EA’s Green Initiative Does Away With Paper Instruction Manuals

Remember when you’d pick up the latest role-playing game from a local retailer and the box would weigh 24.6 pounds due to the 256-page instruction manual inside? Those and even the tiny modern-day instruction manuals are destined to become collector’s items, as EA has announced that they’re leading the charge for entirely in-game manuals as part of a new environmental initiative:

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 Effectâ„¢ 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, Wiiâ„¢, 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.
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 SPORTSTM, EATM, EA Mobile TM and POGOTM. 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.

Let’s be honest, here. While there are certainly environmental benefits, this decision is primarily about reducing manufacturing costs.