Electronic arts game design program at USC CNTV
Authors: Lee Newton 
Published: August 2005

ELECTRONIC ARTS ANNOUNCES MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR GIFT TO USC
SCHOOL OF CINEMA-TELEVISION'S INTERACTIVE MEDIA DIVISION
Funds Will Expand School's Global Leadership in Computer Game
Research and Education
Press release below
ELECTRONIC ARTS ANNOUNCES MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR GIFT TO USC
SCHOOL OF CINEMA-TELEVISION'S INTERACTIVE MEDIA DIVISION
Funds Will Expand School's Global Leadership in Computer Game
Research and Education
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., March 22, 2004, 2004 - Electronic Arts
(EA) (Nasdaq: ERTS) announced today that it has made a
multi-million dollar donation to the USC School of
Cinema-Television (USC-CNTV) to advance interactive media education
and create a launch pad for the next generation of interactive
entertainment. The contribution, part of EA's global educational
and talent development effort, will fund two new facets of
USC-CNTV's Division of Interactive Media: the Electronic Arts
Interactive Entertainment Program and the Electronic Arts Endowed
Faculty Chair. The EA Interactive Entertainment Program is a 3-year
Master of Fine Arts degree program. The program will help forward
USC-CNTV's goal to educate the next generation of high-level gaming
design and visionary thinkers in what will be one of the 21st
Century's primary entertainment media.
"The School's rich storytelling tradition and long-standing
commitment to technological experimentation make it an ideal
partner for EA," said Don Mattrick, President, Electronic Arts
Worldwide Studios. "This is an excellent opportunity for EA to
invest in the future of the industry by providing today's students
with the skills and knowledge they will need to push technology and
entertainment forward." Mattrick, the newest appointee to the
School's Board of Councilors, will be part of a high-profile team -
the ranks of which include entertainment giants Jeffrey Katzenberg,
George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, John Wells, and Robert Zemeckis -
that will work to ensure that interactive media studies at USC
continues to move confidently in the direction of growth and
innovation.
"This gift clearly demonstrates EA's commitment to expanding the
frontiers of game design, and to developing a well rounded, highly
skilled, and forward-thinking talent base overall," said Elizabeth
M. Daley, Dean, USC School of Cinema-Television. "The School's
position as an international academic leader is further solidified
by its relationship with the world's number-one interactive
entertainment developer - a partnership that will set new standards
of excellence in a field that is truly changing global
culture."
The EA gift will fuel the growth of the School's Interactive
Media Division's gaming component, and enable the Division, headed
by Scott Fisher, to define and expand this nascent, multi-faceted
field. With the aid of these funds, the School will grow its
efforts to graduate students who are visionary thinkers, but who
also have a deep understanding of the crafts and skills required to
produce quality content for a diverse media array. Specifically,
the Electronic Arts Interactive Entertainment Program will spawn
the creation of a curriculum and research lab to explore the
boundaries of interactive entertainment and to study the emerging
discipline of game development. The gift will enable the creation
of an intra-USC gaming community that will bring together creative
and technical expertise in cinema-television, the arts, and
technical sciences, and will provide students with invaluable
real-world experience through internships and work-study programs
at EA, including its newest Los Angeles campus.
The Electronic Arts Chair will enable the Division to meet the
intensifying demand for talented game developers who are solidly
grounded in story and content. The endowed funds to support faculty
specializing in game development elevates the field into the ranks
of other professions, such as law and engineering, worthy of
scholarly study and specialized training.
"It's astonishing how quickly games have become an essential
part of the entertainment arts, and there is no better place than
USC to nurture the creative and conceptual thinkers who will take
the medium to places we can only imagine," said USC alumnus George
Lucas, a longtime supporter of the School of Cinema-Television, the
founder of game-design studio LucasArts and the filmmaker behind
the Star Wars series. "USC is a major force in cinema education,
and thanks to Electronic Arts, it can become a leader in
interactive arts education as well."
"To create the next generation of entertainment, we need the
next generation of talent," said Rusty Rueff, Executive Vice
President of Human Resources, Electronic Arts. "Melding
storytelling, art, music, game design, and technology has become so
complex that it is imperative for tomorrow's designers and
producers to acquire an education with both depth and breadth in
order to achieve success in our ever-growing industry."
"Our new development studio in Playa Del Rey and this investment
reflect EA's long term commitment to Los Angeles and Southern
California," said John Batter, Vice President and General Manager,
Electronic Arts Los Angeles. "We are proud to be expanding our
presence within the region by fostering creativity through
education and by stimulating current and future growth within the
entertainment industry."