With Electronic Arts consolidating its west coast operations in the Los Angeles area, its new 250,000 square-foot Playa Vista campus will rival those of the major visual effects houses. EA will begin moving staff from the current studio in Bel Air into its new space by the end of this year, hoping to complete the move by early 2004. In Los Angeles, EA employs 300 artists, engineers, testers and support staff, but recruiting is seeking to double the staff by 2005 and eventually fill the new facilitys capacity for 1,000 employees. Playa Vista - Water's Edge is a joint venture company that is developing the site. Award-winning architect HLW has created the stylish design for the new EALA campus.
"The Water's Edge campus fulfills our strategy of creating an environment that fosters innovation and great game development," said John Batter, vp/gm of EALA. "EA's business is growing quickly and Los Angeles is a rich environment for talented people in the visual effects, animation, sound design and engineering fields. Our goal is to make this new studio the best place to work in the entertainment industry."
Los Angeles mayor James K. Hahn said, "EA's decision to locate its studio in Los Angeles reflects our place on the cutting edge of technology and entertainment. The hundreds of high quality jobs that will come to our city as a result of this will continue to fuel the entrepreneurial spirit that is driving our local economy."
"EA's decision to bring its creative campus to Playa Vista is a milestone in our development's history," said Playa Vista president Steve Soboroff. "With EA building the first new studio in Los Angeles since the 1930s, and locating it within Playa Vista, the vision of creating a dynamic place where people can live, work and play is quickly becoming a reality."
Electronic Arts, headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, EA posted revenues of $2.5 billion for fiscal 2003 and employs 4,000 people in eight studios. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers and the Internet. For more information visit www.ea.com.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
