I worked at Pandemic. Thanks for showing some love. A couple notes- the video of the printer being smashed- that was the Los Angeles office. Also, the Brisbane Studio was the one doing the Batman game (effectively a GTA style Batman game). EA didn't cancel that one- WB pulled the plug because the release date slipped- twice. First, it slipped from releasing in time for The Dark Knight, then it slipped from releasing with the DVD release of The Dark Knight. With Arkham Asylum on the horizon, WB didn't want two Batman games competing with each other.
UncleDeluxe if you really did work at Pandemic, thank you for making the great games such as Star Wars Battlefront that I grew up on and enjoyed so much. It's a shame that you guys got bought by EA and got shut down. If Pandemic was still around and still an independent company as it was before EA bought it, then the gaming industry would be in much better shape.
Bullfrog were the reason I became a game developer. Every other Saturday we used to drive past their offices in the Guildford business park and I'd stare up at the windows and wonder what amazing things were happening in there. The day they closed genuinely felt like the loss of a loved one, I still went on to do what I love to do but never getting the chance to work there still eats me up a little inside :P
FoDDa look on the bright side. At least they closed down before you got the chance to work there, because it would have most likely destroyed your soul working for EA.
I also dream to become a video game developer /designer, when I was a kid I loved to play the original battlefront 2. Ever day I would play that game. When I heard of pandemic shutting down it hurt...
Me too, I've wanted to be a game dev since I was a kid watching my dad play Quake, right now I'm slowly building out a few concepts and learning programming basics to make a 3D platformer/exploration game.
I'd love for a chance to make my own take on a psychological horror game after Konami killed off Silent Hill. I'm not sure I have the know-how to do it and it's a hard industry to break into, so sadly I can only dream. Congrats on doing what so many of us can only aspire to do!
The companies just behind them were famous for A: Foreclosing houses illegally B: Dumping oil all over Africa and parts of the US. Just so others know what EA managed to be worse then.
The Internet Explorer Above bank of america, whose actions are responsible for hundreds of thousands of americans losing their homes in the aftermath of the financial crisis, ours included
"They mainly go by EA these days, so maybe they quietly changed their name to 'Extruding Arseholes' to avoid offending reality." - Yahtzee Croshaw, 2013
Number 11: PopCap. PopCap was possibly the biggest creator of casual PC games in the 2000s, and despite the games being simple enough for anybody to play, they were often hilarious and massively replayable. But after making titles such as Zuma, Insaniquarium, Feeding Frenzy, Heavy Weapon, Plants vs. Zombies, Peggle and Bejeweled, they were eventually bought our by EA, and pretty much all that has followed since are some mobile exclusive, free to play PvZ sequels loaded with microtransactions and missing the charm of the company's older games.
oh yeah popcap i remember them my dad had bejeweled and a demo of insaniquarium (which was literally the full game but after a set amount of time it wouldnt let you play anymore) i played a bit and i remember seeing demos on xbox for feeding frenzy and peggle... sad to hear they were demolished
There are a few ways they can forcibly buy out a smaller business. If you have stock? Hostile takeover. If you don't, sue you into oblivion, then buy the corpse. They have a level of capital that is extremely difficult to fight against.
Also it's come to the point that most people in actual decision making of smaller companies have two choices when a larger company comes nosing at their door. Either sell for fast cash and know full well that the company will die some kind of death, or stand your ground and quite possibly lose craptons of money fighting lawsuits and hostile takeover. Most obviously choose to sell. There is even a whole market strategy to earn money that basically consists of "Make one good game and then get bought out by X for fast cash".
As long as the dudebros keep buying FIFA and Madden, nope, and those people generally don't care about anything outside of their sports games, they couldn't care less how many studios producing unique experiences gets closed down by EA, as long as they get their barely updated sports game every year.
Nerdexpresstrain I wasn't trying to mock your friend I was just making a point that there are higher quality games out there if you know where to look just stay away from EA
Nerdexpresstrain there are great games made by better companies bloodborne is one of them there's Dark Souls there's some games made by competent Japanese companies. Electronic Arts is the devil's spawn and the Grim Reaper masquerading as a video game publisher. You can also call casuals the uninformed gamers where I tell them what EA has done and they're like what!!!!!?
I still remember their little "We are electronic artists" pamphlet that they put in the boxes of their early titles. It makes me giggle like a madman when I compare it to what they are now.
Yeah, I fucking loved the first two Dead Space games. And if they were allowed creative freedom for the third, I undoubtedly would have loved it as well.
TBH, this is why one of my life goals to create a nonprofit to buy up smaller; neglected IPs and put them in the public domain, because we need to stop these big companies from absorbing all these good titles and just sitting on them while there are thousands of people out there who'd give them life. Now, if only I could find someone with the money to fund it. You think George Soros would bite?
Galactus would be a better reference if he expects people to get the reference. Then again he's fatter than orson welles so maybe he had a reason for going unicron.
Ugh, I knew it was coming, but it still hurt to read Bullfrog's name. I booted up the original Dungeon Keeper just last month. It still genuinely holds up.
War for the Overworld is more of a spiritual sequel to DK 1 and 2 then anything, really. They even have Richard Ridings as the narrator (the voice of the narrator in DK 1 and 2).
DICE is, somewhat surprisingly but not really surprisingly when you think about it, EA's crown jewel and will not go away for a while. DICE gives EA the answer to Call of duty and the Frostbite engine. DICE enjoy a relative respect and freedom from the EA execs because DICE delivers just what EA want. You could argue that the kind of game that Battlefield is fits well with EA's business practice.
LittleNorwegians, EA was even to "cheap" to have Sega produce carts when their games were ported to the Genesis/Mega Drive... instead, EA created counterfeit cartridges with their games without Sega's permission.
Christ, Larry, I wasn't sure if you'd put out a Halloween video, but I did NOT expect something THAT terrifying. You should put a warning for the weak-hearted amongst us, so we can prep ourselves for the heart-wrenching terror you just put us through.
