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EA Vancouver
Canadian video game developer owned by Electronic Arts
Canadian video game developer owned by Electronic Arts
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | EA Vancouver |
| logo | EA Vancouver.png |
| logo_size | 170 |
| type | Division |
| predecessors | |
| foundation | (as EA Canada) |
| location_city | Burnaby, British Columbia |
| location_country | Canada |
| industry | Video games |
| products | NHL series (1991–present) |
| EA Sports FC series (2023–present) | |
| FIFA series (1993–2022) | |
| SSX series (2000–2012) | |
| NFS series (1994–2000, see EA Black Box) | |
| Skate series (2007–2010, see EA Black Box) | |
| num_employees | 1,300 |
| parent | EA Sports |
EA Sports FC series (2023–present) FIFA series (1993–2022) SSX series (2000–2012) NFS series (1994–2000, see EA Black Box) Skate series (2007–2010, see EA Black Box)
EA Vancouver (formerly known as EA Burnaby, then EA Canada) is a Canadian video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. The development studio opened as Distinctive Software in January 1983, and is also Electronic Arts's largest and oldest studio. EA Vancouver employs approximately 1,300 people, and houses the world's largest video game test operation. It is best known for developing a lot of EA Sports and EA Sports BIG titles, including EA Sports FC (formerly FIFA), NHL, SSX, NBA Street, NFL Street, EA Sports UFC, and FIFA Street titles, as well as a number of NBA Live and NCAA Basketball titles between 1994 and 2009.
Premises
The campus consists of a motion-capture studio, twenty-two rooms for composing, fourteen video editing suites, three production studios, a wing for audio compositions, and a quality assurance department. There are also facilities such as fitness rooms, two theatres, a cafeteria, coffee bars, a soccer field, and several arcades.
History
Electronic Arts (EA), based in Redwood City, California, acquired Distinctive Software in 1991 for $11 million and renamed Distinctive Software to EA Canada. At the time of the business acquisition, Distinctive Software was noted for developing a number of racing and sporting games published under the Accolade brand.
Distinctive Software
Jeff Sember Paul Lee Tarrnie Williams Bruce McMillan 4D Sports series Distinctive Software, Inc. was a Canadian video game developer established in Burnaby, British Columbia, by Don Mattrick and Jeff Sember after their success with the game Evolution. Mattrick (age 17) and Jeff Sember approached Sydney Development Corporation, who agreed to publish Evolution in 1982. Distinctive Software was known in the late 1980s and early 1990s for their racing and sports video games, including the Test Drive series, Stunts, 4D Boxing, and Hardball II. In 1991, Distinctive was acquired by Electronic Arts in a deal worth million and became EA Canada, which is where the most EA Sports branded games are developed.
Unlimited Software and lawsuit
In 1989, programmers Pete Gardner and Amory Wong of Distinctive, under the pseudonym USI (Unlimited Software, Inc.), converted Sega's arcade game Out Run for MS-DOS. They used several software libraries they had developed for Test Drive II. Consequently, Accolade charged that Distinctive violated a working agreement, and sued. Accolade sought a preliminary injunction against the distribution and sale of Out Run. Distinctive Software argued that it had only used source code that did routine functions, such as clearing the video screen and that Accolade did not own a copyright on those functions. Accolade argued that their contract for Test Drive II gave them the ownership and copyright of the final product—the game—and the source code used to create it. Distinctive Software won; the court ruled that "the licensing agreement transfers to Accolade the copyright to the concept and design of the video game but not the underlying source code." The court also found that Accolade had failed to demonstrate that the balance of hardships was in its favour.
EA Canada
Since becoming EA Canada, EA Canada has developed many EA Games, EA Sports, and EA Sports BIG games.
EA Seattle, formerly Manley & Associates, was closed in 2002. Half the jobs were moved to EA Vancouver.
EA acquired Black Box Games in 2002 and Black Box Games became part of EA Canada under the name of EA Black Box. EA Black Box later became an independent EA studio in 2005. After its acquisition, EA Black Box became the home of several franchises, such as Need for Speed and Skate. The studio was later shut down in 2013, after a series of restructurings and layoffs within EA.
In 2011, EA Canada acquired Bight Games, a maker of freemium games.
