Electronic Arts 2001 Annual Report Download - page 4

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2
2 0 0 1 A R
Strategic Initiative #2 – Leadership on the PC Platform
On the PC platform we made tremendous strides. We gre w
market share by more than five points in North America, ending the March quarter in the number one position
with a 21.6 percent share based on dollar sales. In Europe, we estimate we were the leading company for calendar
2000 with more than a 24 percent share based on dollar sales. In Asia Pacific, we estimate we led in all terr i t o r i e s ,
and we moved to the number two market share position in Japan for the fiscal year. For the second year in a
row EA published the number one title in the market – The Sims
™
in calendar 2000 and SimCity 3000
™
in calen-
dar 1999. The Sims is a global phenomenon; it appeals to a very broad demographic of users, including men,
women and children, along with both hard - c o re and casual gamers. We have sold more than four million units
of the core product, and nearly seven million units total when you include expansion packs and data disks. It
has become our most important wholly-owned intellectual pro p e rt y, and we plan to continue to develop this
franchise with additional expansion packs and an online version in FY02. In addition, we had great success
with products like Command & Conquer
™
:Red Alert
™
2and Black & White
™
, both of which have sold more than
one million units worldwide to date.
Strategic Initiative #3 – Be the Leading Provider of Interactive Entertainment on the Internet
In the online space
we launched EA.com
SM
in FY01 and continue to make strong pro g ress towards our goal of leadership in this
medium. We acquired Pogo Corporation in Q4, which gives us the “stickiest” site on the web for popular
e n t e rtainment. During the month of March we had more than nine million unique visitors to the EA.com site.
Users logged more than 1.7 billion minutes on the EA.com/pogo.com
S M
web sites in March, making this the
fifth most heavily trafficked site on the Internet. In the summer we will launch M a j e s t i c
™
, the highly anticipat-
e d online thriller, followed by Motor City Online, Earth and Beyond
™
and The Sims Online
™
later in the fis c a l
y e a r. We are developing a rich content portfolio; we intend to validate the subscription model for online
e n t e r tainment; and we are committed to making EA.com a pro fitable component of our overall business.
Strategic Initiative #4 – Number One “People Company” in the Entertainment Industry
We are on track to achiev-
ing this goal. We know that industry leadership is predicated on attracting and developing the best talent.
We strive to create an environment where people want to work and where great careers are re a l i z e d .
When it comes to re c ruiting talent, we are widely recognized for combining an innovative web-based
strategy with a “high touch” approach. In just over a year, the career site on our corporate home page has
re g i s t e red more than 50,000 candidates, forming a private talent pool for EA’s ongoing re c ruitment.
We must also retain our best people. We’ve developed EA University to enhance our technical and m a n-
agement skills. Our pro p r i e t a ry E m e rging Leader Pro g r a m p rovides management insight and broad b u s i n e s s
skills to employees who show potential for next generation leadership. We’ve also launched an i n n o v a t i v e
c ross-functional program with the Massachusetts Institute of Te c h n o l o g y. The Creative Leadership Pro g r a m
brings academics and developers together in workshops on narrative, art, and design. In addition, we listen to
our people through our Talk Back o rganization feedback process, which allows us to stay in touch with the
e v e r -changing needs of our workforce.
These highlighted eff o rts coupled with industry-leading compensation and re w a r d practices, value-based
management practices, and the most up-to-date work environments, are making us a #1 People Company.