I will never forgive EA for runing Spore. The day that game came out was the day my innocence died. I looked forward to that game for 3 years and they ruined it.
so is everyone forgetting about Popcap, because they are really close to being destroyed as they only make Plants Vs Zombies and Bejweled on mobile instead of PC.
they already are, the workers of popcap studio all got fired, even the creator of pvz did! it’s really crazy but this happened over four years ago! your a little late
Popcap made some of the very best chill out games. PVZ was a totally new spin on the zombie apocalypse. My mother in law and myself both stated that in the coming Zombie war we would go and plant a garden instead.
And their current trick for fucking over developers is forcing them to use FrostBite regardless of its suitability or otherwise for the game in question. Also, if you had anything to do with game development in the 80s/90s you almost certainly had some exposure to Deluxe Paint for the Amiga, it was pretty much the Photoshop of its time in that literally everybody used it. Monkey Island's hero name even derives from the fact that when he was an unnamed sprite the artist drawing him just called him "guy". When he exported it from DPaint the filename ended up being "guy.brush" (.brush being the extension DPaint used for IFF files that didn't represent a full screen image). Did you know that in the early days Electronic Arts tried to assert copyright on EVERY PIECE OF ART EVER CREATED WITH DPAINT?
That description of EA being a child that keeps breaking their new toys is a lot more accurate than I thought at first. Really, they see a company with success, buy it, force their rules on them and then sack them when it turns out that said rules suffocated their newest toy. Had EA been a lot more hands-off and more forgiving with their subsidiaries they'd be praised for being the umbrella under which some of the most famous developers worked but no, they butcher the cow when they notice it's stubbed it's toe.
What they need is a new CEO who completely changes the company from its comfort zone and addresses their reputation. It would be revolutionary, but as of now rather improbable to happen.
While Larry's analogy is certainly apt, I often wonder how much of EA's destruction through acquisition is intentional. They've consolidated the interactive entertainment industry like it's EA's business, and to distressing effect. All to the exclusive benefit of the corporate monoliths. Fortunately foreign competition from japan and poland as well as digital distribution and funding platforms like steam, gog, kickstarter, etc. are still giving the corporate vandals a run for their $$$ and I'd even go so far as to say that the corporate industry is well on its way to choking and dying on its own bloat within the next two years and EA will be one of the first to fall.
@VC Donovan Yeah, that 'triple A' indie game that came out recently shows that publishers are basically an obsolete middleman that takes most of the credit and money so nobody but those employed by them will be sad to see them go.
Unlike other channels where their idea of scary Halloween is a few spooky games, Larry scares us with a sudden change in character and a chilling tale that makes even Freddy Krueger have nightmares... Come, sit, and listen to the tale of how even Peter Molyneux could not escape the evil that is EA...
They're an often-mocked figure in the games industry, with a reputation for over-hyping and making ludicrous promises. Best known these days for the Fable games.
Dude.. Imagine being a smaller company having to fight with the big wolves, actually having to work hard and not being sure if you succeed, and suddenly you are given millions without having to do anything.. Unless your only goal is to make great games and nothing else, why say no?
This is how Electronic Arts works their reputation is in the toilet they buy a studio that's loved by gamers so automatically that love gets applied to them for a short time then start rushing in and making the lives of the developer a living hell so the best people eventually leave So eventually they start releasing garbage and EA can say look at this we swooped in and shut down the studio. I wonder how big EA would be if these studio were still around today
@@redseagaming7832 i bet ea would be nothing but sports games entirely by now if they still had to compete with every studio they have killed off. They might even be dead themselves if they hadn't, which would be fucking amazing, fuck EA.
+Reality Productions Yeah, that game was cheesy good fun. (Even more so with Yuri's Revenge.) Decidedly less cheesy if you add the Mental Omega mod, but still a heck of a lot of fun.
Think Westwood are now Petroglyph studios but the real talent left so it is not as good anymore, also RA1 wasn't as campy as RA2 and 3, that was EA again changing a darker alt history into bright cheese, RA1 was quiet serious with the soviet campaign including a few assassinations and content that got it an 18 rating.
Nice to see a short clip from our interview with mark healey in here (: would nice to get asked first next time but it's ok since it's just about 3 seconds ;)
verdatum compared to EA, Ubisoft is Jesus Christ. EA has done way too much damage to the gaming industry over the years, that nearly anything Ubisoft does couldn't put them anywhere near the realm of EA provided they don't start devouring studios and closing them down.
Darkfyraproductions I agree. My money is Anthem is going not going to hit sales figures they want. Then they'll become the next visceral. Its kinda sad, they're were one of the big western rpg developers,. Dragon age 4 Is in the works, the lead writer is gone and it'll. Be a husk of its former self.
Less known is the fact that once EA tried to make money with Facebook flash-based games and bought Playfish, a moderately succesful company who made Pet Society, one of the first hit games of Facebook. Suddenly the game duplicated the amount of items only purchasable with RL money, then EA closed all Playfish games except for Pet Society, and finally killed the pet simulator without warning or time for goodbye...
EA pumped its properties into it, had them make Simcity Social and Sim Social. Simcity social was worse as it would spam your friends with requests even if you hadn't authorised them to. Sims Social was a flash based buggy mess often. Then they killed it the second it wasn't making (enough?) money.
FLTheAnimeGuy Mk. 9000 As long no one wants to sell the voting shares in spite of the ludicrous money thrown at them, then yeah it's doable. The problem is that money overrides principles/scrupples because no one thinks extremely long term. Everyone wants to retire early, so of course some of the idiots will take the money and sod everyone else - their company included. Studios should have known by now that EA is toxic due to its track record for killing great studios. The only way to make EA completely unpalatable to any prospective studios in their sights is to have EA crash in stocks and sales - but good luck with that thanks to the whales that keep throwing their wallets at EA's games.
Kaulinis Hitler set the standard that make everyone around the world think "made in Germany" = quality.... But then we have Dingo Pictures....... So Hitler 2.5 EA 0?
Not to mention completely ignoring PC and making it only an iOS/Android release... PC was always Popcap's main market, I can't believe there wasnt a PC PvZ2, either the same free game or preferably a paid version with no micros.
