EA Entertainment and EA SPORTS: what Electronic Arts' restructuring means for its business and leadership
Electronic Arts has announced a restructuring, realigning into EA Entertainment and EA SPORTS. Here is what it means for the company’s business.
What happened?
In an announcement shared with employees, Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson revealed that the publisher will now function as two organizations, EA Entertainment and EA Sports. This move should help it “accelerate our business, drive growth, and deliver long-term value.”
- EA Entertainment — center of Electronic Arts’ first-party franchises and licensed IP. This includes all titles developed and published by the company, but perhaps the Entertainment label may hint at its plans to expand into new mediums beyond video games.
- EA Sports — organization responsible for EA Sports FC (fka FIFA), Madden NFL, and other sports games developed by Electronic Arts.
“This evolution of our company continues to 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,” Wilson said about the restructuring.
So it is more about splitting its sports and entertainment divisions in terms of their operations and growth strategies rather than some global changes in the company’s structure.
Who will lead Electronic Arts following the restructuring?
- Laura Miele will become president of EA Entertainment. Prior to this appointment, she served as the company’s chief operating officer and has worked there in various roles for more than 27 years. As the new president, Miele will oversee key studios and will be responsible for operational efficiencies of the company’s business.
- Cam Weber will become president of EA Sports. He has worked at EA for over 14 years and served as the general manager for the EA Sports division in the past five years. Weber will be responsible for building the EA Sports FC brand and overseeing the development of the company’s American football franchises.
- Both Miele and Weber will report directly to Andrew Wilson who will remain CEO of Electronic Arts.
- Vince Zampella will remain at the helm of Respawn Entertainment and will continue to oversee Apex Legends, Battlefield, and Star Wars games.
- Samantha Ryan will continue to serve as the general manager for EA’s studios like BioWare and Maxis, leading the publisher’s single-player games and core franchises.
- Jeff Karp will remain the head of Electronic Arts’ mobile division and will “partner with franchise leaders to build on the success of titles such as FIFA Mobile to create connected ecosystems for our players.”
- Stuart Canfield will replace Chris Suh as the company’s new chief financial officer. He has worked at EA in various finance roles for more than 20 years.
- David Tinson will replace Chris Bruzzo as EA’s chief experience officer and will be responsible for the company’s various commercial, marketing, and communications initiatives.
- Both Suh and Bruzzo will leave Electronic Arts.
