EA SPORTS Vancouver Teams Bring Sports Experiences to Life

"If it's in the game, it's in the game." Most people hear EA SPORTS' iconic tagline as a description. If a player or a stadium exists in real life, EA puts it in the game. Glenn Chin heard it differently. And that reset the brand's ambition and cultural awareness. Glenn came to EEA's marketing team from QA in his late 20s. He'd played the games, loved them, lived around them. And he had a different read of the ethos. "It's 'game.' Game means more than just the two and a half hours you play. The game happens 24/7/365. The game happens in the off-season. At Summer League. During free agency. When the guys walk through the tunnel and their stylists are putting great gear on them. That's game." And then Glenn put into words the true ambition of the EA SPORTS marketing team: "We wanted to be a top-five sports brand. Not a top-five video game brand. Not the best sports video game brand. We are that. We wanna go beyond that." The tagline set the tone and was a rallying cry and it gave permission to dream even bigger. The "game" was the whole culture around sports. The tunnel. The soundtrack. The street ball court. The campus. And EA's jobe was to live there too. Not just simulate it. Absorb it. Embrace it and ultimately influence it. The road went from Sega Genesis cartridges that bands played to CD-ROMs that could have A Tribe Called Quest songs in the game. It set the tone for EAU, a college representation team, whose team onboarding was running around San Francisco with shoulder-rig VHS cameras and getting cops to shout the tagline on tape. The tagline did internal work, not just external. It wasn't telling consumers what EA made. It was telling the team what EA SPORTS was for. The taglines that age well do this. They make an emotional connection and point to something that's bigger than just a product. 🎧 Episode 34 of Yo Munir! with Glenn Chin wherever you get your podcasts. #BrandStrategy #marketing #BrandBuilding #EASPORTS #gaming

Appreciate Yo Munir! for the conversation and for revisiting some very early chapters from EA SPORTS to Nike to various startups. The throughline has always been the same: the best brands don’t just build product, they understand the culture around them well enough to shape how they show up to bring people together. The evolution & meaning behind “If it’s in the game, it’s in the game.” was natural to me. Not just features, context and relevance well beyond the IRL competition & virtual sports simulations. Insights x Strategy x Execution. It matters even more now. With everyone having access to the same tools, the edge comes from positioning, instinct, and connecting product to culture in a real way. Being additive, not just taking from it. That’s the lens I continue to lean into today. If you’re building and thinking through any of this, always open to compare notes. Grateful for the history, but more excited about the present & what’s to come. Chin Nod (Respect) to the world class teammates I’ve had along the way.

Electronic Arts is teaming up with Visa on a multi-year partnership across EA SPORTS, expanding how players engage across our franchises. EA SPORTS FC players will be able to participate in limited-time challenges and live moments that grant in-game rewards as they play and compete. In EA SPORTS College Football, players can unlock in-game name, image, likeness (NIL) sponsorship opportunities within the game’s career mode, Road to Glory, reflecting how real college athletes partner with brands. Behind every feature, challenge, and live moment is a global team making it happen. Our teams work across studios, disciplines, and partners to build experiences that reach players at massive scale and connect sport and culture in meaningful ways. This is where creativity meets technology. Where ideas are tested, refined, and brought to life for a global community of players. Learn more about this collaboration here: https://x.ea.com/89153

As London Games Festival kicks off, it’s a great moment to spotlight the strength of the city’s games and esports ecosystem🎮 With London being home to over 13,700 games professionals - the largest games workforce in Europe - the local strength is part of a much bigger picture. The UK games market reached £5.37bn in 2025, growing 7.4% year-on-year, as global demand for interactive entertainment continues to rise. As Abhishek Malpani, Founder & CEO of Funcell Games, puts it: “London has proven to be a catalyst for growth, collaboration and innovation.” It’s this combination of talent, connectivity and opportunity that continues to attract creative tech companies looking to scale and build internationally. If you’re at London Games Festival and would like to connect, please reach out to Louise Conolly-Smith, Head of Creative Technology at London & Partners. To learn more about London’s games ecosystem, visit 👉 https://bit.ly/4vjueRj