As much fun as it is to bag on Peter it's important to remember that before he went completely off the rails he was a genuine asset to the gaming world so it's nice to hear even you give him a little credit. I wonder how long he would have stayed sane had Bullfrog not been sold to EA since it seems his departure was both of mind and body seeing as how nearly every thing from that point on was a downward spiral...
Yeah, his old games are still awesome an innovative. They have a lot of re-playability and this wholesome feeling to it that I'm having a hard time getting out from the majority of modern AAA games.
My silent protest against EA: I Never buy any of their games. Sadly it's because no one buys their games, these poor companies get closed down. It's a rock and a hard place... but EA are soulless. They should just stop buying out all the competition. But wow, Molyneux is the good guy in this!
Probably a Witcher game with a feminist, transgender Gerald, don't forget your premium lootboxes over it and your battlefield themed horse DLC for $ 9,99.
About Ultima 9 : The reason why it was such a buggy and unfinished mess was EAs fault to begin with, because of their unreasonable deadlines. The same goes for Ultima 8. Basically EA told Origin Studios to hurry up and release it in a buggy state, and when they saw that the release version was a buggy mess EA decided to close down Origin Studios.
Stefan Hohnwald same with ME:A (only the glitch) ME:A is first concept scrapped after 3yrs(2015) of development then they make a new concept but EA cant giving bioware more times that's why the game is buggy as hell at launch
Along with the fact that some of the most awkward platforming ever hamfisted into an rpg was in 8, and that the protagonist and story of 9 had such terrible dementia and insane plot discrepancys it may as well be the shittiest fan-made game ever!
Wel.. It was in development hell before EA intervention. It changed engine multiple times, and got delayed for the making of Ultima Online, and then side-tracked due to the sucess of UO.
Maxis is playing EA torture simulator, once they were purchased out. IE they put them into a room took the door away and kept them alive with replacing left overs in the room, and put a fireplace but forgot to put the chair next to it.
Titanfall 2 didn't do very well for EA, but its CEO said it liked the critical reception of the game. They're perhaps in a bit of danger, but I think EA will keep them in pocket for rather a while longer.
More that likely I think that Criterion Games will be one of the next studios to get the ax. I believe this because they have largely been reduced to helping other divisions of EA with Star Wars games and their racing game project from 2014 was cancelled.
What's up with Criterion? I know they're technically still around, but EA has wasted their talents on garbage, when the market is screaming for a proper, next gen, Burnout game. I used to have a lot of respect for EA back in the Genesis days. They took chances on new developers, and IPs, but now, they have become the graveyard for good developers to come, and die. Sad, just sad.
Criterion is pretty much dead. There were some internal conflict about the future which broke up the team. Now they are just a support team to other teams' projects.
It's due to companies like EA that the indie scene is doing so well. For a side of the industry that claims to want all the money, AAA companies seem to leave a lot of it just lying around because they think they are above making genres like CRPGs, horror games, and space simulators. And then proceed to look like a bunch of dumb assholes when a random nobody makes a fortune off a game that they claim "nobody wants to play".
Nathan Cassidy Yea, the big four aren't really up to snuff anymore save for one but they are better off subcontracting or selling the IPs they don't use anymore. Big Four = EA, Konami, Square Enix, Capcom
The history of EA itself is depressing. There was a time when their name really meant something, and they were dedicated to viewing and respecting game designers as artists.
EA had a couple different studios like Eurocom making a shitload of Bond games in the sixth generation, all of them (plus TWINE on N64, minus Rogue Agent) were damn good. Then Activision bought the license and turned 007 into the same damn Call of Duty clone three games in a row. I mean, the GoldenEye remake I'd still call good and if you have to play any of the Activision ones, I recommend that the most. It even has a normal health bar mode!
Skate or Die on NES man......good times, had it not been for that and 720 degrees the whole THPS series never would have happened cus Tony wouldn't have played those games and been inspired to make a game a decade later....granted THPS was activision but still...
But were those NFS games made by BlackBox? "The Run" was, as their logo is clearly shown during the startup sequence, but I don't remember the BlackBox logo in those 3 titles you mention.
I guess I will add to this video by adding a quote from the composer of music for old Maxis games. "Yes, when I started there it was just Maxis. When EA took over they had a weird meeting where the told everyone not to worry about loosing their jobs and that they weren't going to fire anyone. Two weeks later about 80% of the people were gone. EA definitely changed the vibe and it wasn't as fun after." Source: www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/53erny/iama_jerry_martin_music_composer_for_the_sims_and/d7sg4v3/
Another honourable mention is RenderWare. That legendary engine powered an entire generation of iconic games (including the PS2 GTA universe), but was bought up by EA who then shafted developers on the licensing terms then essentially kept it for themselves. RenderWare being bought out was part of the reason why Rockstar built their RAGE engine (first used in Table Tennis) and the rest is history.
Man, EA are basically poison. I think this will happen to a lot of big name game studios as time goes on. Maybe indies will take over and hopefully not be bought up by bigger companies.
If EA keeps this up i cant wait to see their E3 press conference in 2023. In which they say ''we have one company left making a revolutionary new asymmetrical experience for the modem age so without further ado we would like to show you.... aaand its gone its gone ''
Can we all PLEASE just boycott EA, let's start by not buying the new Star Wars Battlefront 2, because we all know it's just a slightly enhanced version of the first one with a couple new characters and locations I really do hate EA, they ruin EVERYTHING
Yeah unfortunately they would stay alive just on their yearly sports games, the slight upgrades each year, and the millions of morons who eat that shit up. Those idiots give gaming a bad name. If you like ea sports games, your a moron, and dont write me back if this offends you, cause your opinion means less than nothing to me.
Blackbox's nfs titles weren't liked much? Big mistake. Blackbox's nfs games are seen as the "golden era" of nfs and the sales peaked with the 2005 title most wanted. blackbox were killed off after being underfunded more and more each year to the point they couldn't even finish their game (Need For Speed The Run), that title was finished by criterion games which was also killed later on. oh and "restructuring" happened several times throughout blackbox's life. the first big restructure was sometime between 2006-2008 where they laid off several people to make space for "new people with modern ideas".
