EA Splits, Labels Divisions

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Electronic Arts will be adopting a new organizational structure that will see the company's efforts and development teams categorized under four labels.

The creation of the new model is credited to EA's Sims division team, which will now operate under The Sims label. Helmed by Nancy Smith, The Sims label will encompass all of EA's Sim projects, including EA Redwood Shores' MySim (Wii, DS), Tilted Mill's SimCity Societies (PC), and Maxis' The Sims Castaway Stories (PC).

The EA Games label will be lead by Frank Gibeau and handle franchises such as Need for Speed, Medal of Honor, Spore, Battlefield, Burnout, Command & Conquer, and The Simpsons, as well as the EA Partners business.

Meanwhile, Kathy Vrabeck will lead the EA Casual Entertainment label, tasked with mass-market series such as Harry Potter and EA Montreal's Boogie (Wii) along with EA Mobile and the online games service Pogo.com.

The EA Sports label will be temporarily directed by EA executive VP Joel Linzer until a president is announced. EA Sports will handle all of EA's sports franchises, including Madden NFL, NBA Live, FIFA Soccer, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, NHL Hockey, and NASCAR.

In addition to the four labels, EA will create two new divisions--Central Development Services and Global Publishing--to assist the labels in technical, marketing, and publishing matters.

"This transition will be implemented over the course of the coming months," detailed EA CEO John Riccitiello. "EA is privileged to have a deep bench of proven talent and our new structure encourages people to bring great ideas into the market more quickly. There will be more games and services for core consumers and new gamers and better focus on operational efficiency."

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 19, 2007 1:37 PM

    I guess EA figured out that The Sims can sell a mil' sayin' nothin' on a track. And that's why they're hot.

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