.[10] The game was eventually released on 10 May 2023.[11] It received mixed to positive reviews generally, but was forced to shut down prematurely just more than a year after worldwide launch,[12] amidst the turmoil of the 2023–2024 video game industry layoffs that affected Electronic Arts' development projects.

Months after shutting down Heroes of Middle Earth, Electronic Arts then announced the shutdown of The Simpsons: Tapped Out after twelve years of operation. The game shut down on January 24, 2025.[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ "EA completes $2.4 billion acquisition of Glu Mobile". VentureBeat. April 29, 2021. Archived from the original on August 14, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  2. ^ Arts, Electronic (April 29, 2021). "Meet Glu Mobile, the Newest Member of the EA Family". Electronic Arts Inc. Archived from the original on April 29, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  3. ^ Staff, PocketGamer biz (September 29, 2017). "Top 50 Mobile Game Developers of 2017". pocketgamer.biz. Archived from the original on October 3, 2019. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  4. ^ Jordan, Jon; Editor, Contributing (February 7, 2017). "The rise and rise of EA's 'very profitable' $600 million mobile business". pocketgamer.biz. Archived from the original on October 3, 2019. Retrieved April 25, 2019. {{cite web}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  5. ^ "Tetris Game Surpasses 100 Million Paid Mobile Downloads, Was the Best-Selling Mobile Phone Game of All Time". Electronic Arts. January 21, 2010. Archived from the original on March 16, 2010. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
  6. ^ Arts, Electronic (October 19, 2016). "Tetris". Electronic Arts Inc. Archived from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
  7. ^ "JAMDAT Mobile Launches Wireless Games Based on New Line Cinema's Critically-Acclaimed The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King". Business Wire. December 29, 2003. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  8. ^ Horn, Steven (May 14, 2003). "E3 2003: JAMDAT Acquires Hexacto". IGN. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved March 23, 2008.
  9. ^ Nutt, Christian. "Samantha Ryan takes the reins at EA's mobile division". www.gamasutra.com. Archived from the original on October 3, 2017. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  10. ^ "Electronic Arts Partners with Middle-earth Enterprises on the Development of Upcoming Mobile Game The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth™". ea.com. Archived from the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  11. ^ "EA launches The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth on mobile". Venture Beat. May 10, 2023. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  12. ^ "An Important Update". The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle Earth. Electronic Arts. May 24, 2024. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  13. ^ Liszewski, Andrew (September 26, 2024). "The Simpsons: Tapped Out taps out". The Verge. Retrieved September 26, 2024.