Even their "bad" NFS titles are mostly pretty good, they're just mostly forgettable. That said, Criterion and Ghost have done a great job with the series since, although being the "EA Studio that makes NFS" is code in the industry for "short-lived career path," no matter how well the game sells or is critically recieved.
So is EA just ran by a really bored yet rich manchild that knows they should just stop doing weird bullshit, but continues to keep going just to see what happens?
I loved a lot of the games by companies EA bought... and that makes it sad when EA acquires them because it basically means you won't see them do anything meaningful again.
Jimmy De'Souza they've been shown to be practically slave drivers on multiple occasions from multiple sources. They don't care about their fans instead of making games they pump money into their gambling division and make pachinko machines based on games and develop all new assets for these machines. Like I used to love konami I grew up in the 90s on castlevania and contra lol but they're just about EA level of fucked nowadays. Plus metal gear survive? Take a popular IP and stick zombies in it and sell it just so people will buy it for the name. Fuck konami at least capcom and Ubisoft still come out with good games
From the bad news I've been hearing about Anthem, namely the demo and this whole microtransactions thing, I've got a feeling Bioware's next on the chopping block. And if Popcap isn't dead, it like Maxis sure smells funny.
I eagerly await the day EA just collapses and it's remains (IPs) picked clean by other companies. "A Slow, Painful death." 'Shows I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.' ......That's pretty apt actually.
Most of why it didn't sell well, though, was because they intentionally released the creature creator with built-in spyware and that came out, which greatly discouraged people from buying the full game
*Brings up Red Alert 3* *No mention of Tim Curry and his OTT Russian accent* I am disappointed. Well, off to spaaace! I did almost expect Bioware to be on here. Granted they're not dead but they're a shell of their former self.
All cutscenes in Red Alert 3 are very sad joke. Seriously, Red Alert 2 was full of C class actors but they were amazingly cheesy and funny and bloody memorable, mainly Soviets (Udo Jürgens as Yuri is for me like masterclass in Shakespeare) but here you have big stars just to read script and get some easy pocket money, Tim Curry is highlight because he is Tim Curry but who cares? Plenty of childish boob and ass shots, horrendous Tanya, George Takei completely wasted, Jonathan Pryce (badly) impersonating Alec Guinness, J. K. Simmons having time of his life, David Hasselhoff kinda amusing, it is a mess, not very entertaining, not very memorable, plus you have average game attached to it. And yeah, BioWare that developed Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2, that kind of BioWare I care about, isn't around anymore, sadly.
Jakub Lulek Yeah Red Alert 3 was the least serious Red Alert game, good game though but let's not pretend that all of us did not masturbate to that Soviet chick in RA2 as kids
8:57 showing scenes from IHNMBIMS and saying "it's almost like EA kept them alive for their own personal amusement." Very clever writing with a layered reference. Excellent!
I can't even call EA or companies like them out cuz people still support them. Star Wars BF 2 as an example, it literally has pay 2 win loot crates as it's only progression system and there are popular gamers/streamers still talking about how they preordered and are so excited to play and stream it with loads of dumb fans saying the same thing. Calling these companies evil but still buying from them is like screaming that you hate a lion for biting your arm off while you stick a steak in it's mouth with the other arm.
If you think about it, if it weren't for these sort of sheep, EA wouldn't have a viable business model. It's all one big ecosystem of stupidity, incompetence, and greed. Ripping off hyped nostalgia casuals who like to call themselves "gamers," EA isn't the only thing to blame here. Just leave these idiots to their own devices. There are still quality games to be found elsewhere.
WR3ND Literally, it's so dumb, like 90% of the fools who complain still buy it, play it, stream it and watch streams and wonder why they don't stop. They don't care about a salty comment or reddit post when they're laughing their way to the bank, if everyone who complained had just not bought the game/stop playing altogether, then they would be forced to actually stop and fix it.
Well, I don't buy anything from them - most games that I have are older classics (such as the Civ series and "Rome: Total War") or idie titles (such as "Cthulhu Saves the World" and "Huniepop"): I refuse to buy new AAA games until the "games as service" model is left behind in the dust - as such, EA hasn't made a dime off of me in years.
give it a year or two and Bioware will be on the list too... mark my words. EDIT: well i knew it would end badly but damn, i hate being right, but i didnt think Anthem would be AS bad as it has been.
When a game-franchise doesn't perform like expected anymore, EA should just tell the developers to create a NEW franchise. It should be expected that the "same" game, over and over again doesn't sell over a long period of time. But not for EA! Just close amazing game companies, because they can't do good ever again, or what?! But sure, shovel more and more -Assassins- -Creed- in our asses until we vomit money. What a shit-show. [EDIT] I can't distinguish between most studios anymore, can't I?
TrueMG EA doesn't actually don't have much say in what their studios make. They actually tend to be one of the more hands off publishers out there. Sadly because of the the studios over promise and under deliver which ends up in cancelled games or games that go well over budget or under perform in sales. This ends up in the studios bleeding money and it gets them closed. There are cases where EA has tried to shake things up in the studios to turn them around, but it ends up not doing anything. The good thing tho is when EA closes a studio they move the employees to other jobs in EA, if they take the offer.
Reminds me of this villain in a science fiction series I liked called Animorphs. The Villain was a complete monster in almost every sense of the word and his soldiers, researcher, and other underlings feared him because they knew if they messed up even once or made him even slightly angry he would remove their heads from their shoulders right then and their on his own with out saying or word or even flinching.
... came for the title and stayed for the script! Excellent job once again Mr Bundy Jr! I always wondered what your beef was with Armando Iannucci and then I took off the 3D glasses....
Press "F" to pay respect to Westwood Press "U" to pay respect to Bullfrog Press "C" to pay respect to Origin Press "K" to pay respect to Pandemic Press "Y" to pay respect to Mythic Press "O" to pay respect to Black Box Press "Ü" to pay respect to Maxis Press "E" to pay respect to Visceral Press "A" to pay respect to Danger Close Press "‼" to Pay respect to BioWare
CasanovaUnlimited well EA were just gonna dead if they still needing devs to deceloping games for em valve still exist because steam but if every studio is dead at EA they only have 1 thing left origin(that just gonna making em losing money slowly)
To me, the buy out of PopCap was the thing that truly showed me that EA was the coming of the fourth Reich. PopCap had so much potential for greatness, but the smothering of their abusive step father doomed them to a fate of rehashed mobile games and Garden Warfare.
