{"id":400,"date":"2021-03-30T00:13:07","date_gmt":"2021-03-30T00:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/?p=400"},"modified":"2021-03-30T00:13:07","modified_gmt":"2021-03-30T00:13:07","slug":"the-end-is-nigh-because-of-electronic-arts-the-devourer-of-worlds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/30\/the-end-is-nigh-because-of-electronic-arts-the-devourer-of-worlds\/","title":{"rendered":"The End is Nigh … because of Electronic Arts, the Devourer of Worlds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This article originally ran under a different banner\/website in March of 2019 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!! IT\u2019S COMING!!!  IT WILL NOT STOP!!!   IT CANNOT BE STOPPED!!!  NOT UNTIL IT CONSUMES BIOWARE!!!  Hide your Commander Shepherd jackets, Varric replica crossbows, and Darth Malak lightsabers.  HIDE YOU COPIES OF BIOWARE GAMES, BEFORE ELECTRONIC ARTS ARRIVES AND CONSUMES THEM ALL!!!  While many players are enjoying Bioware\u2019s latest title, Anthem<\/em>, there is no doubt the game didn\u2019t have the impact Electronic Arts demanded.  I fear that EA will look at Bioware just like they did with Bullfrog, Origin, Pandemic, or DreamWorks when they weren\u2019t meeting EA\u2019s expectations.  Don\u2019t believe Electronic Arts will close Bioware?  Let me refresh you on some history of ELECTRONIC ARTS, THE DEVOURER OF DEVELOPERS AND WORLDS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Let\u2019s start with Mythic Entertainment.  The studio had carved out its reputation as a skilled creator of MMORPG such as Dark Age of Camelot<\/em>.  With EA eyeing the money Blizzard was making off World of Warcraft<\/em>, EA acquired Mythic in 2006 hoping they could make a successful MMORPG for them.  Unfortunately, like most times EA chased trends, Mythic was not able to get World of Warcraft <\/em>players to try their MMORPG Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning<\/em>.  Mythic\u2019s swift end came in 2014 when they released the incredibly vile Dungeon Keeper Mobile<\/em>.  To start, Dungeon Keeper <\/em>was an IP from Bullfrog studio, another studio consumed and destroyed.  Dungeon Keeper Mobile <\/em>was also blatant in its greed as once again, EA was hoping it could copy the success of Clash of Clans.  <\/em>Like classic Dungeon Keeper <\/em>games, you are tasked with designing a dungeon to defend your treasure from adventurers, but like Clash of Clan<\/em> you either waited for rooms or traps to be built or pay for it to be instantly built.  Critics and players panned it alike.  Dungeon Keeper Mobile <\/em>became a shining example of the predatory mobile games market has become.  EA forced Mythic to defended the insidious microtransactions, just before devouring them in 2014.       <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rewind time back to 1997, the studio Maxis had created a name for itself with titles like SimCity <\/em>and SimCity 2000<\/em>.  EA then acquired the studio and the two had success with The Sims<\/em> series, releasing both The Sims <\/em>and The Sims 2<\/em>.  It wasn\u2019t until Maxis released the 2013 rebooted SimCity, <\/em>that the studio’s troubles begun.  <\/em>Maxis was a studio that primarily released games that didn\u2019t require an online connection and was woefully unprepared for the task EA had demanded for the SimCity<\/em> reboot.  SimCity<\/em> couldn\u2019t just be city builder simulation, EA had demanded the game have a forced online connection that would connect your town to other neighboring towns; though many people suspected the online feature was EA\u2019s way to combat the boogeyman known as piracy. In an ironic twist, the servers for SimCity <\/em>were offline for the game\u2019s launch week, thus creating a great argument for pirating the game altogether.  Naturally, EA forced Maxis to defend the online features, placed all the blame on Maxis, and finally, the studio was swallowed whole in 2015.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.        <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Of course, one can not mention all the studios EA has devoured without mentioning Visceral Games.  Visceral Games shook up the survival horror genre with its sci-fi horror Dead Space<\/em> series.  Both Dead Space 1 <\/em>and 2 <\/em>were critically acclaimed, but that never satisfied EA\u2019s hunger.  EA always had dreams of Dead Space <\/em>being a cross-media success despite it being a niche horror title.  People who played Dead Space 3 <\/em>can almost feel EA forcibly ring blood from the Dead Space <\/em>stone.  The co-op was bolted on due to co-op being incredibly popular for the time.  Dead Space 3 <\/em>was also one of the first single-player games to have microtransactions in them which according to Middle Earth: Shadow of War <\/em>is still incredibly unpopular.  Word broke out that EA\u2019s fingers were deep into the Dead Space 3 <\/em>pie and the game was commercially a failure.  EA, like clockwork, tasked Visceral Games with crafting Battlefield: Hardline<\/em>.  The studio skilled in crafting single-player story-driven games was not up to the task of creating a cop and robbers-themed multiplayer-focused games.  Battlefield: Hardline <\/em>flopped and EA consumed the studio.  Visceral Games was not the first of EA\u2019s victims and they certainly will not be the last.      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Many Bioware employees, including Michael Gamble and Casey Hudson, have taken to Twitter to state they don\u2019t believe Bioware is on the chopping block.\u00a0 While I can agree with them that Bioware isn\u2019t going to be devoured by EA anytime soon, I can\u2019t deny the writing is on the wall.\u00a0 Sure, EA knew Anthem<\/em> wasn\u2019t going to be complete at launch, as all live services games aren\u2019t looking to give you the whole experience now, but over the course of a larger lifespan.\u00a0 That being said, if Anthem<\/em> doesn\u2019t keep players returning as EA wants them to, I have no doubt Bioware will find the maw of the beast standing right behind them.\u00a0 It will be too late to run as EA will open its gaping jaw to swallow the studio whole.\u00a0 With Bioware destroyed, I have no doubt the worlds of Mass Effect <\/em>and Dragon Age <\/em>will perish with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It might be too late for studios like Bioware and Respawn Entertainment, but it might not be for other studios.\u00a0 I am sure many think Respawn is safe with the recent Apex Legends<\/em>, but I fear it won\u2019t be long until EA forces Respawn to make a Dark Souls-<\/em>inspired game and consume them when they aren\u2019t up to the task.\u00a0 I can only hope other developers see the writing on the wall when it comes to publishers like EA.\u00a0 I know Bungie saw it and was able to successfully escape the grip of Bobby Kotick.\u00a0 These publishers don\u2019t help developers, but only force them to take part in scummy business practices only to lay them off after loyally following orders.\u00a0 These vampiric publishers are not looking to help you create art, but are merely hoping you will invite them in so they can suck all the blood out of the studio; It should be obvious, now, more than ever.\u00a0 Week after week, we see more and more lifeless corpses of studios tossed aside once the publishers have bled them try.\u00a0 Will this lead to better games?\u00a0 I argue no; especially since EA\u2019s biggest hit, has been Apex Legends,<\/em> a game Respawn claims EA had no hand in.\u00a0 For now at least. \u00a0 I truly hope many developers turn away opportunities to work for companies like Activision-Blizzard, Warner Brothers, Take-Two Interactive, and of course Electronic Arts \u2026 or else the end will be nigh for the games industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This article originally ran under a different banner\/website in March of 2019 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!! IT\u2019S COMING!!!  IT WILL NOT STOP!!!   IT CANNOT BE STOPPED!!!  NOT UNTIL IT CONSUMES BIOWARE!!!  Hide your Commander Shepherd jackets, Varric replica crossbows, and Darth… Continue reading The End is Nigh … because of Electronic Arts, the Devourer of Worlds<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-opinion","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":409,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions\/409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}