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[ArkhamFantasy]

Jesus Christ EA are quite the butcher aint they. Does anyone have a list of how many studios EA has left ? I think this closure also signals some very clear messages that we will never see a game like Mass Effect ever again either.

EA really is one of the shittiest things to ever happen to the gaming industry, it is hard to understand why anyone supports these arseholes.

They're basically like JP Morgan, too big to fail.

The sheer value of their IP and gigantic marketing campaigns make them extremely hard to compete with. It takes Square Enix and Bethesda 5 years to make an RPG that can compete with EA's holiday line up.

 

[SomedayTheFire]

No it isn't an over reaction these Evil Arseholes have killed off so many great studios and fantastic IP's just because they were not profitable enough for their bottom line

That's embarrassing. How old are you?

 

[Damn Silly]

Who's next on the EA dead pool? Bioware? PopCap? Dice? Criterion?

Definitely Criterion

DICE is pretty much EA's golden goose, so they won't be gone any time soon.

 

[Nokagi]

If Anthem doesn't do well I feel BioWare is next in line.

 

[Crossing Eden]

So since this post is 95% complaints pointing the finger at an anthropomorphized version of EA, time to gain a bit more perspective:

 

[SomedayTheFire]

Who's next on the EA dead pool? Bioware? PopCap? Dice? Criterion?

Criterion died years ago, staff was moved to Ghost Games. They ramped back up last year, but it's basically a new studio. A few of the head guys left and created Three Fields Entertainment.

 

[spanks]

Brutal. Quite possibly EA's best studio right there.

Sounds like they want some of that open world pie. At least they're right that we don't really need more Uncharted clones.

Disney bet on the wrong fucking horse.

Yup. One Star Wars game every three years. Disney's losing a lot of potential income from this exclusivity deal with EA.

 

[border]

No it isn't an over reaction these Evil Arseholes have killed off so many great studios and fantastic IP's just because they were not profitable enough for their bottom line

How many more flops were they supposed to let Visceral make?

 

[shotgunbob04]

So what I'm hearing is that EA didn't see how they could fit lootcrates into the game's story in an explainable way, so now they're completely changing the game. I mean, lootcrates are possible in a single-player campaign--just look at Shadow of War. I guess it's probably the linear aspect that makes in-game purchases more difficult to sell.

I wonder if Amy Hennig will stay. If she does, she'll probably make a decent amount of money. I also wonder if EA really needs her anymore, since it seems like they're greatly reducing the role that her story writing plays in the game.

 

[Harmen]

Fuck!

Loved their titles, for me personally even BF:Hardline and Dead Space 3 had good campaigns. Also, Dead Space 2 is almost equal to Resident Evil 4, what a ride.

As someone who loves AAA storydriven titles, I think this is a big blow.

 

[SerAardvark]

If Anthem doesn't do well I feel BioWare is next in line.

They've got their next DA game coming too, but I could definitely see them in real trouble if Anthem is unsuccessful - probably budget/staff cutbacks I'd guess but who knows.

 

[Audioboxer]

They've got their next DA game coming too, but I could definitely see them in real trouble if Anthem is unsuccessful - probably budget/staff cutbacks I'd guess but who knows.

Nothing to fear quite yet but

https://www.polygon.com/2017/10/12/...e-director-writer-mike-laidlaw-leaves-bioware

 

[SavoyPrime]

Man...EA are grave diggers. Damn.

 

[Garlador]

That's embarrassing. How old are you?

Knowing people affected by EA's business decisions... no, screw them. They've constantly bought up great developers with lots of amazing talent, then tried to fit square pegs into round holes, not understanding one iota the reasons WHY these studios and teams were great to begin with, and instead trying to ram in as many popularized or focus-tested or money-making tricks into their games - REGARDLESS of whether they're a match for the type of game or studio - and it's resulted in disaster time and time and time again.

EA has literally ruined more than a few studios this way and hampered thousands of amazingly talented developers who had no choice but to follow EA executives' bad decisions and when those ideas failed, they were the ones to get punished for it.

No. I AM old enough to have seen EA's actions over the decades, and that's precisely why I'm not in the least bit surprised Visceral was shut down. Disappointed, angry, and saddened, yes, but not surprised.

Because this is a pattern those of us older gamers have seen for many, many years already.

How many more flops were they supposed to let Visceral make?

How many games did EA meddle with and twist around beyond the developer's initial concept or control?

I mean, even by this insane statement, Visceral's only "flop" was Dead Space 3... and it was still a multi-million selling game. Even Dante's Inferno sold pretty well, all things considered.

 

[zsynqx]

There goes our possible last hope of any AAA linear story centric games more.

I don't think even Naughty Dog does it fully again in the future. God of War ps4 may be the last one for a long time.

Doubt they would go the MP centric route, but could ultimately see them doing an open world game. (I really hope they don't though)

 

[Aroll]

So since this post is 95% complaints pointing the finger at an anthropomorphized version of EA, time to gain a bit more perspective:

Very important to have this kind of context. Everyone just points at EA and says "yup you screwed the pooch", but the real details behind when this move with the game had to be made, and why Visceral Games is being closed, is ultimately pretty complex and isn't as simple to explain away as "f EA" like many people are doing.

