Meet a game changer at Electronic Arts

Teenagers value few connections more than those in the video game industry. So 17-year-old Robbie Sharp thought life had gotten significantly sweeter after hearing his 24-year-old brother, Adam, had become a quality-assurance tester for one of the most popular video game publishers in the world. When Robbie isn’t asking his brother for advice and game tips, he and Adam’s friends are angling for the goods on titles that aren’t even in stores yet—games kept top-secret as they are reviewed and analyzed at the Electronic Arts North American Test Center on LSU’s South Campus on GSRI Road. Robbie’s brother has worked on about 10 advance titles since EA established its one-of-a-kind testing center in Baton Rouge a year ago. That is more than any other local tester, but he won’t say a word about any of them. “You can’t,” Adam says. “You’re out the door if you do. I have to tell friends, ‘You know I can’t tell you.’ ” Find out more about the world of the game tester in this month’s 225 magazine by clicking here.