Music: {allcanada} EA SPORTS and NHL.com LAUNCH NHL 13 COVER VOTE

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – March 29, 2012 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) announced that starting today, fans around the world have the opportunity to shape the face of the EA SPORTS™ NHL® franchise, by participating in the first ever EA SPORTS NHL^® Cover Vote Campaign – sponsored by BlackBerry^® and hosted on NHL.com. The voting process will consist of two preliminary rounds, followed by a 16-player bracket as a field of 60 NHL players is narrowed down to one. The winning player will be unveiled as the EA SPORTS NHL® 13 Cover Athlete at the 2012 NHL Awards™ on June 20 at the Wynn Las Vegas in Las Vegas.

The first round of competition pits teammate against teammate and starts today and runs until April 11, the first day of the 2012 Stanley Cup® Playoffs. Fans can vote for their favorite player to represent their team in the next round.

NHL 13 Cover Athlete Voting Schedule:

March 29 – April 11: Round of 60: one representative from each team plus two wild card selections advance*

April 12 – April 22: 32-Player Leaderboard: fans vote for their favorite 16 candidates; top 16 vote-getters advance

April 24 – June 4: Round of 16: single-elimination playoff bracket decides NHL 13 cover athlete

Fans worldwide are able to vote an unlimited number of times and are encouraged to vote as often as possible at NHL.com/CoverVote to ensure their favorite player advances through the rounds. Fans can also show their support by tweeting their picks using #NHL13Cover on Twitter. Visit the EA SPORTS NHL Facebook page for insider updates and additional content.

"The EA SPORTS NHL Franchise has had a rich tradition of outstanding cover athletes including Conn Smythe Trophy and Stanley Cup Winners, NHL All-Stars and Hall of Fame Members," said David Le, Marketing Director, EA SPORTS. "With fans selecting the cover athlete for NHL 13 they now control who gets to join that prestigious club."

"Being the EA SPORTS NHL cover athlete is an honor that is coveted by many NHL players," said Adam Larry, NHLPA Director of Licensing. "With the EA SPORTS NHL 13 cover athlete being selected by the fans, the honor is now even greater. This vote campaign will be exciting for both the players and the fans, as they will be engaging online, and through social media, while the bracket narrows towards the fans' selection for the cover of NHL 13."

The star-studded list of candidates participating in the campaign features NHL scoring leader Evgeni Malkin, 2011 Hart Trophy winner Corey Perry, NHL All-Stars and some of the most popular players in the NHL. The complete list of matchups can be found below:

Eastern Conference
Bruins	Tuukka Rask vs. Tyler Seguin	Lightning	Steven Stamkos vs. Victor Hedman
Canadiens	P.K. Subban vs. Tomas Plekanec	Maple Leafs	Phil Kessel vs. Tyler Bozak
Capitals	John Carlson vs. Brooks Laich	Panthers	Stephen Weiss vs. Tomas Fleischmann
Devils	Ilya Kovalchuk vs. Adam Larsson	Penguins	Evgeni Malkin vs. Marc-Andre Fleury
Flyers	Claude Giroux vs. Scott Hartnell	Rangers	Henrik Lundqvist vs. Brad Richards
Hurricanes	Eric Staal vs. Jeff Skinner	Sabres	Derek Roy vs. Thomas Vanek
Islanders	John Tavares vs. Michael Grabner	Senators	Erik Karlsson vs. Jason Spezza
Jets	Evander Kane vs. Andrew Ladd

Western Conference
Avalanche	Matt Duchene vs. Gabriel Landeskog	Kings	Anze Kopitar vs. Drew Doughty
Blackhawks	Patrick Sharp vs. Duncan Keith	Oilers	Jordan Eberle vs. Taylor Hall
Blue Jackets	R.J. Umberger vs. Ryan Johansen	Predators	David Legwand vs. Pekka Rinne
Blues	T.J. Oshie vs. David Perron	Red Wings	Pavel Datsyuk vs. Jimmy Howard
Canucks	Henrik Sedin vs. Alex Burrows	Sharks	Logan Couture vs. Brent Burns
Coyotes	Shane Doan vs. Keith Yandle	Stars	Loui Eriksson vs. Jamie Benn
Ducks	Corey Perry vs. Jonas Hiller	Wild	Mikko Koivu vs. Niklas Backstrom
Flames	Mikael Backlund vs. Matt Stajan

"The announcement of the cover athlete has become an event unto itself, and every year we look to grow the platform and innovate around the launch," said Keith Wachtel, Senior Vice President Integrated Sales, NHL. "The creation of the NHL 13 Cover Vote campaign, presented by BlackBerry, does just that by building an exciting new platform for players to connect with fans while bringing together two of our valued partners."

Assets:

To download assets, please visit the EA press site at http://info.ea.com.

NHL 13 is in development at EA Canada in Vancouver and has not yet been rated by the ESRB or PEGI; visit www.esrb.org and www.pegi.info for more information. Become a fan of EA SPORTS NHL on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/easportsnhl and follow us on Twitter via http://www.twitter.com/easportsnhl.

For more information about EA SPORTS, including news, video, blogs, forums and game communities, please visit www.easports.com to connect, share and compete.

EA SPORTS is one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the world, with top-selling videogame franchises, award-winning interactive technology, fan programs and cross-platform digital experiences. EA SPORTS creates connected experiences that ignite the emotion of sports through industry-leading sports videogames, including Madden NFL football, FIFA Soccer, NHL® hockey, NBA LIVE basketball, NCAA® Football, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® golf, SSX, and Fight Night boxing. For more information about EA SPORTS, including news, video, blogs, forums and game apps, please visit www.easports.com.

*Wild card selections will be made by EA.