Most of us here know next to nothing about why this had to happen. We should all stop jumping to baseless conclusions. Just like I've seen people say they are closing the studio to make the game open world and loot box heavy - with quite literally no evidence that is happening or had anything to do with it.

This is a tough industry, especially at the AAA level. Games are expensive and sometimes, certain studios are just bleeding money without much progress and it hurts everyone involved. It also doesn't sound like this was a closing just to fire people. They have actively stated they are going to relocate and move most of the employees to other studios and positions inside EA. So the closing of the studio wasn't as simply as "needing to cut people". Whatever was happening with the game just wasn't working.

I thought they made that pretty clear when they had player testing mentioned and how it wasn't clicking.

 

[Rellik]

This seems like such a waste. A third person, story-based, linear adventure game is exactly what I wanted out of the Star Wars universe, and after her departure from Naughty Dog I was very curious to see where Amy Hennig was going to take it.

Then you're (and myself) are not part of what the current gaming market wants. We are washed up relics now. Time to find new hobbies.

 

[Kill3r7]

Knowing people affected by EA's business decisions... no, screw them. They've constantly bought up great developers with lots of amazing talent, then tried to fit square pegs into round holes, not understanding one iota the reasons WHY these studios and teams were great to begin with, and instead trying to ram in as many popularized or focus-tested or money-making tricks into their games - REGARDLESS of whether they're a match for the type of game or studio - and it's resulted in disaster time and time and time again.

EA has literally ruined more than a few studios this way and hampered thousands of amazingly talented developers who had no choice but to follow EA executives' bad decisions and when those ideas failed, they were the ones to get punished for it.

No. I AM old enough to have seen EA's actions over the decades, and that's precisely why I'm not in the least bit surprised Visceral was shut down. Disappointed, angry, and saddened, yes, but not surprised.

Because this is a pattern those of us older gamers have seen for many, many years already.


How many games did EA meddle with and twist around beyond the developer's initial concept or control?

I mean, even by this insane statement, Visceral's only "flop" was Dead Space 3... and it was still a multi-million selling game. Even Dante's Inferno sold pretty well, all things considered.

I guess you have not seen Nirolak’s thread about DS2.

 

[RSchmitz]

If Anthem doesn't do well I feel BioWare is next in line.

Eh, they aleady gaasified. Dead to me anyway.

 

[Garlador]

Most of us here know next to nothing about why this had to happen. We should all stop jumping to baseless conclusions. Just like I've seen people say they are closing the studio to make the game open world and loot box heavy - with quite literally no evidence that is happening or had anything to do with it.

While I'm not one to jump to conclusions without proof, when you have a company with a reputation like EA's - one they EARNED time and time again - for mismanaging studios and shoving in unwanted gimmicks and money-making schemes - not once, not twice, not even a dozen times, but just CONSTANTLY...

... well, when would it be fair to make assumptions? EA, as "nebulous" as they are, have demonstrably carved up great studios and reduced many franchises to skeletons of themselves, warped beyond recognition in service of quick money schemes and chasing popular trends.

I'm too tired to even mention them all. I think just looking at what they did to "Fuse" would be enough material for a whole decade of self-reflection.

 

[ron_bato]

Sad news, but cant say I'm surprised. That studio wasn't put in a position to succeed anymore.they really wasted the talent they had there by giving them projects like Hardline.

hope everyone lands on their feet. Thank you to Visceral for Dead Space, hands down my favorite IP of last gen.

Fuck you EA.

 

[Braag]

I'm starting to get sick of open world games. Was looking forward to this linear, story based star wars game but apparently they need to shift their focus to open world, multiplayer and loot boxes..

 

[Garlador]

I guess you have not seen Nirolak’s thread about DS2.

I have, and it's a difference of "sales expectations" versus "making a profit".

It's the same reason Square Enix can have absurd sales expectations like "we need Tomb Raider to sell over 4 million in ONE MONTH... What, it only sold 3.4 million? What a FLOP!"

Basically, many studios have no grasp of realistic expectations, especially for genre franchises. That's still on EA, not the studio. Same with the "marketing" part of the game. Spend $60 million on marketing like "Your Mom's Gonna Hate it"?

... Yeah, that's on EA.

 

[Memento]

So what happened with Amy?

Is she leaving?

She should go back to Sony. They are the only ones willing to fund the kind of games she loves to made.

It doesnt even need to be Naughty Dog. I bet she will be received with a lead position in any internal Sony studio.

 

[Hero]

It's always going to be way more complicated than "Fuck EA" but the thing is that they are the only of the big publishers to consistently do it. The other two entities, Activision and Ubisoft, do not have this sort of reputation.

Getting acquired by EA is seemingly the kiss of death in this industry.

 

[zsynqx]

I would like Amy to return to Crystal D.

 

[Tertullian]

Ugh, I can't believe Lucasfilm sold an exclusive Star Wars license to these short-sighted, greedy, scum-sucking bottom feeders.