Wow I never thought I'd see the day that the Guru admitted that Old Petey boy ain't the worse kid on the block. As to EA, haven't forgotten the murder of Playfish. Sure it was just "social games" but they were fun and they killed it.
However, they let the Westwood Studios spiritual successor, Petroglyph handle the Command & Conquer and Red Alert HD Remasters which went the extra mile in all of the content, especially the music which was given not only remasters by the man who wrote them. Himself, Frank Klepacki....but all new full band versions via Frank and The Tiberian Son's. Their games were top notch, the collectors edition came with all of the high end things that all had places in the foam insert in the box. Now EA needs to let Petroglyph remaster Red Alert 2 and Tiberian Sun!!!
I worked at Pandemic. Thanks for showing some love. A couple notes- the video of the printer being smashed- that was the Los Angeles office. Also, the Brisbane Studio was the one doing the Batman game (effectively a GTA style Batman game). EA didn't cancel that one- WB pulled the plug because the release date slipped- twice. First, it slipped from releasing in time for The Dark Knight, then it slipped from releasing with the DVD release of The Dark Knight. With Arkham Asylum on the horizon, WB didn't want two Batman games competing with each other.
I fear, as a Canadian, the BioWare might be next. Canadian developers are criminally overlooked on Fact Hunt tbh, there's lots of them!
UncleDeluxe Thank you for your service, it made my childhood. ❤️
@UncleDeluxe: Just so you know, I really enjoyed Mercenaries on the PlayStation 2.
UncleDeluxe if you really did work at Pandemic, thank you for making the great games such as Star Wars Battlefront that I grew up on and enjoyed so much. It's a shame that you guys got bought by EA and got shut down. If Pandemic was still around and still an independent company as it was before EA bought it, then the gaming industry would be in much better shape.
UncleDeluxe Thank you, Mercenaries and og Battlefront 2 are my jam.
Bullfrog were the reason I became a game developer. Every other Saturday we used to drive past their offices in the Guildford business park and I'd stare up at the windows and wonder what amazing things were happening in there. The day they closed genuinely felt like the loss of a loved one, I still went on to do what I love to do but never getting the chance to work there still eats me up a little inside :P
FoDDa look on the bright side. At least they closed down before you got the chance to work there, because it would have most likely destroyed your soul working for EA.
I also dream to become a video game developer /designer, when I was a kid I loved to play the original battlefront 2. Ever day I would play that game. When I heard of pandemic shutting down it hurt...
Me too, I've wanted to be a game dev since I was a kid watching my dad play Quake, right now I'm slowly building out a few concepts and learning programming basics to make a 3D platformer/exploration game.
I'd love for a chance to make my own take on a psychological horror game after Konami killed off Silent Hill. I'm not sure I have the know-how to do it and it's a hard industry to break into, so sadly I can only dream. Congrats on doing what so many of us can only aspire to do!
Fallout Pewterschmidt sounds like you want to make a story/movie not a game.
The industry is ruined by this mind set.
Someone should buy EA and then scrap them.
KevinRPD If only
Much better if someone from EA destroy it, gradually, from the inside.
If only i was that rich
Microsoft anyone? www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3025595/microsoft-considering-buying-valve-ea-and-pubg-corp
Sony Maybe?
Funfact: EA was awarded the worst US company not once but twice in a row.
The companies just behind them were famous for
A: Foreclosing houses illegally
B: Dumping oil all over Africa and parts of the US.
Just so others know what EA managed to be worse then.
and then they were followed up by Comcast and in the next year had some kind of deal with Comcast
That’s 4chan’s doing. Other companies have done far worse.
The Internet Explorer Above bank of america, whose actions are responsible for hundreds of thousands of americans losing their homes in the aftermath of the financial crisis, ours included
LIES dont listen to fake News
"They mainly go by EA these days, so maybe they quietly changed their name to 'Extruding Arseholes' to avoid offending reality."
- Yahtzee Croshaw, 2013
Number 11: PopCap. PopCap was possibly the biggest creator of casual PC games in the 2000s, and despite the games being simple enough for anybody to play, they were often hilarious and massively replayable. But after making titles such as Zuma, Insaniquarium, Feeding Frenzy, Heavy Weapon, Plants vs. Zombies, Peggle and Bejeweled, they were eventually bought our by EA, and pretty much all that has followed since are some mobile exclusive, free to play PvZ sequels loaded with microtransactions and missing the charm of the company's older games.
Fuck sake, why does out always autocorrect to our? Eh, the mobile site won't let me edit the comment and I ain't writing that whole paragraph again.
I frickin loved PopCap. I heard they had to let go of a bunch of employees as the remaining ones are just used for updating mobile games.
oh yeah popcap i remember them my dad had bejeweled and a demo of insaniquarium (which was literally the full game but after a set amount of time it wouldnt let you play anymore) i played a bit and i remember seeing demos on xbox for feeding frenzy and peggle... sad to hear they were demolished
I had no idea PopCap or Popcrap had merged.
I've read that the creator of Plants vs. Zombies was fired because he didn't like PvZ2 DLC.
Lesson to be learned today: It doesn't matter how much money they flash at you; stop selling yourselves to EA.
There are a few ways they can forcibly buy out a smaller business. If you have stock? Hostile takeover. If you don't, sue you into oblivion, then buy the corpse.
They have a level of capital that is extremely difficult to fight against.
DFX2KX Are there ways to fight Hostile takeovers?
yup.. but most are illegal..... DAMN EULA.....
Also it's come to the point that most people in actual decision making of smaller companies have two choices when a larger company comes nosing at their door. Either sell for fast cash and know full well that the company will die some kind of death, or stand your ground and quite possibly lose craptons of money fighting lawsuits and hostile takeover.
Most obviously choose to sell.
There is even a whole market strategy to earn money that basically consists of "Make one good game and then get bought out by X for fast cash".
