EA Orlando

Last updated
EA Orlando
FormerlyTiburon Entertainment (1994–1998)
EA Tiburon (1998–2023)
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Video games
Founded1994;30 years ago (1994)
Headquarters
Orlando, Florida, U.S.
Products Madden NFL
NCAA/College Football series
Tiger Woods PGA Tour
Number of employees
500 (2015)
Parent Electronic Arts (1998–present)
Website www.ea.com/ea-studios/ea-orlando

EA Orlando is an American video game developer located in Orlando, Florida, founded in 1994. [1] It was formerly known as Tiburon Entertainment, which was acquired by Electronic Arts in 1998. After the acquisition, the studio was renamed EA Tiburon. [2] [3] EA had already purchased a minority equity interest in Tiburon in May 1996, the terms of which included that Tiburon would develop games exclusively for EA. [4]

Contents

The studio is best known for developing the Madden NFL series of games. In addition to the usual titles developed by the studio which include Madden, NCAA Football, NFL Street, NASCAR, and NFL Head Coach, in late 2006 Tiburon released the Superman Returns game based on the movie of the same name. EA Tiburon has taken over the Tiger Woods PGA Tour series from EA Salt Lake as of the 2008 edition of the game.

History

Tiburon Entertainment

Tiburon Entertainment was originally founded by John Schappert, Jason Andersen, and Steve Chiang, all of them being previous engineers for the company Visual Concepts, located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Soon after leaving Visual Concepts, Schappert and Anderson would move to Florida and begin working towards opening a new video game software developing studio. Tiburon Entertainment was soon established in Orlando, Florida, 1994 by Schappert and Anderson, with Steve Chiang joining as a third investment. The name of the studio, Tiburon, comes from the Spanish word "tiburón," which means shark. While the newly formed company had just three employees and 900 feet of office space at the time, it did carve a niche for itself by writing programs for large gaming companies like EA. [5]

Tiburon developed its own video game concepts and software in addition to creating games based on the ideas of Electronic Arts and other distributors. [6] EA initially hired Tiburon to produce Madden NFL '96 for the Super NES and Genesis. Tiburon began producing Madden for the newer systems and were the first designers to infuse the game with a three-dimensional feel for the players and stadiums for the two-game systems until they became outdated with the introduction of Sony's PlayStation. [7] Eventually, Tiburon would start developing the Madden video game series, starting with Madden NFL '96 and NCAA Football .

Some other titles that Tiburon made include College Football USA 97 , Madden NFL 97 , Soviet Strike , and Slam: Shaq vs. the Legends which were released on several game consoles such as the Genesis, Super NES, Sega Saturn and PlayStation. [8] [9]

Tiburon Entertainment and Electronic Arts

The relationship between EA and Tiburon has existed since the company's beginnings. While Tiburon developed programs for large gaming companies, the company had some strong ties to EA because of the work done on the Madden series by Schappert, Anderson, and Chiang, who had done business with EA when they were working at Visual Concepts.

EA was already a minority investor in the privately held company Tiburon and owned about 19.9 percent of Tiburon since April 1996. [10] Later on, EA would soon purchase a minority equity interest of Tiburon on May 7, 1996. Included in this purchase, Tiburon would become an exclusive developer for Electronic Arts for entertainment software on the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and other video-game systems. In 1996 Tiburon would form a contract with EA to help develop a new college football game (which became NCAA Football 98 , released in 1997). With this investment made, the company would move from its 4,000-square-foot office in Longwood to an 8,600-square-foot site in Maitland Center.

Acquisition by EA (1998–present)

The EA/Tiburon partnership flourished as Tiburon continued to design top-selling interactive game software for EA and led to the acquisition of Tiburon by EA on April 2, 1998. Since the purchase, Tiburon Entertainment was re-branded to EA Tiburon and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Electronic Arts. [10] Along with this, the studio went on to oversee the Madden franchise and still continues to do so to this day. [11] In 2005, EA acquired the video game developer Hypnotix and folded its operations into Tiburon. EA had also constructed a new 25,000 square foot state-of-the-art creative center that would house the designers, programmers, and artists of Tiburon Entertainment. EA Tiburon was a division of EA Sports, but with some recent reorganization of the company, there have been some changes and now is its own independent subsidiary. [3]

