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| Company type | Division |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Predecessors | |
| Founded | 1991; 34 years ago (1991) (as EA Canada) |
| Headquarters | , Canada |
| Products | NHL series (1991–present) EA Sports FC series (2023–present) FIFA series (1993–2022) SSX series (2000–2012) NFS series (1994–2000, seeEA Black Box) Skate series (2007–2010, seeEA Black Box) |
Number of employees | 1,300 |
| Parent | EA Sports |
EA Vancouver (formerly known asEA Burnaby, thenEA Canada) is a Canadianvideo game developer located inBurnaby, British Columbia. The development studio opened asDistinctive Software in January 1983, and is alsoElectronic Arts's largest and oldest studio. EA Vancouver employs approximately 1,300 people, and houses the world's largestvideo game test operation.[1] It is best known for developing a lot of EA Sports andEA Sports BIG titles, includingEA Sports FC (formerlyFIFA),NHL,SSX,NBA Street,NFL Street, EA Sports UFC, andFIFA Street titles, as well as a number ofNBA Live andNCAA Basketball titles between 1994 and 2009.
The campus consists of amotion-capture studio, twenty-two rooms for composing, fourteen video editing suites, three production studios, a wing foraudio compositions, and aquality assurance department. There are also facilities such as fitness rooms, twotheatres, acafeteria,coffee bars, a soccer field, and several arcades.
Electronic Arts (EA), based in Redwood City, California, acquiredDistinctive 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 theAccolade brand.
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| Industry | Video games |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1982; 43 years ago (1982) |
| Defunct | 1991 (1991) |
| Fate | Merged intoEA Canada |
| Successor | EA Canada |
| Headquarters | , Canada |
Key people | Don Mattrick Jeff Sember Paul Lee Tarrnie Williams Bruce McMillan |
| Products | Test Drive series 4D Sports series |
Distinctive Software, Inc. was a Canadianvideo game developer established inBurnaby,British Columbia, byDon Mattrick and Jeff Sember after their success with the gameEvolution.[2] Mattrick (age 17) and Jeff Sember approachedSydney Development Corporation, who agreed to publishEvolution in 1982.[3] Distinctive Software was known in the late 1980s and early 1990s for theirracing andsports video games, including theTest Drive series,Stunts,4D Boxing, andHardball II. In 1991, Distinctive wasacquired byElectronic Arts in a deal worthUS$10 million and becameEA Canada, which is where the mostEA Sports branded games are developed.[4][2]
In 1989, programmers Pete Gardner and Amory Wong of Distinctive, under the pseudonym USI (Unlimited Software, Inc.), convertedSega's arcade gameOut Run forMS-DOS. They used severalsoftware libraries they had developed forTest Drive II. Consequently, Accolade charged that Distinctive violated a working agreement, and sued. Accolade sought apreliminary injunction against the distribution and sale ofOut Run. Distinctive Software argued that it had only usedsource code that did routine functions, such as clearing the video screen and that Accolade did not own acopyright on those functions. Accolade argued that their contract forTest 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.[5]
Since becoming EA Canada, EA Canada has developed many EA Games,EA Sports, andEA Sports BIG games.
EA Seattle, formerly Manley & Associates, was closed in 2002. Half the jobs were moved to EA Vancouver.[6]
EA acquired Black Box Games in 2002 and Black Box Games became part of EA Canada under the name ofEA 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 asNeed for Speed andSkate. 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 offreemium games.[7]
