2. Electronic Arts

Year formed: 1982

Headquarters: Redwood City, Calif.

Studios: Criterion (Guildford, U.K.); Digital Illusions CE (Stockholm) EA Black Box (Vancouver); EA Byrnest (Mout Sinai, NY); EA Canada (Burnaby, British Columbia); EA China (Shanghai); EA Los Angeles (Playa Vista, Calif.); EA Korea (Seoul, Korea); EA Mobile (Bucharest, Romania; Hyderabad, India); EA Mobile Korea (Seoul, Korea); EA Montreal; EA Mythic (Fairfax, Va.); EA Japan (Roppongi, Japan); EA Redwood Shores (Redwood City, Calif.); EA Singapore; Maxis (Emeryville, Calif.); EA Phenomic (Ingleheim, Ger.); EA Tiburon (Maitland, FL); EA Salt Lake (Bountiful, UT); BioWare Corp. (Edmonton, Alberta; Austin, Texas); Pandemic Studios (Los Angeles, Calif; Brisbane, Australia); EA North Carolina (Morrisville, NC)

No other publisher had a lineup this year that came close to EA's bursting-at-the-seams schedule: EA released a total of 123 titles in the period considered by our study-seven more than last year. But with revenue and average review scores that didn't reach Nintendo's lofty heights, EA remained in second place for the second year in a row.

Still, EA was no slouch, sales-wise. Powerful franchises like Madden, Rock Band, FIFA, and MySims -- each of which sold over a million copies -- gave EA the second-highest revenues this year.

EA acquired developers and made deals with outside studios year round, adding variety to an already diverse and well-reviewed lineup. The company's quarterly results showed revenue that grew all year long, and meanwhile losses incurred by accounting changes decreased.

EA did well above average on our surveys. Many readers acknowledged EA's new direction and praised it for focusing on "original IPs and support for innovative concepts."

Several commenters on the detailed survey had complaints about their time with the company: some noted an overabundance of crunch time at the company.

EA/MTV/Harmonix Music Systems' Rock Band