Currently, EA Tiburon is still considered one of the largest video game studios in Florida and is employing over 500 people. Over the past few years, there have been other developing teams that have been incorporated into EA Tiburon such as Hypnotix after EA acquired some smaller video game development companies. EA Tiburon's Maitland headquarters continues to have renovations and expansions done to the building with the intent to allow employees to move more easily between workspaces and foster more collaboration. Some other additions include an updated infrastructure and video-game themed art along the walls of each floor. [12]

In late 2019, it was announced that EA Tiburon would move its headquarters from the Maitland Center to the Creative Village in Downtown Orlando. [13] The new headquarters opened in March 2022. [14]

Games developed by Tiburon

Ongoing franchises
Former franchises

Related Research Articles

Westwood Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in 1985 as Brelous Software, but got changed after 2 months into Westwood Associates and was renamed to Westwood Studios when Virgin Games bought the company in 1992. The company was bought by Electronic Arts alongside Virgin Interactive's North American operations in 1998. In January 2003, it was announced that Westwood, alongside Westwood Pacific, would be merged into EA Los Angeles. The main studio location closed in March of that year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electronic Arts</span> American video game company

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.

Madden NFL is an American football sports video game series developed by EA Orlando for EA Sports. The franchise, named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden, has sold more than 130 million copies as of 2018. Since 2004, it has been the only officially licensed National Football League (NFL) video game series, and has influenced many players and coaches of the physical sport. Among the series' features are detailed playbooks and player statistics and voice commentary in the style of a real NFL television broadcast. As of 2013 the franchise has generated over $4 billion in sales, making it one of the most profitable video game franchises on the market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EA Sports</span> Sports gaming brand of Electronic Arts

EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they imitated real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) with pictures or endorsements, it soon grew up to become a sub-label on its own, releasing game series such as EA Sports FC, PGA Tour, NHL, NBA Live, and Madden NFL.

2004 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Madden NFL 2005, NBA Live 2005, ESPN NBA 2K5, Tony Hawk's Underground 2, WWE Smackdown! vs. Raw, Doom 3, Dragon Quest VIII, Gran Turismo 4, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Half-Life 2, Halo 2, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Myst IV: Revelation, Ninja Gaiden, Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen/Emerald, Everybody's Golf 4, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, Silent Hill 4: The Room, Tekken 5, and World of Warcraft. New intellectual properties included Fable, Far Cry, FlatOut, Killzone, Katamari Damacy, Monster Hunter, N, Red Dead Revolver, SingStar, and Sacred. The Nintendo DS was also launched that year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trip Hawkins</span> American businessman (born 1953)

William Murray "Trip" Hawkins III is an American entrepreneur and founder of Electronic Arts, The 3DO Company, and Digital Chocolate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visual Concepts</span> American video game developer

Visual Concepts Entertainment is an American video game developer based in Novato, California. Founded in May 1988, the company is best known for developing sports games in the 2K franchise, most recently NBA 2K and WWE 2K, and previously NFL 2K and College Hoops 2K. Visual Concepts was acquired by Sega in May 1999 and sold to Take-Two Interactive in January 2005. The acquisition of the company led Take-Two Interactive to open their 2K label which Visual Concepts became part of, on the day following the acquisition. As of December 2018, the company employs more than 350 people.

NFL 2K is an American football video game series developed by Visual Concepts and published by Sega. The series was originally exclusive to Sega's Dreamcast video game console due to the absence of EA Sports's Madden NFL series on the system. As the foremost "2K" title, it marked the beginning of a running athletics series that eventually led to the spinning off of 2K's sports publishing business under the name of 2K Sports. Upon the Dreamcast's discontinuation, the series continued to be published for other sixth generation game systems and became the chief competitor of the Madden series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Codemasters</span> British video game developer

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 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.

Tiburon may refer to:

<i>Madden NFL 98</i> 1997 American football video game

Madden NFL 98 is a 1997 football video game. It was the last edition of the Madden series to be released for the Super NES, Genesis and Sega Saturn platforms, as well as the last Madden game to utilize 2D sprites for the players and referee, on 3D playing fields.

<i>John Madden Football 93</i> 1992 American football video game

John Madden Football '93 is a 1992 sports video game developed by Blue Sky Productions and Electronic Arts and published by EA Sports. Based on the sport of American football, the player controls a football team in modes such as tournament play and sudden death. Officially endorsed by John Madden, it was the third Madden game for home consoles and the first one that saw a simultaneous release on both, the Sega Genesis and Super NES.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stormfront Studios</span> Defunct American software company

Stormfront Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer based in San Rafael, California. In 2007, the company had over 50 developers working on two teams, and owned all its proprietary engines, tools, and technology. As of the end of 2007, over fourteen million copies of Stormfront-developed games had been sold. Stormfront closed on March 31, 2008, due to the closure of their publisher at the time, Sierra Entertainment.

