Brand Profile: ELECTRONIC ARTS (EA)

History

It all started when Trip Hawkins, a graduate of Stanford University, who held the post of chief marketing officer of Apple, envisioned a pioneer of a very promising future for the segment of interactive home entertainment. On May 28, 1982 after investing approximately $ 200 thousand, he along with his two colleagues William Gordon and Tom Mott, founded the ELECTRONIC ARTS (which over the years was only known by the abbreviation EA). The company was aimed to develop games for computers and video games system. The company started with 11 employees and $ 5 million from private investors. The new company's first product was launched in May 1983 and it was a game for the Atari video game 800.

I n the early years the company followed to the letter a different philosophy, releasing titles on the market today considered classics, like MULE, Pinball Construction Set and The Bard's Tale. EA was functioning as a seal for talented programmers and developers at the time: with developer’s names placed on the company's advertising campaigns and packaging of the games had the square shape of music albums.

Later the company created a division EASN that was responsible for the creation and development of sports related games. This was changed to EA SPORTS in 1991. In subsequent years this division acquired licenses for professional sports teams & leagues and created realistic games based on success in several sports.

The evolution of Logo

The first corporate logo was known as "Square / Circle / Triangle and was created by Barry Deutsch. Used up to 1999, this logo was represented by a square, a circle and a triangle symbolizing the "alphabet basics of graphic design." This was replaced in 1999 by a new logo that presented a stylized abbreviation EA, which was inspired by the identity of the former games division of sports firm named EASN.