The one thing major broadcasters never tell you: a pro player's career lasts 5 years, but the person holding the switcher can have a career for 40. 🎙️🎥⏳ Everyone wants the spotlight. The reality? Pro players face extreme burnout and a short shelf life. But the industry runs on the technical architects who make the magic happen. At ESports Collegiate College League (ESCCL), we’re bridging the gap between gaming and real-world career longevity. Our media production and broadcasting pathways provide hands-on experience with live tournament tech and workflows: just like the pros. When you master the production desk, you aren't just playing for next season; you’re building a skill set that translates to any professional sports league, newsroom, or entertainment hub. 🏆 Looking for a career that lasts longer than a mouse-click? It’s time to look behind the curtain. Start your journey: 👉 https://lnkd.in/gAxGMhed 👉 https://esccl.com/ #EsportsCareers #SportsMedia #Broadcasting #Production #WorkforceReadiness #ESCCL #CollegiateEsports #FutureOfWork #CareerLongevity #BehindTheScenes

One of the most compelling growth stories in UK indoor play since the pandemic has been the emergence of dedicated role play centres as a serious and scalable format. What was once a small add-on within larger venues has evolved into a defined category in its own right. Compact, beautifully curated spaces, often positioned just off the high street, are now built entirely around immersive role play experiences supported by a strong café offer and structured session model. Maria Cantarella, CEO of Association of Indoor Play, outlines how role play is reshaping the UK indoor play sector. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e2yaWrhq

It’s been fascinating to see role play centres evolve from a small add-on within traditional venues into a strong standalone format in their own right. With compact footprints, session-based models and a well-integrated café offer, they’re opening up new opportunities on the high street and attracting a broader audience. This is a category that’s clearly coming of age in the UK indoor play sector — and one worth watching closely. Association of Indoor Play (AIP) PlayNationMag Play England Dr. Amanda Gummer

Excited to be heading to Sports Pro London 2026 next week! Looking forward to connecting with people across the industry and exploring how technology continues to shape the future of sports media and fan engagement. At Backlight, we’re working with a number of organisations in this space, including Premier League clubs. With the integration of Iconik and Wildmoka, we’re helping sports teams streamline content workflows - from ingest and organisation through to clipping, publishing, and distribution across platforms. It’s a powerful combination for teams looking to move faster and get more value from their content. 🚀 If you’re attending, let’s connect!

Resorts World has officially opened New York City’s first live table games floor, marking a significant milestone in the city’s evolving gaming landscape. The rollout points to a recalibration of floor mix, where operators are testing how different product segments contribute to dwell time, spend patterns, and overall asset performance. It also reflects a measured approach to expansion, using existing licenses and infrastructure to incrementally scale operations. Full article in the comments 👇

28 hours to Gamescom LATAM. Not my first time at the event, not my first time on its stage; and still, something about it feels anxious and thrilling in equal measure. I didn’t arrive in games through a childhood love or a lifelong obsession. My first proper entertainment game was a gift at 22 years old. For me, games were always opportunity: opportunity for personal growth, for belonging, for a space to sit with questions I hadn’t found elsewhere. And there’s something quietly consistent in how my work has moved: I tend to gravitate toward what I struggle with internally. Specially things about positioning struggles. How does this fit into my life? Into the world? Coming from a highly impoverished country with a limited industry made me ask what new forms of economic movement were even possible. Having late access to entertainment made me ask how play fits into the larger scheme of things; its place in the world and its movements. I’ve stood on stages saying that having fun is not a guaranteed right. It should be. But with the social inequalities we live in, billions of people still have no access to quality entertainment, and yet play remains something of extreme importance. Sometimes I wonder what I, someone deeply tied to social justice and intervention, am doing in this industry. And then I remember: exactly this. To make quality entertainment a right. To make a historically elitist industry more accessible. A lot has changed since last year’s Gamescom LATAM. I’m not the same person. And I hope I won’t be the same person at the next one. Lately I’ve had more questions than answers. In a moment where we reward whoever believes they have solutions, that can be challenging. And having so many questions often makes me go quiet. After all, what we sell is results, advice, learning, experience. All of it is answer. And while that sharing matters deeply, I’m in a different place right now. A place of questions. So this week I hope to find people with as many questions as I have, willing to sit inside them, let them unfold, and from there, build something together. If that’s you, I hope we find each other; on a stage, in a meeting, in a hallway, somewhere in between. gamescom latam The Powell Group ACJOGOS-RJ #gamesindustry #gamescomlatam #sustainability #socialimpact