Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the designers and programmers responsible for its games as "software artists". EA published numerous games and some productivity software for personal computers, all of which were developed by external individuals or groups until 1987's Skate or Die! The company shifted toward internal game studios, often through acquisitions, such as Distinctive Software becoming EA Canada in 1991.
Need for Speed (NFS) is a racing game franchise published by Electronic Arts and currently developed by Criterion Games. The series generally centers around illegal street racing, and tasks players to complete various types of races while evading the local law enforcement in police pursuits. Need for Speed is one of EA's oldest franchises not published under their EA Sports brand.
Steve Barcia is a game programmer, game producer and entrepreneur, having founded the computer game developer Simtex Studios Inc. in 1988. The company released computer games such as Master of Magic, Master of Orion, Master of Orion II, and 1830: Railroads & Robber Barons the adaptation of the Avalon Hill strategy game 1830. They also developed the unreleased projects Mech Lords and Guardians: Agents of Justice.
The Codemasters Software Company Limited is a British video game developer and former publisher based in Southam, England, which is a subsidiary of American corporation Electronic Arts and managed under the EA Sports division. Founded by brothers Richard and David Darling in October 1986, Codemasters is one of the oldest British game studios, and in 2005 was named the best independent video game developer by magazine Develop. It formerly also published third-party games.
Disney Interactive Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher owned by The Walt Disney Company through Disney Interactive. Prior to its closure in 2016, it developed and distributed multi-platform video games and interactive entertainment worldwide.
Criterion Games is a British video game developer based in Guildford. Founded in January 1996 as a division of Criterion Software, it was owned by Canon Inc. until Criterion Software was sold to Electronic Arts in October 2004. Many of the studio's titles were built on the RenderWare engine, which Criterion Software developed.
EA Vancouver is a Canadian video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. The development studio opened as Distinctive Software in January 1983, and is also Electronic Arts's largest and oldest studio. EA Vancouver employs approximately 1,300 people, and houses the world's largest video game test operation. It is best known for developing a lot of EA Sports and EA Sports big titles, including EA Sports FC, NHL, SSX, NBA Street, NFL Street, EA Sports UFC, and FIFA Street titles. As well as a number of NBA Live and NCAA Basketball titles between 1994 and 2009.
EA Montreal is a Canadian video game development studio owned and operated by Electronic Arts. The studio is based in Montreal, Quebec. It was inaugurated by EA on March 17, 2004.
Piranha Games Inc. is a Canadian video game developer based in Burnaby, British Columbia. The company was founded by Russ Bullock, President and Executive Producer, and Bryan Ekman, VP and Creative Director. Piranha Games is one of the oldest game developers in the Greater Vancouver area and was housed in the International Village Mall in the Chinatown area until their relocation to their current Burnaby headquarters. On November 25, 2020, Piranha Games entered into an agreement to be acquired by Enad Global 7.
Capcom Game Studio Vancouver, Inc., more commonly known as Capcom Vancouver, was a Canadian video game developer owned by Capcom with minority stake partnership by Microsoft Studios. As Blue Castle Games, the company was the creator of several successful baseball sports video games, including The Bigs, MLB Front Office Manager and The Bigs 2. They have also developed the Dead Rising series. Blue Castle Games was acquired by Capcom after the release of Dead Rising 2, and renamed Capcom Vancouver, where they continued to work on the Dead Rising series. Capcom announced the closure of the studio in September 2018, cancelling Dead Rising 5 and moving other development to their Japan-based studios.
Need for Speed: World is a massively multiplayer online racing game published by Electronic Arts, and the fifteenth installment of the publisher's Need for Speed franchise. It was co-developed by EA Black Box and EA Singapore, with Easy Studios and EA Vancouver later taking over operations during its run. It was the first freemium game in the Need for Speed series and was available on Microsoft Windows. World was released worldwide on July 27, 2010. However, people who ordered a "Starter Pack" had an early "head-start" in the game, which started on July 20, 2010.
Firemonkeys Studios is an Australian video game developer and publisher of video games, based in Melbourne, Victoria. In May 2011, Electronic Arts announced the acquisition of Firemint for an undisclosed sum, making it an in-house studio for EA Interactive. IronMonkey Studios were also taken under EA Interactive's wing back in 2010. In January 2011, Firemint acquired fellow Australian video game developer Infinite Interactive, best known for the Puzzle Quest series. In July 2012, Firemint announced a post on their blog that Firemint would merge with IronMonkey Studios by EA and merge their names into Firemonkeys. All-new games, including Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Real Racing 3, are released with the new company name.
United Front Games, Inc. was a Canadian video game development studio based in Vancouver. They created titles for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. They are the developers of ModNation Racers and the critical and commercial success Sleeping Dogs in addition to collaborating with other studios on projects like Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition and Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
Canada's video game industry consists of approximately 32,300 employees across 937 companies. In 2021, the industry generated an estimated US$3.4 billion in revenue, having grown by 20% since 2019. Video game development is beginning to rival the film and television production industry as a major contributor to the Canadian economy. The industry this year in 2023 projects to make in U.S. Dollars about 5.77 Billon Dollars.
Need for Speed Rivals is a 2013 racing video game developed in collaboration between Ghost Games and Criterion Games, and published by Electronic Arts. It is the twentieth installment in the Need for Speed series, and the debut title for Ghost Games.
EA Gothenburg is a Swedish video game developer owned by Electronic Arts (EA) and located in Gothenburg. The studio used to have two other locations; one based in Guildford in the United Kingdom and another in Bucharest, Romania. From 2013 to 2020, they oversaw the development of the Need for Speed racing game franchise. Employees of Ghost include former staff members of EA DICE, Black Box, Criterion Games and Playground Games.
SkyBox Labs Inc. is a Canadian video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. Founded in 2011 by Derek MacNeil, Shyang Kong and Steven Silvester formerly from EA Vancouver, they are mostly known for their work with Xbox Game Studios on the Halo, Age of Empires and Minecraft franchises.
Blackbird Interactive is a Canadian video game development studio based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