 

[Omnii-chan]

For fucks sake that was a good team. Dead Space is dead forever now isn't it?

 

[m_dorian]

I thought they made that pretty clear when they had player testing mentioned and how it wasn't clicking.

Correct however their testing also told them MEA was a mid to high 80 game.

And ofcourse it is more complicated, everything is more complicated with EA. Like the offline mode in SimCity 2013.

 

[Bishop89]

FUCK OFF EA.

Visceral were one of their best studios, and so long any hope I ever had of Dead Space 4.

 

[BumblebeeCody]

But people still buy EA games...

 

[RSchmitz]

I wouldn't be surprised if Amy just retired or went to do something completely different.
She seemed to be very burned out at ND and the crunch.
Moving to EA at first seemed like she was relieved but it didn't work out either.

 

[GIANKRATOS]

Hope all the ex V employees will find a new job

 

[BuddyTheBestPuppy]

Dead Space 1 was AWESOME, I liked Dead Space 2 as well. Thank you for making those wonderful games!

But I guess they hadn't shipped anything worthwhile since DS2 :/

 

[old manatee]

People give EA a hard time, but just recently they made Dead Space and Mirror's Edge and they were both original IP.

 

[facetheslayer92]

Hope all the ex V will find a new job

Awesome

 

[BlackBuzzard]

So what happened with Amy?

Is she leaving?

She should go back to Sony. They are the only ones willing to fund the kind of games she loves to made.

It doesnt even need to be Naughty Dog. I bet she will be received with a lead position in any internal Sony studio.

The break between Sony/Naughty Dog and Amy didn't look clean.

 

[borges]

That's embarrassing. How old are you?

12 being gently.

 

[PSlayer]

Who's next on the EA dead pool? Bioware? PopCap? Dice? Criterion?

If i have to guess an order it would be:

Criterion -> PopCap -> Bioware -> Dice

Dice is the best studio they have profitability-wise so they will only go down when EA goes down.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

That much is true. Battlefront 1 sucked, Battlefront 2.... likely will suck. And now this game is not sounding like a recipe for success whatsoever.

But they're selling. Disney is still getting their Star Wars game. The deal is still being fulfilled.

 

[El_Cinefilo]

I dislike loot boxes as much as anyone but people who keep bringing this up as a reason they've closed a studio and are seemingly changing the whole direction of the game need to get a grip. I'm sure they'll be in but it won't remotely be a reason

 

[adj_noun]

Our Visceral studio has been developing an action-adventure title set in the Star Wars universe. In its current form, it was shaping up to be a story-based, linear adventure game.

Throughout the development process, we have been testing the game concept with players, listening to the feedback about what and how they want to play, and closely tracking fundamental shifts in the marketplace. It has become clear that to deliver an experience that players will want to come back to and enjoy for a long time to come, we needed to pivot the design.

D:

 

[TreasureHunterG]

All devs willing themselves to be bought by EA... this will be your inevitable fate sooner or later.

 

[legend166]

EA made a billion bucks last year.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

I dislike loot boxes as much as anyone but people who keep bringing this up as a reason they've closed a studio and are seemingly changing the whole direction of the game need to get a grip. I'm sure they'll be in but it won't remotely be a reason

Having a game designed in a way that makes it difficult to monetize absolutely played a huge factor in this decision. It may not have been THE reason, but it was at the very least, probably #2 on the list.

EA made it clear without room for interpretation that they are not interested in linear single player focused games. They want games with lots of replayability. Meaning open world/RPG/multiplayer. (preferably with microtransactions or lootboxes, but they left that part out).

 

[LiquidSolid]

Give it to Sony and just use ND's engine.

Once this deal with EA expires, Lucasarts should seriously just license Stars Wars out on a case by case basis, same as the way Marvel Entertainment licenses out their properties.

If EA cancelled Titanfall and Stig's star wars game it would be devastating to Respawn.

I'm sure it'd be devastating to them personally but the studio as a whole would be fine. Pretty much every other publisher in the industry, except for Activision, would jump at the chance to work with them.

Anyway, I'm a bit late but fuck EA. First for taking literally the only upcoming game of theirs I was interested in and inevitably turning it into something I have absolutely no interest in. Second (and most importantly) for killing a talented studio who we know can produce great games when they're given the chance. They haven't learned a fucking thing in the 20 odd years they've had a reputation of being a shitty company that kills off talented studios instead of figuring out how to properly make use of that talent. Fuck off, parasites.

 

[BakedTanooki]

That's sad Loved all three Dead Space games and Dantes Inferno. Cool studio.

 

[Bronetta]

Gaming is a business, not a charity. Some people just can't understand that. I hate seeing people losing their jobs, but they had three years to produce something and we got nothing. At some point a studio needs to take accountability.

EA had 4 years to produce something after acquiring the Star Wars license and all we have is half a game (Battlefront) to show for it.

At what point does the publisher take accountability for their incompetence?

 

[SargerusBR]

So since DS is basically dead now its safe to say that

Spoiler

the Necromorphs won

at the end of DS3 Awakening.

 

[FTF]

Wow, just saw this. That really sucks.