Electronic Arts (EA) is a highly successful creator of video games for consoles and PCs. The company also creates content for online gaming. EA occupies a unique place in the information processing industry. The company must have the skills of a Hollywood studio to create compelling content, while at the same time negotiate the technological change and uncertainty associated with the platforms (e.g., consoles, PC, Internet) used to operate and distribute the games.

In August 2002, Microsoft approached the one-year anniversary of its video game console, the Xbox. The first wave of console systems were available in the United States, Japan, Europe, and Australia, and the second wave of rollouts was targeted for Asian markets: Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Dan Adelman, business development manager for the Xbox, and Brenda Ng, Xbox's consumer strategy and research manager, considered the marketing data for the Korea launch. They needed to analyze the findings of the first report and to identify issues to resolve in a second, follow-up marketing study. Over the course of the next few months, Adelman and Ng would direct the Xbox team in identifying console purchase drivers and deciding what segments of gamers to target and the message to send to the target segments.