Origin didn't sell properly. It was a hostile take over. It happened a few years after EA tried to bankrupt them over a technicality
Can people finally stop buying games for EA now??? Jesus, I have't seen anything of quality come from them in years.
As long as the dudebros keep buying FIFA and Madden, nope, and those people generally don't care about anything outside of their sports games, they couldn't care less how many studios producing unique experiences gets closed down by EA, as long as they get their barely updated sports game every year.
Nerdexpresstrain why wood you buy a PS4 just for FIFA buy for bloodborne at least it's made by a respectful developer from software.
Nerdexpresstrain I wasn't trying to mock your friend I was just making a point that there are higher quality games out there if you know where to look just stay away from EA
Nerdexpresstrain there are great games made by better companies bloodborne is one of them there's Dark Souls there's some games made by competent Japanese companies. Electronic Arts is the devil's spawn and the Grim Reaper masquerading as a video game publisher. You can also call casuals the uninformed gamers where I tell them what EA has done and they're like what!!!!!?
RED SEA GAMING You know that's unlikely with thier obsession with fifa.
You missed one: EA virtually killed EA, it was once one well respected by gamers.
I still remember their little "We are electronic artists" pamphlet that they put in the boxes of their early titles. It makes me giggle like a madman when I compare it to what they are now.
not in their early Genesis games. They were scumbags by publishing terrible ports of bad computer games.
Very true!
@Peter von Feldt What the hell are you talking about!? EA has put out good games before.
P Ferreira you mean electronic farts?
Damn Larry
This one was hard to watch.....
Sad to see all these companies just die.
Yeah, I fucking loved the first two Dead Space games. And if they were allowed creative freedom for the third, I undoubtedly would have loved it as well.
MegamanXfan21xx They were given way to many restrictions sadly
They didn't die, they were murdered and EA is the serial killer.
Oda Swifteye literally going to say the exact same thing, Im on YT mobile and I only opened this thread to type what you just wrote. Thumbs up.
TBH, this is why one of my life goals to create a nonprofit to buy up smaller; neglected IPs and put them in the public domain, because we need to stop these big companies from absorbing all these good titles and just sitting on them while there are thousands of people out there who'd give them life.
Now, if only I could find someone with the money to fund it. You think George Soros would bite?
Jim Sterling once called EA the "Unicron of game studios", devouring smaller studios and destroying them. I think his description is very accurate.
Is a unicorn known for devouring smaller animals and destroying them?
Edit: Oh, unicron.
Imagine every EA press release being read with Orson Welles' voice.
Galactus would be a better reference if he expects people to get the reference. Then again he's fatter than orson welles so maybe he had a reason for going unicron.
Galactus is a force of nature, Unicron is a force of evil. Galactus is not as apt a comparison.
tbb033 Also... Unicron is much better known than Galactus. Transformers beats Fantastic Four hands down.
Electronic Arts as the next villain in an Avengers movie?
no but hopefully thanos' finger snap killed them
@@ChapSnat752 That must mean they're back thanks to Endgame, LOL.
EA: "I am unavoidable"
Nah, too powerful, no one can stop the machine
They need a spin-off of infinity war
That's the magic of EA. They are SO BAD they made you say nice things about Peter Molyneux for once.
When you corporation is so bad it forces Larry Bundy Jr to say nice things about Peter Molyneux...
Something went wrong somewhere!
EA is so bad that they made Larry Bundy defend Peter Molyneux.
...And thats no good!
-Sonic
messed up
Ugh, I knew it was coming, but it still hurt to read Bullfrog's name. I booted up the original Dungeon Keeper just last month. It still genuinely holds up.
Try the game Dungeons 3. its an awesome succesor that might be even better than dungeon keeper. got great reviews. i love it so far.
Ooh, nice! Thanks for the heads-up!
toidi
Their game Magic Carpet is great, but I never hear anyone mention it.
War for the Overworld is more of a spiritual sequel to DK 1 and 2 then anything, really. They even have Richard Ridings as the narrator (the voice of the narrator in DK 1 and 2).
love it how Larry usually does 5-entry-lists, but for this video, he could easily make it double, showing on another layer how EA rolls
and to top it off, put Bullfrog Productions that was founded and led by Peter Molyneux at number 1.
DICE is, somewhat surprisingly but not really surprisingly when you think about it, EA's crown jewel and will not go away for a while. DICE gives EA the answer to Call of duty and the Frostbite engine. DICE enjoy a relative respect and freedom from the EA execs because DICE delivers just what EA want. You could argue that the kind of game that Battlefield is fits well with EA's business practice.
Westwood's closure still pisses me off today
I remember playing the c&c demo on my pc in the mid 90’s. I couldn’t believe how good it was and went out immediately to buy the full game.
EA is so bad Larry has to speak positively about Peter Molyneux.
To be fair to Petey, he is an influential part of pc gaming. Too bad that he is a bit muppet.
I think this explains the entire video.
LittleNorwegians, EA was even to "cheap" to have Sega produce carts when their games were ported to the Genesis/Mega Drive... instead, EA created counterfeit cartridges with their games without Sega's permission.
Christ, Larry, I wasn't sure if you'd put out a Halloween video, but I did NOT expect something THAT terrifying. You should put a warning for the weak-hearted amongst us, so we can prep ourselves for the heart-wrenching terror you just put us through.
I will never forgive EA for runing Spore. The day that game came out was the day my innocence died. I looked forward to that game for 3 years and they ruined it.
Richard The Lionheart screw Spore. Knew it was a hack job from the beginning. What really bothered me was when they canned SimMars.
Spore was my first and last EA game. I didn't even know what type of company EA was back then. I loved spore but too bad.
Spore actually killed Spore
Truly the scariest youtube halloween special.
This is what real horror mean to be.
Also the saddest. I can picture all these company's assets sitting in a vault at EA that has a sign on the door saying "Broken Dreams".
Next to the "Murder innocent kittens" room?
so is everyone forgetting about Popcap, because they are really close to being destroyed as they only make Plants Vs Zombies and Bejweled on mobile instead of PC.
PvZ is one of my favorite games, it sucks to see it owned by EA.