<i>ESPN NFL 2K5</i> 2004 video game

ESPN NFL 2K5 is an American football video game developed by Visual Concepts for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles. Co-Published by Global Star Software and Sega, it is the sixth installment of the NFL 2K series and the last to use official NFL licensing. Gameplay is presented as a live ESPN television broadcast and features the voices and digital likenesses of multiple ESPN on-air personalities.

<i>John Madden Football</i> (1990 video game) 1990 video game

John Madden Football, released as John Madden American Football in Europe, is an American football video game released by Electronic Arts. Loosely based on the 1988 video game of the same title, it was the first entry in what eventually became the yearly Madden NFL series on home consoles, initially released for the Sega Genesis in 1990. It is sometimes called Madden '90 or Madden '91 to distinguish it from subsequent entries in the series.

<i>Joe Montana Football</i> 1991 video game

Joe Montana Football is an American football video game developed by Park Place Productions, and published by Sega for the Genesis in 1991. While the game does feature Joe Montana as a playable character, Sega did not obtain licenses from either the National Football League or the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), meaning no other players, nor any official team names, are used. It was the first of many Sega published football games across the 1990s prior to moving into the NFL 2K branding in the 2000s.

Hypnotix, Inc. was an American video game developer

<i>John Madden Football</i> (1994 video game) 1994 American football video game

John Madden Football is a video game developed by High Score Productions and published by Electronic Arts exclusively for the 3DO.

<i>Madden NFL 20</i> 2019 video game

Madden NFL 20 is an American football video game based on the National Football League (NFL), developed by EA Tiburon and published by Electronic Arts. The 31st installment in the long-running Madden NFL series, the game was released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows on August 2, 2019. It features Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes as the cover athlete. Mahomes became the second player after Rob Gronkowski to win a Super Bowl the same season they were on the Madden cover, and the first player to win the Super Bowl MVP while doing so, thus breaking the "Madden Curse", a curse where the cover athlete ended the season early due to injury.

References

  1. ↑ "EA Orlando studio profile". MobyGames. Archived from the original on 2023-08-05. Retrieved 2023-08-05.
  2. ↑ Jebens, Harley (April 2, 1998). "EA Acquisition". GameSpot . Archived from the original on September 30, 2000. Retrieved October 30, 2022.
  3. 1 2 Brinkmann, Paul. "Electronic Arts Maitland contest includes non-sports game ideas". OrlandoSentinel.com. Archived from the original on 2019-04-22. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  4. ↑ "News Bits". GamePro . No. 95. IDG. August 1996. p. 17.
  5. ↑ "Fun & Games". Florida Trend. Archived from the original on 2019-04-22. Retrieved 2019-04-22.
  6. ↑ "Electronic Arts game for Tiburon". www.bizjournals.com. Archived from the original on 2001-01-16. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  7. ↑ "EA Tiburon raises game level". East Bay Times. 2004-08-12. Archived from the original on 2019-05-01. Retrieved 2019-04-28.
  8. ↑ "Tiburon Entertainment". Sega Retro. Archived from the original on 2019-04-22. Retrieved 2019-04-22.
  9. ↑ "Category:Games developed by Tiburon Entertainment - The Cutting Room Floor". tcrf.net. Archived from the original on 2019-04-22. Retrieved 2019-04-22.
  10. 1 2 "Electronic Arts Acquires Software Developer Tiburon Entertainment; Leading Sports Game Developer Becomes Wholly-Owned Subsidiary. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Archived from the original on 2019-04-22. Retrieved 2019-04-22.
  11. ↑ Paprocki, Matt (2017-08-22). "The asterisk on Madden's annual release legacy". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2019-04-28. Retrieved 2019-04-28.
  12. ↑ Santana, Marco. "Electronic Arts Tiburon shows off renovations at Maitland headquarters". OrlandoSentinel.com. Archived from the original on 2019-05-01. Retrieved 2019-05-01.
  13. ↑ "It's official: City of Orlando approves over $9M in incentives for EA move". www.bizjournals.com. Archived from the original on 2021-01-15. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
  14. ↑ "Electronic Arts' downtown Orlando office opens at 50% Capacity for its 1,000 Workers". www.orlandosentinel.com. Archived from the original on 2022-03-21. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.