"A challenge in everything." - Motto for Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, also known as EA, is an American video game publishing company located in Redwood City, California. It has been the publisher of the Need for Speed series since its beginnings in 1994.
It was founded by Trip Hawkins in 1982 after leaving his position of Director of Product Marketing at Apple Inc.
EA has always been the publisher of the Need for Speed series, and continued to be so with differing developers. The company, along with its many branches, is one of most successful game publishers of all time, as well as one of the oldest. EA started developing video games in-house, and began supporting game consoles by the early 1990s. The company has become one of the largest third party publishers by the early 2000s.
EA eventually began to shift towards distribution of online games and services in 2001 through the use of a popular online gaming site known as Pogo.com.
As of June 2011, EA has launched Origin, an online service they use to sell games directly to customers. Origin has an "On The House" feature that allows people to download full versions of games at no cost.
EA has over 300 million registered online players worldwide.[1]
EA is highly recognised for the making of several game series such as Madden NFL, EA SPORTS FIFA, The Sims, Star Wars, Burnout, Dragon Age, Battlefield, and Need for Speed.