Exactly.
they already are, the workers of popcap studio all got fired, even the creator of pvz did! it’s really crazy but this happened over four years ago! your a little late
@@hdexotic1914 wow man that frikkin sucks :(
Popcap made some of the very best chill out games. PVZ was a totally new spin on the zombie apocalypse. My mother in law and myself both stated that in the coming Zombie war we would go and plant a garden instead.
And their current trick for fucking over developers is forcing them to use FrostBite regardless of its suitability or otherwise for the game in question.
Also, if you had anything to do with game development in the 80s/90s you almost certainly had some exposure to Deluxe Paint for the Amiga, it was pretty much the Photoshop of its time in that literally everybody used it. Monkey Island's hero name even derives from the fact that when he was an unnamed sprite the artist drawing him just called him "guy". When he exported it from DPaint the filename ended up being "guy.brush" (.brush being the extension DPaint used for IFF files that didn't represent a full screen image).
Did you know that in the early days Electronic Arts tried to assert copyright on EVERY PIECE OF ART EVER CREATED WITH DPAINT?
Yeah a shame EA didn't carry over Deluxe Paint onto PC. Another missed opportunity.
I may have to crack out my A1200 just for the nostalgia now. Thanks.
That description of EA being a child that keeps breaking their new toys is a lot more accurate than I thought at first.
Really, they see a company with success, buy it, force their rules on them and then sack them when it turns out that said rules suffocated their newest toy.
Had EA been a lot more hands-off and more forgiving with their subsidiaries they'd be praised for being the umbrella under which some of the most famous developers worked but no, they butcher the cow when they notice it's stubbed it's toe.
What they need is a new CEO who completely changes the company from its comfort zone and addresses their reputation. It would be revolutionary, but as of now rather improbable to happen.
+sankunsama you'd be amazed how many pampered brats I've seen with mothers on foodstamps.
While Larry's analogy is certainly apt, I often wonder how much of EA's destruction through acquisition is intentional. They've consolidated the interactive entertainment industry like it's EA's business, and to distressing effect. All to the exclusive benefit of the corporate monoliths.
Fortunately foreign competition from japan and poland as well as digital distribution and funding platforms like steam, gog, kickstarter, etc. are still giving the corporate vandals a run for their $$$ and I'd even go so far as to say that the corporate industry is well on its way to choking and dying on its own bloat within the next two years and EA will be one of the first to fall.
@VC Donovan
Yeah, that 'triple A' indie game that came out recently shows that publishers are basically an obsolete middleman that takes most of the credit and money so nobody but those employed by them will be sad to see them go.
I think the Borg analogy is closer to the truth. You will join the collective and loose your individuality. You will be assimilated.
An episode of Fact Hunt without a friendly jab at Pete? Worse even, an episode where he's the victim of even greater evil? The end is nigh! ;)
milczyciel I didn't even know he was allowed to say nice things about Peter Pan
He does jab at him though...
Unlike other channels where their idea of scary Halloween is a few spooky games, Larry scares us with a sudden change in character and a chilling tale that makes even Freddy Krueger have nightmares... Come, sit, and listen to the tale of how even Peter Molyneux could not escape the evil that is EA...
Pyrithe Hah! You mate... I like you :D
He did have a peter jab tho...
Game company: becomes successful
EA: "Wait that's illegal"
I hate EA! They ruined so many good games with their BS. BTW I was expecting a Molyneux joke with more bite. Top 10 best Peter Molyneux jokes when?!
Made the Fable series I believe.
They're an often-mocked figure in the games industry, with a reputation for over-hyping and making ludicrous promises. Best known these days for the Fable games.
Top 100 biggest Molyneux lies?
Don't give Watchmojo any ideas.
Will Wright, the mind behind The Sims, helmed the development of Spore. Peter has no association with that game.
EA is like the king Midas of video games.
Just replace the gold with trash.
EA: EVERYTHING I TOUCH DIES!!
EA has the Midas touch in reverse.
Soul Swallower With A Twist Why the hell would anyone sell to EA? EA's poison will just slowly drip in until you're fucked.
shut up
EA: I will consume all! The light and the darkness!
If EA ever offers to buy your studio, YOU SAY NO!
Roxor128 Nintendo will reject EA’s offer for sure
Dude.. Imagine being a smaller company having to fight with the big wolves, actually having to work hard and not being sure if you succeed, and suddenly you are given millions without having to do anything.. Unless your only goal is to make great games and nothing else, why say no?
Like a dog that just peed on your rug - No!
This is how Electronic Arts works their reputation is in the toilet they buy a studio that's loved by gamers so automatically that love gets applied to them for a short time then start rushing in and making the lives of the developer a living hell so the best people eventually leave So eventually they start releasing garbage and EA can say look at this we swooped in and shut down the studio. I wonder how big EA would be if these studio were still around today
@@redseagaming7832 i bet ea would be nothing but sports games entirely by now if they still had to compete with every studio they have killed off. They might even be dead themselves if they hadn't, which would be fucking amazing, fuck EA.
Always loved Westwood, Bladerunner was my fav PC game they made. Shame what happened to them
N64 Glenn Plant ya man same i love command and conquer even though i love red alert 3 Damn you EA
I loved the Command & Conquer Red Alert series (only ever played the first two), Tiberian Sun, and Nox.
+Reality Productions Yeah, that game was cheesy good fun. (Even more so with Yuri's Revenge.)
Decidedly less cheesy if you add the Mental Omega mod, but still a heck of a lot of fun.
Think Westwood are now Petroglyph studios but the real talent left so it is not as good anymore, also RA1 wasn't as campy as RA2 and 3, that was EA again changing a darker alt history into bright cheese, RA1 was quiet serious with the soviet campaign including a few assassinations and content that got it an 18 rating.
Artuurs Z. Somebody's mad...
This episode legit made me angry.
If you want more anger then watch 4 times Miyamoto was an Asshole and the recent video about the practices of former Nintendo owner.
