After recently laying off 6% of its staff, EA is splitting in two, with EA Games and EA Sports becoming completely separate organizations.
As IGN reports, EA CEO Andrew Wilson made the announcement yesterday, along with the news that EA Games is being renamed EA Entertainment. Wilson said the split will "empower our studio leaders with more creative ownership and financial accountability to make faster and more insightful decisions around development and go to market strategies."
EA Sports isn't changing much and will continue to oversee the PGA Tour, F1, Fifa, NHL, and Madden game franchises, while also producing the College Football reboot and new Super Mega Baseball games.
EA Entertainment oversees all non-sports games and studios, including BioWare, Dice, Full Circle, Maxis, Motive Studio, Respawn, Ridgeline Games, Ripple Effect, and EA's Seattle studio. The organization's control also extends to the EA Originals label, mobile games, and a lot of important IP (Battlefield, Skate, Iron Man, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings).
The name change to EA Entertainment suggests EA wants to develop beyond games, and Wilson also hints at this by saying, "With cultural and generational trends continuing to expand the definition of games beyond play to new modes of watch, create and connect, we must continually evolve to meet and engage players on their terms, and through their preferred platforms."
Wilson concludes his post by saying, "Our business remains strong," and its hard to argue against that when you look at the company's release line-up. F1 23 just released, Immortals of Aveum launches next month, and Madden NFL 24 arrives in August. Beyond that there's Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, new entries in the Skate, Mass Effect, and Battlefield series planned, and The Sims 5 is in development.
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