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[The Stig]

None of this surprises me.

ever since bullfrog.....

 

[Abilidebob]

OF COURSE there are people here on Neogaf defending EA's scummy practices. Why did I even think otherwise?

 

[Horsemama1956]

The way the guy never smiles or shows emotion makes him come off as a sociopath

People throw this word around way, way too often. He could be a psychopath though. A lot of people in these types of positions could be. Bunch of articles about it a few years ago.

 

[JaseC]

I'm sorry, but I have to assume SMS read these contracts. If EA cancelled it, I'm sure it did not guarantee a Shift 3 in the first place.

As for the tech, they reacted correctly and were not forced to pass on the tech.

So, what's the issue?

From the sound of it, the contract was offered in bad faith. There was no intention of properly greenlighting Shift 3 and instead the project was a rug that EA had hoped to pull out from under SMS in order to secure ownership of its tech. The fact that SMS was able to blindside EA by essentially licensing its tech from itself doesn't make the ploy any less of an "attempt to sabotage the company".

 

[ronaldthump]

wow. listening to it now. savage AF.

and loved what they did with the middleware/tech stuff.

...

EA.. eugghhh

 

[ronaldthump]

oh if you listen the conversation.

he also mentioned EA told him that "oh you'll have trouble getting work so if your staff needs work, tell them to contact us"

this thing is very deliberate.

 

[Servbot24]

FWIW it's not just EA. Large corporations in general are ruthless. Not defending EA - none of it is okay.

 

[Gaz Pwnage]

Stop buying EA games.

 

[NolbertoS]

I'm sorry, but I have to assume SMS read these contracts. If EA cancelled it, I'm sure it did not guarantee a Shift 3 in the first place.

As for the tech, they reacted correctly and were not forced to pass on the tech.

So, what's the issue?

Well, I doubt at that time SMS had a corporate lawyer in there office to talk details. I thought these thimgs start as a handshake and EA comes off as a chummy company. Obviously the guy wanted to protect his assets and technology and luckily, prevented that from being confiscated. I wonder how many other companies EA took there proprietary engines and used that tech in there games nowadays.

 

[Neptonic]

While this isn't too surprising for us old folks, a small reminder for younger gamers -- in comic form:

God this comic is incredible

 

[mckmas8808]

This just feels like pure evil.

 

[mckmas8808]

Best thing to do is exactly what these guys did in regards to creating middleman companies you "lease" your own shit from.

You'd be surprised how often this is done in every business to protect from exactly this kind of thing.
.

CRAZY thing to read. Thanks for the insight.

 

[Coxy100]

EA just won't ever change will they.

Love the Mirrors Edge image too!

 

[Dreams-Visions]

CRAZY thing to read. Thanks for the insight.

Is it really crazy to you?

Many (maybe even most) companies do this to protect their critical assets in the event of lawsuit or bankruptcy. That way if worse comes to worse, they can't come and take everything.

This is also the reason why you shouldn't do contract work without some sort of company affiliation. They can sue YOU and take all of your shit, where if you had a company you were doing your contract work under, all that would be in jeopardy is the assets of the company. People have lost their ass working without a proper license and getting sued directly.

 

[EhoaVash]

Lol oh shit it's the son is a Luigi guy xD

Yeah scummy of EA

 

[v1oz]

So that's why they scammed Wii U owners. They had to!
On topic: Reading this makes me think the shit Bethesda pulled with Himan Head studios was true as well.

Edit:


He named his son Luigi.

Yeah they scammed Wii U owners for money. And after they failed to deliver on Wii U they promised to deliver on whatever Nintendo’s next gen console was.

No one even asked for a version that is on par with a high end PC in terms of graphical fidelity. Even the PS4 and Xbone versions don’t match up to the PC. They just want a version that runs well and is optimised well for the host hardware.

 

[Falchion]

Wow, that's pretty fucking sleazy if true.

 

[Foffy]

EA not being shit is like a universe without the sun.

It's never not in present experience in context.

 

[PeskyToaster]

EA has a lot of my favorite devs under their umbrella

 

[Compsiox]

I forgot they were the worst company ever at one point.

 

[Mascot]

Yeah they scammed Wii U owners for money. And after they failed to deliver on Wii U they promised to deliver on whatever Nintendo’s next gen console was.

Horse-fucking-shit.

 

[cw_sasuke]

EA:"It's nothing personal bro"

 

[coiler]

I think its the same in every kind of business, if you reach certain point people become numbers and only financial results start to count.

 

[benzy]

Yeah they scammed Wii U owners for money. And after they failed to deliver on Wii U they promised to deliver on whatever Nintendo’s next gen console was.

No one even asked for a version that is on par with a high end PC in terms of graphical fidelity. Even the PS4 and Xbone versions don’t match up to the PC. They just want a version that runs well and is optimised well for the host hardware.

Neither the Xbox or PS4 version was optimized well or ran well.

 

[Thorrgal]

Wow...