Trip Hawkins
Electronic Arts founder
Trip Hawkins founded Electronic Arts, pioneered treating game developers as artists, then gambled everything on 3DO and lost.
Overview
Trip Hawkins left Apple to found Electronic Arts with a radical idea: game developers should be credited, marketed, and compensated like musicians or filmmakers. EA's early years delivered on this promise, creating an artist-friendly label. Then success brought corporate growth, and Hawkins left to chase hardware dreams with 3DO.
Fast facts
- Born: December 1953 in California.
- Education: Harvard, Stanford MBA.
- Apple years: Employee #68, worked on Apple II marketing.
- Founded EA: 1982, with $200,000 in seed money.
- EA philosophy: "We see farther" — developers as artists.
- 3DO: Founded 1991, launched console 1993, failed by 1996.
Building Electronic Arts
Hawkins applied Apple's marketing savvy to games:
- Album-style packaging: Developer photos on boxes, like rock bands.
- Developer credits: Names prominently featured.
- Better royalties: Developers earned more than at competitors.
- Artist roster: Signed talent like Bill Budge, Dan Bunten, Michael Crichton.
The approach attracted top talent. Early EA published genuinely innovative games.
The corporate shift
As EA grew, priorities shifted:
- Sports licenses became the profit engine.
- Acquisitions absorbed studios (Origin, Bullfrog, Westwood).
- Developer-as-artist philosophy faded.
- Hawkins grew restless.
3DO gamble
Hawkins bet his reputation on 3DO:
- Expensive console ($699) in a competitive market.
- Licensed hardware model—multiple manufacturers.
- Strong initial buzz, poor sales.
- Company pivoted to software, eventually dissolved.
The failure cost Hawkins his reputation as a visionary.
Legacy
Hawkins proved games could be marketed with sophistication. EA's early artist-centric model influenced how developers were perceived. That the company later abandoned this philosophy doesn't diminish what Hawkins built—or the lesson in how success can corrupt founding ideals.