Ranking EA Studios

Everyone knows EA, in some form of love or hate or love/hate but EA is made up of over 20 smaller studios and not just one big company. Some have been acquired over the years like codemasters, BioWare and Respawn and others have been created in house but the one thing is that not everything is created equal.

Rules

So here’s the plan, we are going to try to find the Top 5 EA studios by taking a non biased look at each one but first we need to set out the parameters.

We are only going to be looking at studios with at least three games as the primary developer while under EA (non collections or remasters) and taking the average score. This will only include titles that have released since 2010 as games take around 3-4 years and we are looking at three games which is 12 years.

We are going to rolling in studios like EA Vancouver, EA Romania and EA Tiburon all into one group under the EA Sports Studio. Finally, we won’t be including mobile studios since most mobile games don’t get enough reviews and this will eliminate a lot.

Once, we have factored in all of these rules, combined the sports teams, taken away support studios and mobile studios, we are only left with 6 studios. This will give us a list of what studios are the best and most consistent at EA.

This isn’t my opinion or the studios that have the best sales because when it comes to importance for EA many of their mobile studios would be near the top including Pop Cap who constantly bring in large chunks of revenue that help offset some of their premium missteps.

I am pretty sure I know what studio will come out on top but i’m not sure how the rest of the top 5 will shake out.

EA Sports #5 (72.6)

This does include studios like EA Vancouver, EA Romainia and EA Tiburon but all falling under the EA Sports Studio. This looks at games like FIFA, NHL and Madden, which release annually and is the main reason for the lights staying on at EA combined with their mobile studios. Innovation happens slowly over the years but they are always consistently in the 70’s.

Bioware #4 (73.1)

BioWare has seen a mighty fall from grace over the years that has been well documented. Anthem was the last original entry by the studio that had lofty expectations but landed quite rough with an average review of 59 across platforms. The studios best entry in the last 12 years was Dragon Age: Inquisition that averaged an 87 and won many outlets game of the year award during a slow 2014. Mass Effect Legendary Edition, although not included in their score helped remind fans what the studio is capable of and many are hoping that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf will be a return to form for the studio.

CodeMasters #3 (78.3)

Acquired in 2021 for 1.2 billon, CodeMasters is a fairly large studio that focuses mostly on racing titles, which helped EA expand their portfolio past street racing with Need for Speed into other areas like Formula 1 and Rally. If anything CodeMasters is consistent with their last three entries, Grid Legends, Dirt 5 and F1 2022 all being right around the high 70’s/low 80’s score.

Criterion #2 (79.3)

Most well known for their beloved Burnout series, Criterion was sold to EA back in 2004, before being tasked with being the caretaker for the Need For Speed series. In 2010, Criterion rebooted Hot Pursuit with a solid review average of 87.6 and ended up selling slightly over 5 million, which is pretty great for the 16th entry in the series. After Most Wanted in 2012, Criterion was removed as the main studio behind the series in favor of Ghost Games. Criterion was then moved onto support for series like Battlefront and Battlefield. After 4 underperforming entires by Ghost Games, Criterion is back as the main studio for the upcoming 2022 Need For Speed.

Respawn Entertainment #1 (85)

There was no doubt in my mind that Respawn would be the best rated studio at EA .It’s still wild to think that Respawn was acquired in 2017 for only around 455 million. Apex Legends alone has made the company more than a billion dollars since its surprise release in 2019. Looking forward the future looks bright as ever for the studio with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor in early 2023, a first person Star Wars shooter, a Star Wars strategy game and a new single player game in the Apex Legends universe that has just been announced.

Its in the Game

EA has plenty other valuable studios like Full Circle who are bringing Skate back and Motive who are bringing back Dead Space, not to mention the indie publishing EA Originals program. However, these were just the studios that we considered based on their output schedule.

Data Used

4 -Bioware - Anthem 59.3, Andromeda 73, DA: Inquisition 87 = 73.1

3- codemasters grid legends 77, f1 22 81, Dirt 5 = 78.3

2 -criterion - need for speed hot pursuit 2010 87.6, NFS, MW 2012 83, burn out crash 2013 67.5 =79.3

6 dice - BF2042 64.3, BF V 77.3,Battlefront 2 67 = 69.5

1 - respawn -Apex 88, Jedi 80, Titanfall 2 87 =85

5 EA Sports - FIFA22 76.3, NHL22 72.5, Madden22 69 = 72.6