Video game maker EA downsizes LA office footprint

New lease in Del Rey comes as more companies shift to smaller space

Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson and 4820 Alla Road (Getty, Del Rey Campus)
Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson and 4820 Alla Road (Getty, Del Rey Campus)

Even companies thriving during the pandemic are cutting office space.

That’s true in Los Angeles, where video game developer Electronic Arts has left its 100,000-square-foot space in Playa Vista to ink a long-term lease for 58,000 square feet in Del Rey.

The new building at 4820 Alla Road was completed in 2019 by Continental Development and Mar Ventures, both L.A.-based real estate investors.

Parties to the deal declined to say what EA is paying on the 10-year-lease. CBRE’s Jeff Pion, Drew Pion, and Michelle Esquivel-Hall represented the building’s owners. Tony Morales at JLL worked on behalf of EA.

The building is listed on LoopNet as valued at $57 million, or $995 per square foot.

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Redwood City-headquartered EA had twice previously renewed 10-year leases at the Playa Vista building, owned by Rockwood Capital.

But sources close to EA say that the maker of “Madden NFL” and “Battlefield” series and other lucrative video games decided it could maintain its current staffing at the smaller office. The new building was billed in a release as “modified to respond to Covid-19 concerns, including the addition of Bluetooth touchless entry systems,” along with “multi-point thermal cameras at building lobbies to read temperatures of multiple people concurrently.”

In L.A., landlords are weathering an office market that saw a 61 percent year-over-year decline in third quarter leasing.

Meanwhile, EA’s market value, revenue and net income have all increased during the pandemic, in which video game sales overall have soared. The company’s third quarter income indicated it has $243 million in operating lease commitments for 2020, a number the report said would drop in the next year as multiple leases expire.