EA Vancouver (formerly known as EA Burnaby, then EA Canada) is a Canadian

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

located in

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard In ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, f ...

. The development studio opened as Distinctive Software in January 1983, and is also

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted t ...

's largest and oldest studio. EA Vancouver employs approximately 1,300 people, and houses the world's largest video game test operation.

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 Quality assurance (QA) is the term used in both manufacturing and service industries to describe the systematic efforts taken to ensure that the product(s) delivered to customer(s) meet with the contractual and other agreed upon performance, design ...

department. There are also facilities such as fitness rooms, two

theatres Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

, a

cafeteria A cafeteria, sometimes called a canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or schoo ...

coffee bar A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...

s, a soccer field, and several arcades. The building is situated next to Discovery Park.

History

EA Vancouver is a major studio of the American gaming software giant

(EA) which has many studios around the globe. EA, based in Redwood City, California, had 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 The accolade (also known as dubbing or adoubement) ( la, benedictio militis) was the central act in the rite of passage ceremonies conferring knighthood in the Middle Ages. From about 1852, the term ''accolade'' was used much more generally t ...

brand. Since becoming EA Canada, EA Canada has developed many EA Games,

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

, and EA Sports BIG games. 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. Since its acquisition, EA Black Box became home of the '' Need for Speed'' franchise, and many others. In 2011, EA Canada acquired Bight Games, a maker of

freemium Freemium, a portmanteau of the words "free" and "premium," is a pricing strategy by which a basic product or service is provided free of charge, but money (a premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual (online) or physical ...

games.

Games developed

EA Sports

Games developed for publishing by

: *'' 3 on 3 NHL Arcade'' *''

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

'' *''

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

'' *'' 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'' *'' 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 07'' (also known as ''FIFA Football 07'' and ''FIFA 07 Soccer'') is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. It was the last game in the ''FIFA'' series to be relea ...

'' *'' FIFA 08'' *'' FIFA 09'' *'' FIFA 10'' *'' FIFA 11'' *'' FIFA 12'' *'' FIFA 13'' *''

FIFA 14 ''FIFA 14'' is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. It was released in September 2013 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, PlaySta ...

'' *'' FIFA 15'' *'' FIFA 16'' *'' FIFA 17'' *''

FIFA 18 ''FIFA 18'' is a football simulation video game developed and published by Electronic Arts and released worldwide on 29 September 2017 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. It is the 25t ...

'' *'' FIFA 19'' *'' FIFA 20'' *'' FIFA 21'' *'' FIFA 22'' *'' 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 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 2002'' *'' 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 97'' *''

NHL 98 ''NHL 98'' is an ice hockey video game developed by Electronic Arts Canada. It was released in 1997 and was the successor to ''NHL 97''. It was the last installment of the NHL series to be released on the SNES, Sega Genesis, or Sega Saturn. Fe ...

'' *'' NHL 99'' *'' NHL 2000'' *'' NHL 2001'' *'' NHL 2002'' *'' NHL 06'' *'' NHL 07'' *'' NHL 08'' *'' NHL 09'' *'' NHL 10'' *'' NHL 11'' *''

NHL 12 ''NHL 12'' is an ice hockey video game developed by EA Canada and published by EA Sports. The game was featured in the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Steven Stamkos was announced as the game's cover athlete on June 22, 2011, at the ...

'' *'' NHL 13'' *'' NHL 14'' *''

NHL 15 ''NHL 15'' is an ice hockey video game developed by EA Canada and published by EA Sports. It is the 24th installment of the ''NHL'' series and was released on September 9, 2014 in North America then three days later in Europe, Australia and N ...

'' *'' NHL 16'' *'' NHL 17'' *'' NHL 18'' *'' NHL 19'' *'' NHL 20'' *'' NHL 21'' *'' NHL 22'' *'' Rugby 2005'' *'' Rugby 06'' *''

SSX ''SSX'' is a series of snowboarding and skiing video games published by EA Sports. It is an arcade-style racing game with larger-than-life courses, characters, and tricks. While the general focus of the series is racing and performing tricks o ...

'' (2012) *'' Total Club Manager 2005'' *'' Triple Play 96'' *'' Triple Play 2000'' *'' UEFA Champions League 2006–2007'' *''

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...

'' *''

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of Europea ...

'' *''

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

'' *''

World Cup 98 The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

EA Sports BIG

Games developed for publishing by EA Sports BIG: *''

Def Jam Vendetta ''Def Jam Vendetta'' is a 2003 professional wrestling video game that combines hip hop with pro wrestling. It was released for the PlayStation 2 & GameCube by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports BIG label in North America & Europe, and the ...

'' *'' FaceBreaker'' *'' FIFA Street'' (2005) *'' FIFA Street 2'' *'' FIFA Street 3'' *'' NBA Street'' *'' NBA Street Vol. 2'' *'' NBA Street V3'' *'' NFL Street'' *'' NFL Street 2'' *'' NFL Street 3'' *'' NFL Tour'' *'' Sled Storm'' *''

'' (2000) *''

SSX Tricky ''SSX Tricky'', also known as ''SSX 2'' or ''SSX 2: Tricky'', is a snowboarding video game, the second game in the ''SSX'' series published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports BIG label and developed by EA Vancouver. A direct sequel to ' ...

'' *''

SSX 3 ''SSX 3'' is a snowboarding video game developed by EA Vancouver and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports BIG label. The game was originally released on October 20, 2003, for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. It was later port ...

'' *''

SSX On Tour ''SSX on Tour'' is a snowboarding and skiing game, the fourth title in the ''SSX'' series of video games for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and PlayStation Portable. It was released in North America on October 11, 2005 and in the PAL region on ...

'' *''

SSX Blur ''SSX Blur'' is a snowboarding and skiing video game, published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports BIG label and developed by EA Montreal for the Wii. It is the fifth installment in the ''SSX'' series. The game was released in the United Sta ...

EA Graphics Library

EA Graphics Library or EAGL is a

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term " software engine" used in the software i ...

which was created and developed by EA Canada. It is the main engine used in some of EA's games, notably the '' Need for Speed'' series, and was also used in a few sports titles from

. '' Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2'' and '' Need for Speed: Underground'' used the first version of the EAGL engine, (EAGL 1) '' Need for Speed: Underground 2'' uses EAGL 2, '' Need for Speed: Most Wanted'' and '' Need for Speed: Carbon'' uses EAGL 3, '' Need for Speed: ProStreet'' and '' Need for Speed Undercover'' uses EAGL 4; Need for Speed Undercover uses a modified version of EAGL 4 and combines it with the Heroic Driving Engine. '' Need for Speed: World'' uses a modified EAGL 3 engine with the physics of the earlier games with an external

GUI The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inst ...

programmed in

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia software platform used for production of animations, rich web applications, desktop applications, mobile apps, mobile games, and embedded web browser video players. Fla ...

. During the development for '' Need for Speed: The Run'', EA Black Box dropped its custom engine and adopted

Frostbite Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when exposed to extreme low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occurs in the h ...

2 engine.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1983 establishments in British Columbia Electronic Arts Video game companies of Canada Companies based in Burnaby Video game development companies Canadian companies established in 1983 Video game companies established in 1983 Canadian subsidiaries of foreign companies