Many media companies seem to pander to one gender or to one age group. However, EA is trying to have it’s audience to be more diverse. In an interview with Fortune, Chief operating officer Peter Moore said that they try to make it’s workforce as diverse as possible. Stating “it can’t all be white males”.
Furthermore, “We all need to step back sometimes and think about the environments we create for our people, the opportunities we create for people internally, and equally importantly how you bring new blood into the company,” Moore said. “It can’t all be white males. As a result, I think that hiring managers at EA over the last couple of years have had a sharper focus on diversity. I know that my teams around the world have.”
Moore’s career in the industry began in early 1999, and he says he’s seen “incredible growth” in the number of female game developers since then. At EA specifically, The Sims development team is made up of about 40 percent women. The developer’s mobile team also has a “large female development presence.”
Women in high-profile positions at EA include Sara Jansson (Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst executive producer), Sigurlina Ingvarsdottir (senior producer for Star Wars Battlefront), Rachel Franklin (The Sims 4 executive producer), Samantha Ryan (EA mobile boss), Amy Hennig (Star Wars), and Jade Raymond (studio head of EA’s new Motive division).
“We’ve gone from the personification of what we believe women should look like in a video game, to actually involving women in making video games, to today where at Electronic Arts we have some of our most powerful franchises overseen by women who manage hundreds of men,” Moore said.