Games developed
By Distinctive Software
| Game | Published | Publisher | Platform | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4D Sports Boxing | ||||||
| 4D Sports Tennis | ||||||
| Accolade Comics | ||||||
| Ace of Aces | ||||||
| After Burner | ||||||
| Altered Beast | ||||||
| Bill Elliott's NASCAR Challenge | ||||||
| Castlevania | ||||||
| Champions Forever Boxing | ||||||
| Dick Tracy: The Crime-Solving Adventure | ||||||
| Grand Prix Circuit | ||||||
| Fight Night | ||||||
| Hardball! | ||||||
| Mario Andretti's Racing Challenge | ||||||
| Metal Gear | ||||||
| Mission: Impossible | ||||||
| Out Run | ||||||
| Pipe Dream | ||||||
| Stunts (4D Sports Driving) | ||||||
| Super C | ||||||
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | ||||||
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Manhattan Missions | ||||||
| Test Drive | ||||||
| The Cycles: International Grand Prix Racing | ||||||
| The Duel: Test Drive II | ||||||
| The Simpsons: Bart's House of Weirdness | ||||||
| Top Gun: Guts and Glory | ||||||
| Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? |
By EA Canada
| Year | Title | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | ReBoot | PlayStation |
| 2011 | FIFA 12 | Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 |
| Fight Night Champion | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | |
| NBA Jam: On Fire Edition | ||
| NHL 12 | ||
| 2012 | FIFA 13 | Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360 |
| FIFA Street | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | |
| Grand Slam Tennis 2 | ||
| NHL 13 | ||
| SSX | ||
| UEFA Euro 2012 | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | |
| 2013 | FIFA 14 | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One |
| NHL 14 | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | |
| 2014 | 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil | |
| EA Sports UFC | PlayStation 4, Xbox One | |
| FIFA 15 | Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One | |
| NHL 15 | PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One | |
| 2015 | EA Sports UFC | Android, iOS |
| FIFA 16 | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One | |
| NHL 16 | PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One | |
| 2016 | EA Sports UFC 2 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One |
| FIFA 17 | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One | |
| FIFA Mobile | Android, iOS, Windows Apps, Windows Phone | |
| NHL 17 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One | |
| 2017 | FIFA 18 | Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One |
| NHL 18 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One | |
| 2018 | EA Sports UFC 3 | |
| FIFA 19 | Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One | |
| NHL 19 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One | |
| 2019 | FIFA 20 | Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One |
| NHL 20 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One | |
| 2020 | EA Sports UFC 4 | |
| FIFA 21 | Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Stadia | |
| NHL 21 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One | |
| 2021 | FIFA 22 | Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Stadia |
| NHL 22 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X | |
| 2022 | FIFA 23 | Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X |
| NHL 23 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X | |
| 2023 | EA FC 24 | Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X |
| NHL 24 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X | |
| EA Sports UFC 5 | PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X |
EA Sports
Games developed for publishing by EA Sports:
- 3 on 3 NHL Arcade
- 2002 FIFA World Cup
- 2006 FIFA World Cup
- 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
- 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil
- EA Sports UFC
- EA Sports UFC 2
- EA Sports UFC 3
- EA Sports UFC 4
- EA Sports UFC 5
- FIFA International Soccer
- FIFA Soccer 95
- FIFA Soccer 96
- FIFA 97
- FIFA: Road to World Cup 98
- FIFA 99
- FIFA 2000
- FIFA 2001
- FIFA Football 2002
- FIFA Football 2003
- FIFA Football 2004
- FIFA Football 2005
- FIFA 06
- FIFA 07
- FIFA 08
- FIFA 09
- FIFA 10
- FIFA 11
- FIFA 12
- FIFA 13
- FIFA 14
- FIFA 15
- FIFA 16
- FIFA 17
- FIFA 18
- FIFA 19
- FIFA 20
- FIFA 21
- FIFA 22
- FIFA 23
- EA Sports FC 24
- FIFA Street (2012)
- FIFA Manager 06
- FIFA Online
- FaceBreaker
- Fight Night Round 4
- Fight Night Champion
- Grand Slam Tennis
- Celebrity Sports Showdown
- Cricket 07
- John Madden Football '93 (Super NES)
- Knockout Kings
- Madden NFL 07 (Wii)
- MVP 06 NCAA Baseball
- NBA Live 95
- NBA Live 96
- NBA Live 97
- NBA Live 98
- NBA Live 99
- NBA Live 2000
- NBA Live 2001
- NBA Live 2002
- NBA Live 2003
- NBA Live 2004
- NBA Live 2005
- NBA Live 06
- NBA Live 07
- NBA Live 08
- NBA Live 09
- NBA Live 10
- NCAA March Madness 98
- NCAA March Madness 99
- NCAA March Madness 2000
- NCAA March Madness 2001
- NCAA March Madness 2002
- NCAA March Madness 2003
- NCAA March Madness 2004
- NCAA March Madness 2005
- NCAA March Madness 06
- NCAA March Madness 07
- NCAA March Madness 08
- NCAA Basketball 09
- NCAA Basketball 10
- NHL '94
- NHL 95
- NHL 96
- NHL 97
- NHL 98
- NHL 99
- NHL 2000
- NHL 2001
- NHL 2002
- NHL 2003
- NHL 2004
- NHL 2005
- NHL 06
- NHL 07
- NHL 08
- NHL 09
- NHL 10
- NHL 11
- NHL 12
- NHL 13
- NHL 14
- NHL 15
- NHL 16
- NHL 17
- NHL 18
- NHL 19
- NHL 20
- NHL 21
- NHL 22
- NHL 23
- NHL 24
- Rugby 2005
- Rugby 06
- SSX (2012)
- Total Club Manager 2005
- Triple Play 96
- Triple Play 2000
- UEFA Champions League 2006–2007
- UEFA Euro 2004
- UEFA Euro 2008
- UEFA Euro 2012
- World Cup 98
EA Sports BIG
Games developed for publishing by EA Sports BIG:
- Def Jam Vendetta
- FaceBreaker
- FIFA Street (2005)
- FIFA Street 2
- FIFA Street 3
- Freekstyle
- NBA Street
- NBA Street Vol. 2
- NBA Street V3
- NFL Street
- NFL Street 2
- NFL Street 3
- NFL Tour
- Sled Storm
- SSX (2000)
- SSX Tricky
- SSX 3
- SSX On Tour
- SSX Blur
References
References
- (2013-05-09). "Electronic Arts". EA.
- Zinn, Jacob. (September 5, 2014). "EA Canada pushes boundaries in Burnaby". [[Burnaby Now]].
- Kyllo, Blaine. (January 28, 2009). "Case: Vancouver's video game family tree [C]". The Georgia Straight.
- (June 18, 1991). "COMPANY NEWS; Electronic Arts To Buy Distinctive". [[The New York Times]].
- Dannenberg, Ross. (May 30, 2005). "Case: Accolade v. Distinctive (N.D.Cal. 1990) [C]".
- (22 October 2002). "Electronic Arts closing Bellevue game studio".
- Takahashi, Dean. (August 15, 2011). "EA acquires mobile game developer Bight Games". VentureBeat.
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
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