Then, the picture moves upward and towards the torch as the rays pull in, which shines even more as the picture blurs around it. Wilson stated the layoffs were necessary to "address our challenges and prepare for the opportunities ahead". [34] In 1999, EA replaced their long-running Shapes logo with one based on the EA Sports logo used at the time, and Larry Probst took over the reins. Trivia: The Roman soldier depicted in the logo is actually a depiction of the goddess Liberty (or the Roman goddess Libertas) as seen on the obverse of the 1916 US quarter, also known as the "Standing Liberty quarter". [83] In May 2016, Electronic Arts announced that they had formed a new internal division called Frostbite Labs. [citation needed] In 2011, Forbes ranked EA Sports eighth on their list of most valuable sports brands, with a value of $625 million. On some films, the logo appears completely silent. Since the mid-2000s, Electronic Arts has been in the center of numerous controversies involving acquisitions of companies and alleged anti-consumerist practices in their individual games (which can be further read on their own articles), as well as lawsuits alleging EA's anti-competition when signing sports-related contracts. There was no big bright light in this variation. The beginning of the logo started off with the 1936 logo of Columbia Pictures in black & white, leaving the 1993 cloud background intact. This logo was remade in CGI in 1992, and remade again in 2009. [28] A year later, Trip Hawkins stepped down as EA's CEO and was succeeded by Larry Probst[27]:186 to found the now-defunct 3DO Company, while remaining the former company's chair until July 1994. The animation for the Sunburst logo was provided by Robert Abel and Associates, who specialized in elaborate, motion-controlled animation and lighting effects, and also did work on commercials (early 1970s 7-Up ads among many others) and. January 26, 1955: The logo is adapted for CinemaScope. [68], In June 2011, EA launched Origin, an online service to sell downloadable games for personal computers directly to consumers. On May 4, 2011, EA reported $3.8 billion in revenues for the fiscal year ending March 2011, and on January 13, 2012, EA announced that it had exceeded $1 billion in digital revenue during the previous calendar year. Mel, from the 1st logo, walks over and sits at the circle. The drape over her shoulder became less-obviously an American flag, the stars on the left shoulder having been toned down in a shadow, and the stripes visible only on the portion of the drape hanging down her right side. It was seen on It Happened One Night. Sometimes, on TV airings, the closing logo may be kept with the Sony Pictures Television (formerly the Columbia TriStar Television Distribution logo) following afterwards or may be skipped ahead with the SPT/CTTD logo. After the lady, along with the cloud background, are fully zoomed out, on the top "COLUMBIA", seen in a bold, silver chiseled font, fades in afterwards as a ring of light shimmers around the lady, while the cloud background very slowly moves to the right. In the early days of Columbia Pictures' video division, however, this logo would be plastered by their home video logo. EA modified some of the costs of these elements in anticipation of the game's full November 2017 launch, but they were reportedly told by Disney to disable all microtransactions until they could come up with a fairer monetization scheme. Sony is much better at keeping older theatrical logos on current releases of their films than their TV output (which is another story). Last seen on The Lady with the Torch documentary on Encore Drama (whenever the network decides to rebroadcast it). A similar breakthrough was reached with signing on Harmonix for the distribution of the Rock Band games, requiring them to work closely with MTV Games on the plastic instrument controllers necessary for the titles.