Electronic Arts recently revealed to IndustryGamers that it's expanding its Salt Lake City studio and moving it into a larger office in downtown Salt Lake City. The team behind The Sims will now start development on a "groundbreaking" new project. The company is actively hiring now and looking to fill key leadership positions.
We spoke about the decision to expand in Salt Lake with Executive Producer Ben Bell. Our Q&A is below.
IndustryGamers: With EA announcing 1500 layoffs last year, I find it interesting that you're now actively expanding at Salt Lake. What's the driving force behind this?
Ben Bell: Like a lot of other companies last year, EA optimized its costs and reconfigured certain parts of the company. In some locations, that meant reducing staff.
Utah is a good place for us for a number of reasons, the first being that EA already has a successful operation in Salt Lake City called EA Salt Lake. This new project will tap into the strong team that is already on the ground in Salt Lake City, and we’ll be hiring for key leadership positions.
IG: What's so special about the Salt Lake City area? Why is EA giving this location special attention?
BB: Salt Lake City already has a strong game development community and the base of talent here is deep. Historically, the game development scene in Salt Lake goes back several decades, and now there are hundreds of people in the region working on games. There are also fantastic University programs to support its growth. Salt Lake City is also a growing cultural center: The city hosts international events like the Sundance Film Festival and people travel here from around the globe for vacations in the mountains and national parks. The region is home to a strong and growing pool of technology companies in the region that is well supported by the State and the local Universities.
I personally feel like Salt Lake City offers a quality of life that can’t be matched by any of the other game development centers in North America. That is really important when you are trying to assemble a team of world-class game developers. It’s a sophisticated city that is just minutes away from stunning wilderness and world-class recreation. It’s the kind of place where you can decide what sort of life you want to have: Do you want to live in the city, in a nice suburb or in the mountains?
IG: You mention a "groundbreaking" new project. We know you're not ready to get into specifics, but can you give us any hints? Is it Sims related or is it entirely new?
BB: Not yet, but we look forward to sharing more information in the future.
IG: Can you please clarify what you mean by this new project being from the Studio behind Sims? Isn’t Sims studio Maxis?
BB: The Sims Studio, a part of EA’s Play Label, is made up of developers that worked on SimCity, The Sims, The Sims 2, MySims and now The Sims 3, as well as talented developers from other parts of the industry. Many of those developers worked for Maxis years ago but as the scope of Maxis expanded to include Spore, EA decided to establish that project in a separate location out of Emeryville, CA. For the past five years, The Sims Studio has been working in Redwood Shores with a sharp focus on The Sims and MySims franchises and the Maxis studio focuses on the Spore franchise.
A small team of experienced developers from The Sims Studio in Redwood Shores are moving to Salt Lake City to kick off a new project. As I mentioned, EA’s Play Label has an established office in Salt Lake City. Developers from EA Salt Lake will join the production and we’ll hire for key positions as the project grows.
IG: EA Salt Lake has been focused primarily on the Wii and DS. Is it safe to assume this will continue and the new project is for a Nintendo platform?
BB: We are not yet ready to discuss specifics.
IG: What kinds of roles are you hiring for? Do you need experienced game industry professionals, or are you tapping new college grads as well?
BB: We need world-class talent for key roles, including Art Director, Technical Director and Creative Director. Some of the talent will come from EA’s Salt Lake Studio. We are also looking for new talent from University programs as the project gains momentum, so we will have a great blend of people from different backgrounds.
In our business, we don’t just make games. We make culture and art that move people. I personally feel like it’s important to have diversity on a game development team. We want to hear from the best and the brightest in our business. We are going to do something really special out here in Salt Lake City.
IG: With the economy still quite weak, why is EA Salt Lake expanding now? Why is now the right time to do this?
BB: The hits of the future are all in pre-production right now and we believe that this is a concept that is well positioned for the new landscape that is emerging in our business. One of the most important things you can do for a new creative team is to let it grow at a natural pace. Therefore, we’re only hiring for a few key positions right now.
IG: Why should people want to work for EA Salt Lake? What do you believe will attract potential employees?
BB: We are currently a small team of experienced developers setting off to develop an exciting new IP. It’s an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of something important, but at the same time we have established teams in Redwood Shores and Salt Lake City to back us up. I believe that by nature, people in our industry tend to seek out challenge and adventure. They want to be a part of something where their talents will be stretched and developed. That’s the kind of project that we’re building.
On top of it all, Salt Lake City is a wonderful place to live for all of the reasons that I’ve mentioned. I can look out of my office window and see the Rocky Mountains. Now that’s inspirational!
IG: Thanks Ben.
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February 26, 2010
Motion controller game