EA Apologizes For Being EA
In his opening presentation on the final day of DICE, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has basically apologized for EA being so buyout happy and the unfortunate results.
"We at EA blew it, and to a degree I was involved in these things, so I blew it.""The command and conquer model," he said, "doesn't work. If you think you're going to buy a developer and put your name on the label... you're making a profound mistake."
What John refers to in these two quotes, is EA's legendary tendency to buyout talented smaller studios, (like Bullfrog or Westwood), and drive off the talent and just keep the licenses. They've had more success recently with companies like Bioware by NOT interfering in their corporate culture.
Riccitiello said that the company's "one-management-size-fits-all" mentality with its acquisitions in the past only stifled creative freedom. "When I talked to the creators that populated these companies at the time, they felt like they were buried and stifled."
As an old school Earth and Beyond player, (yes, I know, I'm a bitter queen), I held a grudge against EA for a long time for exactly these practices, which led to the cancellation of my first MMO. My personal beefs aside, I like hearing that they have learned from these mistakes.
EA's CEO: How I Learned To Acquire Developers And Not Screw Them Up [Wired]
Sgt. Sausagepants
Posted to Video Games on 8 February 2008
· Comments (5)
Other stuff like this: Bitter, buyout, DICE, EA, ENB
I rather miss Earth and Beyond. still remember flying after Santa
Same here! I also miss earth and beyond and flying around in my Terran space truck xD
sigh... oh bullfrog... will we ever see another syndicate or dungeon keeper game...
And poor westwood... some decent dune game (except 2000! grrr!) and some kick a** point and click game for what? Games with sci-fi nerds' dream actors ruining it all! oh kane, how much lower must you fall...
But my tears will always fall for ol' Earth and Beyond. Much beyond indeed.
To hell with E.A!
Did Hell just freeze over?
Did Hell just freeze over?
They can make it up by making an awesome sequel to Wing Commander.