Electronic Arts Takes on the Video-Game Market (Video Games & Computer Entertainment - August 1990)

Today Electronic Arts (EA) is a juggernaut video game publisher but it was strictly a computer game developer and publisher for eight years before releasing its own games for consoles. Before 1990, other companies had licensed and ported EA's computer games to consoles. This article from Video Games & Computer Entertainment magazine was written shortly before EA's first video game releases for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis. Of course, we now know how significant EA's decision to make console games was and it entered the market at a great time, as 16-bit consoles elevated the gaming industry and EA's sports titles would eventually take the company to another level. One oddity about EA's Genesis cartridges is that they are about three quarters of an inch taller than the standard size and its earliest releases used cardboard boxes instead of the nice clamshell cases. That is likely a result of EA not actually having a Sega license at the time as is mentioned in the interview with Trip Hawkins at the end of the article.