In an effort to go green -- more likely to save some green -- Electronic Arts has announced that it is phasing out all in-box, printed manuals from retail copies of all its video games in favor of in-game digital manuals.

According to EA, this "will reduce its printed materials in packaged products by 40%". There was no estimate as to how much money the company will save. Fight Night Champion and Mass Effect 2 for PS3 were the first two titles to participate in this initiative.

The digital versions of game manuals will also be published online, and consumers can get access to them in multiple languages by heading over to http://support.ea.com/app/manuals.

 

 

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Electronic Arts Press Release

 

EA LAUNCHES GLOBAL GREEN PACKAGING INITIATIVE

 

EA Transitions to In-Game Digital Manuals and Reduces Overall Printed Materials By 40%

 

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. – March 22, 2011 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced a worldwide environmental initiative that will reduce its printed materials in packaged products by 40%. Leading the initiative is a move to eliminate printed game manuals and replace them with easily-accessible digital manuals. The green initiative is being applied to all titles on PC, the PlayStation^®3 (PS3) computer entertainment system and Xbox 360^® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.  The program launched earlier this year with the release of Fight Night Champion on the PS3 and Xbox 360 and Mass Effect™ 2 on PS3 and will continue with all EA titles shipping across the globe. 

 

EA’s on-disc manuals will be easily accessible via the main and pause menus. This will allow players to conveniently view instructional information on the fly as they play. Customers can also find EA digital manuals in multiple languages online at: http://support.ea.com/app/manuals.

 

“EA is committed to a healthy and sustainable environment," said John Schappert, Chief Operating Officer at Electronic Arts.  “We are reducing packaging materials, eliminating printed manuals and increasing the availability of digital content at EA.com.”

                                                                                                       

In addition to this digital manual initiative, EA also embraces new environmentally-friendly, energy-efficient, and water-conserving technologies in the manufacturing and distribution of its products.  Recently in North America, EA executed a full implementation of Reduced Material DVD Style Cases (RMCs) for PS3, Wii™, Xbox 360, and PC-DVD retail products. RMCs require less material and energy to produce than a standard DVD case, are made from 100% polypropylene, and are easy to recycle. EA has also made great progress by eliminating bulky shipping materials and implementing recycled materials whenever possible. 

 

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About Electronic Arts 

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS^TM, EA^TM, EA Mobile ^TM and POGO^TM.  In fiscal 2010, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.7 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million units. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

 

EA, EA SPORTS, EA Mobile and POGO are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. Mass Effect is a trademark of EA International (Studio and Publishing) Ltd. “PlayStation” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Xbox and Xbox LIVE are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Wii is a trademark of Nintendo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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