Electronic Arts 2007 Annual Report Download - page 78

EA Studios
We develop packaged goods games internally at our development and production studios located in the United
States, Canada, England, Sweden, Germany, Singapore and China. We invest in the creation of software tools
to more efficiently develop games for multiple platforms. We also make investments in facilities and
equipment that allow us to create and edit video and audio recordings that are used in our games. Employees
whom we call “executive producers” are responsible for overseeing the development of one or more products
or “franchises” (a series of sequeled or related products). We also engage third parties to develop games on
our behalf at their own development and production studios.
Following our acquisition of JAMDAT Mobile Inc. in February 2006, we merged our existing cellular handset
software game development and publishing business into JAMDAT’s to establish our EA Mobile business. We
engage third parties to develop games for cellular handsets on our behalf at their own development and
production studios and, to a lesser extent, we develop cellular handset games internally at our development
and production studios located in the United States, Canada, England, Romania and India.
We develop online games and content internally at our development and production studios located in the
United States, Canada and Singapore. In fiscal 2007, we acquired Mythic Entertainment, Inc., a developer and
publisher of massively multiplayer online role-playing games. We also engage third parties to develop online
games on our behalf at their own development and production studios.
In fiscal 2007, we generated approximately 65 percent of our net revenue from games developed by our EA
Studios that were initially released during the year, as compared to approximately 73 percent in fiscal 2006.
Excluding titles developed for cellular handsets, during fiscal 2007 we released 32 EA Studio titles compared
to 31 EA Studio titles in fiscal 2006. In fiscal 2007, we released over 190,000 stock keeping units, or SKUs (a
version of a title designed for play on a particular platform), for cellular handsets.
Co-publishing, Distribution and Third Party Development
Through our EA Partners group, we team with other game development companies to assist with the
development of their own interactive software games, which we then publish, market and distribute. We refer
to these types of arrangements as “co-publishing”. For example, in fiscal 2007, we signed a co-publishing
agreement with NAMCO BANDAI Games America for Hellgate: London
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, which is being developed by
Flagship Studios.
We also distribute interactive software games that are developed and published by other companies. An
example of one of our recent distribution products is Half-Life»2: Episode One, which was developed and
published by Valve and distributed worldwide by us.
We also engage third parties to develop games on our behalf.
Publishing Our Games — Marketing, Market Segments and Distribution
We market our products under four major brand names:
• EA — we publish a variety of games under our EA brand. Some of our products published under the
EA brand include Need for Speed
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Carbon,The Sims
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2and The Godfather
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The Game;
• EA SPORTS — sports simulation games. Some of our products published under the EA SPORTS brand
include Madden NFL 07,FIFA Soccer 07 and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR»07;
• EA SPORTS BIG — arcade-style extreme sports and modified traditional sports games. Some of our
products published under the EA SPORTS BIG brand include Def Jam: Icon
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,NBA STREET
Homecourt and FIFA Street 2; and
• POGO — Online casual games and downloadable casual games.
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