EA employee gets paid to watch football

While you waste years of your life at class or sitting in a cubicle, EA assistant designer Anthony White gets paid to watch football.

EA employee gets paid to watch football

Seriously, your life sucks in comparison

There are dream jobs, and then there are Dream Jobs. Anthony White has the latter.

Every week during football season, this EA assistant designer receives a little black box at his desk at EA's Tiburon Studios. Inside the box is a portable hard drive with videos of that week's NFL games.

White then fires up that little black box and proceeds to get paid for watching every single one so he can ensure EA's Madden NFL Football titles are as accurate and up-to-date as possible.

"Sometimes I have to pinch myself," White said, to which we say, "no kidding!"

But, lest we all incorrectly assume this kind of job just fell into White's lap, think again. Since 1991, White has basically lived and breathed the Madden franchise. Back then, the series was only two years old, and White was fresh out of high school awaiting deployment in the United States Air Force.

"I would sit there and play continuously, all through the night," said White, 35. "Mom and Dad thought I was nuts. . . . While most other guys my age were into hanging out, going to the mall, girlfriends and things like that, I'm at home drawing up plays on notepads and different things I want to try out in the game."

The insanity eventually paid off. After starting a Madden strategy site in 1999, White got noticed by EA. He was offered a job as an assistant producer at Tiburon in 2005.

Today, he's basically in charge of making sure the plays you run against friends in Madden are as accurate and fresh as possible. For Madden 09, that meant watching and adding 32 new formations, and about 1,200 new plays.

Just last week the NFL saw a number of new, unorthodox plays unveiled by teams like the Miami Dolphins. You can bet White saw every minute of Miami's quaterback-less offensive packages, and that they'll be in Madden 2010. It's what he does, after all.

Comments [19]

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bluer57

EA's Madden is always so realistic. The plays get run so smoothly. Though the games lack big new features the developers really know football like this assistant producer.

nerm2k

I was at the bar last weekend lamenting about the lack of this very job.

Toneman

Hey EA... you guys looking for a hockey watcher? I would also consider women's beach volleyball!

ChosenFew

"While most other guys my age were into hanging out, going to the mall, girlfriends and things like that, I'm at home drawing up plays on notepads and different things I want to try out in the game."

That's sad but at least he got a job out of it. I wonder how much he gets paid for doing what he does.

greensabre

That's a pretty cool job for him, it's good to know that kind of dedication can be rewarded. I'm a little surprised EA even pays for R&D on football anymore, I thought that they just updated the roster the night before the 'new' game ships and photoshopped a new player on the cover.

illusive_1

This man this awesome. Except for the whole missing out on life while drawing up plays.....lol

AANTHUNDER

I cool as it may seem , I think I would get bored of it after awhile. After all it is a job, unlike RedrumAk47 aka Tha1nonle dream job of judging the photo finish of Competative Masturbating. His benefit is cleaning up the floor after the competition.

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