Electronic Arts

Great colleagues, among the best in their domains.

Working on very large-scale projects with experienced people.

Lots of learning opportunities in the area you are working on.

Good work environment (parties, facilities, etc.).

Generous vacation policies.

Sequel projects are mostly delivered on time, meaning that your portfolio will grow if you work on a title with a number in the name.

You get the material resources you need to get the job done, and it's usually high-grade hardware.

EA's name means access to more things from partners (Sony, Microsoft, Autodesk, Lucasfilm, NVidia, Volvo...). Everything from early presentations to software and hardware prototypes.

It is a great place to earn experience and learn about the AAA games industry with relatively light crunch.

Slow career progression.

Lots of politics at the higher levels, which can end up with lower-level people (and the entire studio) getting terminated.

Some absurd decision-making (driven by politics, short-term gain, and old friendships).

Lack of risks in the portfolio (always making the same projects); the company is driven by financial gain. Trying to make new IP can potentially mean 7 years without shipping a single title as your work gets rebooted and canceled.

On some roles, you will forever be bound to work on the project/title supported by the studio you are a part of.

Heavy reliance on behemoths for financial gain (FIFA, Battlefield) or jumping on big cash prizes (Stadia) are potential risks for the future if regulations are voted against loot boxes (they are called loot boxes internally, not surprise mechanics).

Difficult to transfer and learn different technical domains (people specialize heavily; transferring to something else is hard).

Frostbite engine lacks flexibility, documentation, planned design, and robust tools. It was originally designed for level-based FPS and was transformed into a multi-purpose tool. It never received the time, team, and resources required to fulfill this mission (that team has a very high employee turnover; combined with a lack of documentation and design, this gets very problematic).

A lot of talk about culture, but not much is done about it. Public anonymous feedback was stopped after questions about Andrew Wilson's salary, in view of EA's performance, started happening. They use gender topics to improve their image and divert from internal issues.

There is a lot of Game of Thrones happening there. And they won't hesitate to sacrifice employees to win it.

Start applying the lessons in "Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration" instead of getting your copy signed.