EA Ditches Printed Game Manuals Entirely

Commander Fury · March 22, 2011

In an effort to go green — more likely to save some green — Electronic Arts has announced that it is phasing out all in-box, printed manuals from retail copies of all its video games in favor of in-game digital manuals.

According to EA, this “will reduce its printed materials in packaged products by 40%”. There was no estimate as to how much money the company will save. Fight Night Champion and Mass Effect 2 for PS3 were the first two titles to participate in this initiative.

The digital versions of game manuals will also be published online, and consumers can get access to them in multiple languages by heading over to*http://urgentfury.com/blog/Q3W.

Press Release Below:

EA LAUNCHES GLOBAL GREEN PACKAGING INITIATIVE

EA Transitions to In-Game Digital Manuals and Reduces Overall Printed Materials By 40%

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. â€“*March 22, 2011 â€“ 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 PlayStationÂ®3 (PS3) computer entertainment system and Xbox 360Â® 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.

EAâ€™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://urgentfury.com/blog/Q3W.