EA North American Test Center: Blessing or Curse?
Company: EA Sports Product: EA North American Test Center
Electronic Arts and the Louisiana State Government recently announced the creation of their first ever North American Test Center that will be located in Baton Rouge. This center's purpose is to provide a workforce to test and assess the products coming out of EA Sports. When I first saw this announcement, I was excited. This seemed like the exact thing that BR (my hometown, and the location of Game Vortex headquarters) has needed for years. But after closer examination, I'm not completely convinced it is a wholly good move on Louisiana's part. For years now, there has been a growing desire to bring the videogame industry to Louisiana, and more specifically, the Baton Rouge area. Between the local colleges, LSU, Southern University and Baton Rouge Community College (BRCC), the students in the area have been getting more and more exposure to this industry, but those people who actually find a way in typically have to move away. There are a few local companies though, and the people who work in those companies not only have a desire to build videogames, but a desire to stay in Baton Rouge as well, and those are the people that are truly enthusiastic about building up the industry in this city. So, at first glance, it would appear that EA's testing facility will help keep those people who want to work in videogames in Baton Rouge and Louisiana, at least on a short term basis.
The biggest problem that I see is that most of the workforce that is slated for this new facility is students, not the people who graduate from college and are looking to remain in videogames. The EA North American Test Center will bring in over 200 jobs; that's a good thing, but those 200+ people still won't be able to stay in Louisiana in order to continue the career, because the minute 20 full-time positions just won't cut it. Or worse yet, after experiencing the life of a Tester under EA's supervision (a company that has a bad reputation for working its employees long and hard), those same students might decide that the videogame industry is not the place for them. A secondary issue is: what does EA get out of this arrangement? The most obvious answer seems to be cheap labor to help them churn out their games. EA has, reportedly, come a long way from its "EA Spouse" days, but it is still a large company that probably sees the possibility of college students playing the same levels over and over again as the closest thing to slave labor as it can legally use. Quite frankly, I don't blame the company; this is a good opportunity, but EA's less than superb reputation isn't unfounded and could end up doing more harm than good.
On the other hand, EA's move might just help how strong of a desire Louisiana has to become "Silicon Swamp" and allow other technology companies (both videogame related and not) to take notice of the area. If EA's initial center helps to bring in studios from other large companies like THQ and Activision, then the fear of still losing workers to other states can be alleviated slightly. But bringing in outside companies is not the only solution to this problem. More effort needs to be put towards growing and helping locally owned and operated videogame studios like Yatec Games (who have published two casual titles to date, Enchanted Gardens and I.Q. Identity Quest) and Nerjyzed Game Studios (the makers of Black College Football: The Experience). These are companies that, despite the lack of support or industry, have worked alongside the fledgling videogame development curriculum seen at The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL) and BRCC, to create a local workforce and show that there is a strong desire for interactive media to grow in Louisiana. While bringing in outside companies seems to be a quick way to bring the industry to the State, a desire needs to be shown to help cultivate the existing resources.
Granted, there are a few systems in place. The State government has offered a tax credit that is available for digital media companies, but this seems to be a small relief to these smaller companies who don't have a ton of initial capital. There have also been hints that the success of the EA North American Test Center could result in the creation of a "research park for digital media companies". What exactly this entails, I don't know, but it would be nice if this facility was a way to help smaller game-development studios secure office space in an affordable manner to help offset the initial startup costs. So, is EA's desire to open a new facility in Louisiana as good for the local area as everyone is hoping? Probably not. There definitely seems to be a few holes in the long-term strategy as far as dealing with the part-time employee's future, but maybe, and hopefully, this initial step is the start of a much greater movement to bring a richer videogame development population to Louisiana. I sincerely hope that this works out; my main fears involve EA's reputation and the possibility that, while this is a foot in the door of the videogame industry, a better foot might have been put forward than a place for EA to get cheap testers.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
Related Links: EA North American Test Center Initial Press Release as seen on WAFB.com Yatec Games on GameVortex Black College Football: The Experience from Nerjyzed
EA Comes to Baton Rouge, Louisiana! Rock the Vote 360