According to Arcadia Kim, Chief Operating Officer for Electronic Arts Los Angeles, an entrepreneur is someone who sees an opportunity that other people cannot see, tries to understand the competitive landscape around this opportunity, assumes the inherent risk, and relentlessly and persistently ...
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Kim explains that the Two Towers development was done with a team of 40 at EA and the help of a third party developer in order to get it finished in time. The EA team injected their values, processes, management style and work ethic into the outside team, she says.
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Kim talks about how in November 2001, the value proposition for Lord of the Rings was mixed. There was no movie yet and movie producer Peter Jackson had a questionable record. There was a lot of uncertainty over the successful prospect of the movies. However, the core team took an ent...
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Kim describes her own path into game development at EA. She majored in film making as an undergraduate, started working in management consulting, and then decided to start a web-design company. Afterward she acquired an MBA and joined a startup company. Later on, she joined EA online in an entry...
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Earl and Kim respond to the question: How do you manage the business imperatives versus the creative imperatives when developing a game? The decision makers at EA are people who really understand the creative side and have generally worked on the production side as well, says Earl, and are there...
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Kim explains that EA’s strategy is based on nailing down the "X," or organic fun concept for that product. EA shares knowledge across studios and around development creating a collaborative environment. The development process is pretty standard: build prototypes, do market tests, star...
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Earl and Kim respond to the question: How has the competition from Grand Theft Auto influenced EA? Vice City is brilliant in its open world design, says Earl, you can go in any direction and interact with the environment. Grand Theft Auto was a little bit of a wake up call for EA suggesting that...
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he goal from the outset with Return of the King, says Kim, was to turn it into a perennial business. The "X" for Two Towers was "play the movie," but Return of the King was "live the movie." The development was brought in-house. Fan feedback was incorporated. The game was done in 16 l...
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Kim talks about lessons learned in game development. The first lesson is to focus. You can’t build a game unless you know what it is, she says. The second lesson is that with an enormous team, team culture is an issue. EA solved this by dividing the teams into smaller pods with their own leaders...
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Kim talks about how producers have the creative vision for a product, while directors make sure the resources are properly allocated and the game ships on time. These are basically flipped from the roles of movie directors and producers, she adds.
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Nick Earl, General Manager of Electronic Arts Redwood Shores Studio, talks about how the General Manager’s job is to run one of EA's six studios, which are the places where they actually build the product. The GM administers and manages the portfolio of products at the site. Each product is then...
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Kim’s first game experience was a hugely successful online parlor game that was launched on AOL. Majestic, her second game, tried to stretch the Internet experience into the next generation of games, but didn't do as well, she says. The core team from Majestic was out of work and lookin...
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