12 Mind-Blowing Facts About The Sega Mega Drive

4. EA Effectively Hacked The System

Today, Electronic Arts are a production house that pretty much exclusively focus on their annual draft of sports games, but that wasn't always the case. Sure, the company has had a hand in other genres over the years, but EA Sports is by far their biggest branch. EA also hold the distinction of being one company that a lot of gamers have a gripe with, feeling they distance themselves from actually tackling user issues head on. This isn't a new trend by any means, EA have always done things their own way, starting with the Mega Drive. Capitalising on a loophole in gaming law, EA started manufacturing their own brand of cartridges for use on the Mega Drive, cutting Sega out of the profits pretty much altogether. These units are best identified by the little yellow insert on the left hand side, which is ultimately pointless, but the huge sales of their sports games - along with other titles like Road Rash - enabled EA to cut a sizeable deal with Sega over the issue. Those cunning cats, up to their old tricks even then!