EA Orlando Creates Madden NFL, NBA Live, and PGA Tour In The Heart of Creative Village
10 Tech Leaders: EA Orlando.
Some of the world’s most popular video games, such as Madden NFL and PGA Tour, were created by EA. Courtesy of EA Orlando.
If you are a gamer—and who isn’t these days?—chances are good you have played Madden NFL, NBA Live or the PGA Tour.
Those electronic inventions and more are creations of EA Orlando, the video game developer located in the heart of downtown Orlando in the Creative Village space once occupied by the Orlando Arena. That’s the original home of the Orlando Magic professional basketball team.
Once ensconced in Maitland, EA moved to Creative Village in March 2022 to take advantage of the district’s stated purpose of cultivating synergy between digital media and educational institutions. UCF and Valencia College hold classes there, with student housing on site.
EA employs about 1,000 people with the mantra of being able to live, work, learn and play in downtown Orlando.
The EA office is easy to spot because it showcases a five-story mural that is 85 feet tall and 60 feet wide, with large windows in the center of it. Conceived by Orlando resident Don Rimx, the idea is that the mural allows the viewer to peer inside the building and see the EA employees at work.
The exterior of EA Orlando. Photo by Roberto Gonzalez
EA has called Central Florida home since 1998, when EA acquired Tiburon Entertainment after a four-year collaboration on EA SPORTS Madden NFL. The EA workplace features shark-themed wall art, birthday balloons and other pieces in honor of the Tiburon history. Tiburon means “shark” in Spanish.
Tiburon was founded in 1994 by three former Silicon Valley software engineers who moved to Central Florida and began developing games. Once Tiburon was acquired by EA, the company took off, specializing in sports. Creating virtual worlds that cannily simulate the real thing, EA also provides support services to gamers worldwide.
Some of the world’s most popular video games, such as Madden NFL and PGA Tour, were created by EA. Courtesy of EA Orlando.
Hewing to a “cradle to career” mantra, EA promotes a free “Get in the Game” STEM camp for students and mentors alike. Started in 2018, the notion is to engage 11th- and 12th-grade young women and non-binary students interested in math, sciences, tech and video game fields.
The week-long classes are run by technology experts who work with students on coding and game development.
Starting in January 2021, EA also joined an Orlando business community effort to regionally promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace.
