Overview
William "Trip" Hawkins is best known as the founder of Electronic Arts. Originally a Director of Strategy and Marketing at Apple Computer, Trip left the company in 1982 to found EA. Although remaining a board member of EA, in 1991 Hawkins formed 3DO which was partnered with many companies, including EA.
The 3DO computer entertainment system was released in 1993 and was the most powerful video game console at the time, costing $700 USD. The 3DO struggled to find a market, and in 1994 the PlayStation was released at a much cheaper price. Struggling against the PlayStation's competition, the system managed to survive until 1996. 3DO moved on to making games for the PlayStation, PC, and other systems until May of 2003 when it went bankrupt. Later that year, Hawkins created a new company, Digital Chocolate, with a focus on handheld game development. In 2005, Hawkins was the 8th person to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' Hall of Fame.
Hawkins stepped down from the Chief Executive position at Digital Chocolate and into a consultant role in May of 2012. That same month, it was announced that the company planned to lay off 180 employees. Also in 2012, Hawkins joined the board of directors of Extreme Reality, an Israeli company developing motion-control software.
Trivia
- While attending Harvard University (AB 1976), Hawkins designed his own major in Strategy and Applied Game Theory
- Before founding EA, Hawkins went to Los Angeles to study at the feet of record mogul Jerry Moss
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