EA´s European Integration Studio is based in Madrid, Spain and is the company´s largest specialized studio for videogame internationalization and localization. When the studio opened it doubled the total number of workers devoted to developing entertainment software in Spain. According to a website devoted to attract foreign investments in Spain "EA’s workforce of more than 400 people from more than 15 countries are proof of its commitment to turning the center into Spain’s main incubator of videogame talent". [1]
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EIS structure
The studio is split up between four different departments;
- Production -- A team of game producers responsible for managing all of the studio´s projects.
- Engineering -- A team of engineers responsible for software pipelines, animation tools, audio engineering and development & support of internal tools. This department is split up in different specialized teams.
ESSC - European Shared Service Center:
- Localization testing -- Covers testing of all the localized versions of EA´s titles.
- European Compliance Group -- Focussed on game compliancy with first parties (Microsoft, Sony Computer Entertainment and Nintendo). It is split up in different specialized groups (gameplay, compliance, consumer quality control etc.).
The studio also hosts EA Spain´s sales and marketing department.
EIS development strategy
The European Integration Studio´s main task is to provide services to the other EA studio´s. A large part of the internal workforce is assigned to creating versions of EA games that are adapted to local market needs, which are created in collaboration with EA´s other studio´s in the rest of the world. The studio also develops a wide range of internal tools that are used and shared between other EA studio´s. Originally the studio was split up between two different buildings in Madrid, but in the first half of 2007 EA moved staff from both studio´s to one central location in the North-east of Madrid, creating a single studio that now has over 400 full-time employees.[2]
References
- [1] - "Electronic Arts opens its new European R&D Center for developing videogames in Madrid"
- [2] - "Electronic Arts moves to Madrid business park Cristalia" (in Spanish)
