Skip to main content

Electronic Arts named one of the best places to work by LGBT advocacy group

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Electronic Arts isn’t what you would call a creative powerhouse. The publisher’s got a stable of studios like BioWare and Criterion that are incredibly talented, but those creators are increasingly tasked with making games that are so broad in their appeal as to not have much personality left.  So games like Mass Effect 3 and Need For Speed: Most Wanted are the video game equivalent of white bread? They’re still good for making a proverbial entertainment sandwich. Originality and risk taking are not Electronic Arts’ forte. At the very least, the company is a bastion of equality for LGBT game makers.

The Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group working on behalf of LGBT community, gave Electronic Arts a 100 percent rating for LGBT equality this week, naming it one of the best places to work in the US in its Corporate Equality Index in 2012. EA received the same award from the HRC in 2010 and 2008.

EA was naturally proud of its policies. “I am very pleased that EA has scored a 100 percent rating and been recognized by the Human Rights Campaign in a year where the company has taken significant steps to remain inclusive,” said EA’s CTO Gabrielle Toledano, “EA has made changes to our medical benefits, been involved in LGBT events in our community and taken a public stance against the Defense of Marriage Act. EA champions diversity with a work environment where everyone feels welcome and can be themselves.”

EA did take a stand against the Defense of Marriage Act in July.

What’s particularly impressive about this rating is how it demonstrates how far EA has come as an employer. In 2004, EA came under major fire after the wife of a developer chronicled the horrible working conditions at the company. Today EA has a modest reputation with games industry professionals, with a 3-out-of-5 star rating on company tracking service Glassdoor.

America’s a swiftly improving country for the LGBT community. While gay couples can’t legally get married in every state in the union, more and more states are letting same-sex couples tie the knot. Voters in Maine, Maryland, and Washington state chose to legalize same sex marriage in this month’s election, while the state of Minnesota saw an amendment to define marriage as union between man and woman only got voted down. It’s good to see companies like Electronic Arts doing their part in the effort.

Editors' Recommendations

Anthony John Agnello
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…
Electronic Arts CEO: We’re in no hurry to return to our offices
A man taking a picture of the EA logo.

Andrew Wilson used to be on the road almost every week. These days, he’s washing dishes, doing the laundry, and helping homeschool his children. But as CEO of Electronic Arts, he’s also overseeing the most massive and fast-paced overhaul of how the game publisher operates in the company’s history.

All of EA’s 9,700 employees are working from home right now -- and Wilson tells Digital Trends that the company is in no rush to get them back to the office.

Read more
Anthem is getting huge changes to save the game from irrelevancy
Anthem update version 1.1.0 patch notes Sunken Cell weapon loadout contract mission fort tarsis

To say BioWare's Anthem has been disappointing would be an insult to every other disappointing game we've played in 2019. Anthem was a colossal failure for the studio, with mediocre reviews that questioned whether the studio could ever achieve its former glory. But BioWare is willing to try: The studio reportedly plans drastic changes to the game in an effort to save it from becoming irrelevant.

According to Kotaku, several of Anthem's biggest elements are going to be completely overhauled, either in one large update or in a series of smaller updates. These include the structure of missions, as well as the world itself and the loot. The game has been criticized for the relatively arbitrary loot scoring system, with weapons not varying enough in power compared to those found earlier in the game.

Read more
Electronic Arts hints at possible return to Steam, 8 years after Origin launch
Cal Kestis with his hood on.

What appears to be an innocent tweet from Electronic Arts may be hinting that the publisher's PC games will soon return to Steam, eight years after the launch of its own Origin platform.

The tweet in question features a mug with an Electronic Arts logo, with no caption to explain its purpose.

Read more