4 ms·

EA also killed Nox and Westwood, and we have some bits and pieces of anecdote about how that went, so I tend to believe what Garriot had to say about that.

m463 6y ago
I don't know, I think when someone is acquired, there are two things going on: - people have finally cashed out so motivations are changing - an investment has been made, so people start accepting business goals are important. So reading this story I wonder if EA is the villain here, or human nature. Now I do blame EA for popcap. I'll never forgive Plants vs Zombies 2 with literal pricetags in dollars on all the plants.
- groby_b 6y ago
  Having been part of a company acquired by EA: It's EA. Nobody "cashed out", because the stock options turned into so much hot air. You couldn't have pried business goals out of EA with a autopsy kit. They were interested in IP, and in "leadership". They deliberately drove the rest of the business into the ground to get rid of most of the devs. And, talking to other people acquired by EA, that was far from the exception. In general, anybody who worked for EA in a non-exec role can tell you: If you wonder who the villain is, you could do worse than guess it's EA "leaders"
georgeecollins 6y ago
And Pandemic, and many others. I think Bobby Kotick once said something like, if you want to see your game studio shut down, sell it to EA. It's true that founders want to cash out but you can be sure that in all these places there were many people who wanted to keep making games.
egeozcan 6y ago
Westwood was one of a kind, it still hurts to this day to think how great C&C series could be. Signed: A person who still thinks of the Red Alert expansion and not the Half-Life mod, when he hears "Counterstrike".
- IntelMiner 6y ago
  I've been re-playing the Red Alert 2 campaign this week and my god this comment hits hard
  - Aeolun 6y ago
    Red alert is still the best RTS I’ve played. The only thing that comes close is Supreme Commander, and that’s a completely different type of game. I want a new RA2 :/
    - IntelMiner 6y ago
      I donated $500 to the OpenRA project back in 2013 to add support for Tiberian Sun and RA2, and they're still working on it At this rate I'll just learn C# and join the project I think
      - tubularhells 6y ago
        You should, that would speed things up.

m463 6y ago

I don't know, I think when someone is acquired, there are two things going on: - people have finally cashed out so motivations are changing - an investment has been made, so people start accepting business goals are important. So reading this story I wonder if EA is the villain here, or human nature. Now I do blame EA for popcap. I'll never forgive Plants vs Zombies 2 with literal pricetags in dollars on all the plants.

groby_b 6y ago
Having been part of a company acquired by EA: It's EA. Nobody "cashed out", because the stock options turned into so much hot air. You couldn't have pried business goals out of EA with a autopsy kit. They were interested in IP, and in "leadership". They deliberately drove the rest of the business into the ground to get rid of most of the devs. And, talking to other people acquired by EA, that was far from the exception. In general, anybody who worked for EA in a non-exec role can tell you: If you wonder who the villain is, you could do worse than guess it's EA "leaders"

georgeecollins 6y ago

And Pandemic, and many others. I think Bobby Kotick once said something like, if you want to see your game studio shut down, sell it to EA. It's true that founders want to cash out but you can be sure that in all these places there were many people who wanted to keep making games.

egeozcan 6y ago

Westwood was one of a kind, it still hurts to this day to think how great C&C series could be. Signed: A person who still thinks of the Red Alert expansion and not the Half-Life mod, when he hears "Counterstrike".

IntelMiner 6y ago
I've been re-playing the Red Alert 2 campaign this week and my god this comment hits hard
- Aeolun 6y ago
  Red alert is still the best RTS I’ve played. The only thing that comes close is Supreme Commander, and that’s a completely different type of game. I want a new RA2 :/
  - IntelMiner 6y ago
    I donated $500 to the OpenRA project back in 2013 to add support for Tiberian Sun and RA2, and they're still working on it At this rate I'll just learn C# and join the project I think
    - tubularhells 6y ago
      You should, that would speed things up.