Corporate clusterfuck at EA

[Stereotypical Villain]

Wow that screenshot up there is horrible! It looks like any generic fantasy RPG but with laser swords thrown in for the heck of it...

 

[made]

Origin and Westwood

NEVER FORGET!

Origin was already destroying itself before EA bought them.

And the long version...?

All I could find is:
"However, in the summer of 1992, Origin came into serious financial problems. The market for home computer ports had vanished rather apruptly, leaving Origin with their remaining stocks of these ports. Also the re-tooling of the distribution pipeline for the IBM-PC had cost them many resources. It was impossible to get a loan since right during that time the banking system in Texas was in a severe crisis. In September 1992 Electronic Arts acquired the company."

 

[Jaesun]

Origin and Westwood

NEVER FORGET!

Origin was already destroying itself before EA bought them.

And the long version...?

All I could find is:
"However, in the summer of 1992, Origin came into serious financial problems. The market for home computer ports had vanished rather apruptly, leaving Origin with their remaining stocks of these ports. Also the re-tooling of the distribution pipeline for the IBM-PC had cost them many resources. It was impossible to get a loan since right during that time the banking system in Texas was in a severe crisis. In September 1992 Electronic Arts acquired the company."

The Conquest of Origin

 

[Silellak]

Origin and Westwood

NEVER FORGET!

Origin was already destroying itself before EA bought them.

And the long version...?

All I could find is:
"However, in the summer of 1992, Origin came into serious financial problems. The market for home computer ports had vanished rather apruptly, leaving Origin with their remaining stocks of these ports. Also the re-tooling of the distribution pipeline for the IBM-PC had cost them many resources. It was impossible to get a loan since right during that time the banking system in Texas was in a severe crisis. In September 1992 Electronic Arts acquired the company."

The Conquest of Origin

Sounds more like a couple of poor judgements combined with a financial crisis were going to destroy Origin, and EA stepped in to "help". It's a damn shame - I wonder what would've happened if Origin was able to get the loan they needed without outside help.

 

[Conkrete Knight]

The games that die or get cancelled become tax writeoffs, and the rare hit pays for all the rest. The worst case is the mere modest success, a mediocre return on equity without corresponding tax advantages.

And another brick.

Might even undestand the decline one of the days.

 

[Lyric Suite]

They probably only show CGI movies because the gameplay looks boring as fuck on the rare occasions they show it.

From what I've seen of gameplay vids, not only is it boring as fuck, it also looks like shit.

Very next-next-gen. $300 million and this is what they came up with?

The amusing thing is that its probably going to run slower then current-gen games.

 

[Overweight Manatee]

EA just made Westwood make a shooter and a MMO - something they had zero experience in. And both failed.
What a bunch of morons.

What MMO was did Westwood make? IMO, C&C Renegade was a pretty damn good shooter for its time. If EA hadn't pulled the plug on support I'm sure it would have turned out excellent. The gameplay was hardly lacking, there was just a lot of technical problems.

 

[Sceptic]

What MMO was did Westwood make? IMO, C&C Renegade was a pretty damn good shooter for its time.

Renegade was a lot of fun, even the SP campaign was fun (and the story and characters were hilariously over the top). The MMO was Earth & Beyond or something like that, and yeah it flopped miserably. It was a space flight MMO where you explore the galaxy and erm... can't really remember anything else about it. A friend of mine was beta tester and it looked pretty boring.

 

[Phelot]

The guy does sound butthurt, but I'm sure he's got a reason to be and he's being awfully specific so I'm sure there's a lot of truth mixed in with all the vitriol.

Not that it's surprising.

As for Origin, people like Trip Hawkins really set the mood for game companies. Living in fear of frivolous lawsuits aren't fun.

Still, that Escapist article is kind of lenient on EA. There's another one out there that was a scan from a magazine that this one kind of rips off. I wish I could find it

Basically, Origin wanted to make games, not sell them (in a sense) but the pressure of real life finances vs. game passion will eventually turn to real life. I don't blame Origin or any of the other companies for not wanting to live pay check to pay check... if they even get paid.

I will simply never understand why companies like EA didn't just let Origin do what they needed to do in a reasonable fashion.

 

[Zed]

solo player approach when designing MMOGs = huge failure. that star wars game will crash and burn after a month or two.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

They probably only show CGI movies because the gameplay looks boring as fuck on the rare occasions they show it.

From what I've seen of gameplay vids, not only is it boring as fuck, it also looks like shit.

Very next-next-gen. $300 million and this is what they came up with?

The amusing thing is that its probably going to run slower then current-gen games.

The game will run like a dog, count on it. They're missing the whole point of WoW's stylised low poly deformed look by covering everything in jizz mapping.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Nice read, also the article on Origin was interesting. I wonder if this Tabula Rasa thingie will ever take off.

 

[Jaesun]

I wonder if this Tabula Rasa thingie will ever take off.

Do you mean the MMO that Gariott was working on? It failed horribly.

 

[made]

For everyone but Garriot himself, apparently. He sued the Asians for millions and won not long ago. Another space vacation inc.

 

[Scream Phoenix]

Nice read.

Only good thing about TOR so far are the ridiculously good-looking trailers.

 

[CreamyBlood]

...I wonder if this Tabula Rasa thingie will ever take off.

That's another good drama story. You should look it up.