EA Regroups Under Four Labels

Electronics Arts has announced that it is restructuring into four primary business units. EA Sports, EA Games, EA Casual Entertainment and The Sims will be the main brands that games are published within. EA Sports and EA Games have existed for the last several years, but they seem to have absorbed EA Sports BIG. EA Casual Entertainment and The Sims appear to have originated as the semiautonomous Pogo and Maxis groups. In addition to online board/puzzle games and cell phone titles, Casual Entertainment will include brands like Harry Potter, and the Maxis game Spore will wind up being released under the EA Games name. EA Sports & The Sims are fairly straightforward, and most others - including titles like Command & Conquer, Battlefield or Wing Commander - should come with an EA Games logo.

EA has also announced that its executive vice president of international studios, David Gardner, was recently made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth. Mr. Gardener was involved in increasing the company's European revenue to more than $1 billion and building its UK staffing levels up to more than a thousand people.