Electronic Arts

From Tolkien Gateway
Revision as of 12:52, 24 July 2008 by Ederchil (talk | contribs) (add pic)
Electronic Arts.jpg

Electronic Arts or EA for short is an American video games developing, publishing and distributing company, founded in 1982. Among its successes are The Sims, James Bond and various sports games, published by daughter company EA Sports.

Electronic Arts had it first fantasy game with The Bard's Tale in 1985, and purchased the interactive entertainment rights of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings in 2001. That was after the video game The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by Vivendi came out, leading several people to believe that was an Electronic Arts game too. EA had to compress both the first and the second film into one game, which became The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in 2002. A year later, a game based on the third film was also made, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. When all movie-based games were published, an "alternative fellowship"- game, The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, was made. Because it did not have rights to the book, it had to fill in the gameplay with movie-like aspects.

In 2005, a license to the books could be purchased from Saul Zaentz, which led the way to The Battle for Middle-earth, The Battle for Middle-earth II and an expansion, The Rise of the Witch-king. The popularity of these games made Electronic Arts to extend their license until 2008[1]. One more title was planned; at first, this would have been EA's The White Council, but that has been cancelled. The Lord of the Rings: Conquest is expected to be published in the fall of 2008.

See also

External links