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EA Vancouver (formerly known as EA Burnaby, then EA Canada) is a Canadian video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. The development studio opened as Distinctive Software in January 1983, and is also Electronic Arts's largest and oldest studio. EA Vancouver employs approximately 1,300 people, and houses the world's largest video game test operation.[1] It is best known for developing a lot of EA Sports and EA Sports big titles, including EA Sports FC, NHL, SSX, NBA Street, NFL Street, EA Sports UFC, and FIFA Street titles. As well as a number of NBA Live and NCAA Basketball titles between 1994 and 2009.
 | |
| Company type | Division |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Predecessors |
|
| Founded | 1991; 33 years ago (1991) (as EA Canada) |
| Headquarters |
,
Canada
|
| Products | NHL series (1991–present) FIFA series (1993–2022) SSX series (2000–2012) NFS series (1994–2000, see EA Black Box) Skate series (2007–2010, see EA Black Box) |
Number of employees | 1,300 |
| Parent | Electronic Arts (1991–present) |
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 department. There are also facilities such as fitness rooms, two theatres, a cafeteria, coffee bars, a soccer field, and several arcades.
EA Vancouver is a major studio of the American gaming software giant Electronic Arts (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 brand. Since becoming EA Canada, EA Canada has developed many EA Games, EA Sports, and EA Sports BIG games.
EA Seattle, formerly Manley & Associates, was closed in 2002. Half the jobs were moved to EA Vancouver.[2]
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. After its acquisition, EA Black Box became the home of several franchises, such as Need for Speed and Skate. 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 of freemium games.[3]
EA Graphics LibraryorEAGL is a game engine 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 EA Sports.
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 programmed in Adobe Flash.
During the development for Need for Speed: The Run, EA Black Box dropped its custom engine and adopted Frostbite 2 engine.[4]