@@NealCamerlengo At least the games are good
Nice to see a short clip from our interview with mark healey in here (: would nice to get asked first next time but it's ok since it's just about 3 seconds ;)
No wonder South Park made an episode about EA
That said, they publish their games via Ubisoft, which isn't exactly a saint either. Such is the realm of AAA gaming I guess.
verdatum To be fair, the licensing was sold to a different company and it was because of their bankruptcy that Ubisoft got the rights.
verdatum compared to EA, Ubisoft is Jesus Christ. EA has done way too much damage to the gaming industry over the years, that nearly anything Ubisoft does couldn't put them anywhere near the realm of EA provided they don't start devouring studios and closing them down.
It says a lot about how bad EA are when you find yourself worried that they might end up closing down Bioware.
Darkfyraproductions
I agree.
My money is Anthem is going not going to hit sales figures they want.
Then they'll become the next visceral.
Its kinda sad, they're were one of the big western rpg developers,.
Dragon age 4 Is in the works, the lead writer is gone and it'll. Be a husk of its former self.
adamwestslapdog It's gonna happen eventually
Aww Larry, that's got to be the saddest video you've ever made. I'll never forgive EA for crushing my favourite games and their developers. RIP C&C.
Less known is the fact that once EA tried to make money with Facebook flash-based games and bought Playfish, a moderately succesful company who made Pet Society, one of the first hit games of Facebook. Suddenly the game duplicated the amount of items only purchasable with RL money, then EA closed all Playfish games except for Pet Society, and finally killed the pet simulator without warning or time for goodbye...
julioagua I clicked on this video just to see if playfish ever gets mentioned... Restaurant City was such a beautiful memory...
EA pumped its properties into it, had them make Simcity Social and Sim Social. Simcity social was worse as it would spam your friends with requests even if you hadn't authorised them to. Sims Social was a flash based buggy mess often.
Then they killed it the second it wasn't making (enough?) money.
Best call the company
EA: *Eternal Acquisitions*
TVBForever or Enormous Assholes, that works too
TVBForever How about Eternally Atrocious.
But when can I call them, Error 404 Asshole not found?
I'd go with Embezzling Annoyance
Everyones Anihilation
Moral of this video: DON'T LET EA BUY YOUR STUDIO!
FLTheAnimeGuy Mk. 9000 As long no one wants to sell the voting shares in spite of the ludicrous money thrown at them, then yeah it's doable. The problem is that money overrides principles/scrupples because no one thinks extremely long term. Everyone wants to retire early, so of course some of the idiots will take the money and sod everyone else - their company included. Studios should have known by now that EA is toxic due to its track record for killing great studios. The only way to make EA completely unpalatable to any prospective studios in their sights is to have EA crash in stocks and sales - but good luck with that thanks to the whales that keep throwing their wallets at EA's games.
there they will buyout your publisher. They Steal what is not given to them.
@@129das I mean, it's not stealing if you buy it out... Just saying.
Larry: I finally get to talk about Peter Molyneux.
(Says positive things about Peter Molyneux)
Me: Well, that was unexpected.
everything looks better in light of EA's shadow...
'cept hitler, maybe?
Kaulinis Hitler set the standard that make everyone around the world think "made in Germany" = quality.... But then we have Dingo Pictures....... So Hitler 2.5 EA 0?
PopCap for me was the saddest buyout, making Plants Vs Zombies sequel full to the brim with microtransactions.
Not to mention completely ignoring PC and making it only an iOS/Android release... PC was always Popcap's main market, I can't believe there wasnt a PC PvZ2, either the same free game or preferably a paid version with no micros.
FanceThePerson :3 I loved the original PvZ, so I'm still really pissed off at EA.
damn another to the list of favourite developers swallowed by EA! I love love loved peggle and pvz
Let's talk about the shitshow Garden Warfare 2 was, good on PopCap for making DLC free for both games, but 2's DLC ended so... early!
As much fun as it is to bag on Peter it's important to remember that before he went completely off the rails he was a genuine asset to the gaming world so it's nice to hear even you give him a little credit.
I wonder how long he would have stayed sane had Bullfrog not been sold to EA since it seems his departure was both of mind and body seeing as how nearly every thing from that point on was a downward spiral...
The1rust
He shouldn't have sold his credibility to EA
Yeah, his old games are still awesome an innovative. They have a lot of re-playability and this wholesome feeling to it that I'm having a hard time getting out from the majority of modern AAA games.
My silent protest against EA: I Never buy any of their games. Sadly it's because no one buys their games, these poor companies get closed down. It's a rock and a hard place... but EA are soulless. They should just stop buying out all the competition.
But wow, Molyneux is the good guy in this!
Fun fact: they tried to buy CDProyektRed but the Polish government forbade it
Ha ha ha, eat it, EA! Oh man, I cannot even begin to imagine what it would have been like had they been bought out by EA.
Probably a Witcher game with a feminist, transgender Gerald, don't forget your premium lootboxes over it and your battlefield themed horse DLC for $ 9,99.
Satanicxela god bless the polish fighting off evil one step at a time
Satanicxela I love my country
Satanicxela you laugh but corporate idiots would have tried.
Oh man Black Box games, how I miss you making the good games I associate with EA games on console, NFS Underground 2 and Most Wanted and Skate.
Most Wanted 2005 ❤️
I litterally died when he said that the black box nfs titles werent much liked
Rickert 2004 He didn’t provide proof, so you’re still safe :D
About Ultima 9 : The reason why it was such a buggy and unfinished mess was EAs fault to begin with, because of their unreasonable deadlines. The same goes for Ultima 8. Basically EA told Origin Studios to hurry up and release it in a buggy state, and when they saw that the release version was a buggy mess EA decided to close down Origin Studios.
That's a common story with EA.
VC Donovan M.O
Stefan Hohnwald same with ME:A (only the glitch) ME:A is first concept scrapped after 3yrs(2015) of development then they make a new concept but EA cant giving bioware more times that's why the game is buggy as hell at launch
Along with the fact that some of the most awkward platforming ever hamfisted into an rpg was in 8, and that the protagonist and story of 9 had such terrible dementia and insane plot discrepancys it may as well be the shittiest fan-made game ever!
Wel.. It was in development hell before EA intervention. It changed engine multiple times, and got delayed for the making of Ultima Online, and then side-tracked due to the sucess of UO.
After Anthem is released as a cheap Destiny knock-off designed to sell microtransactions, you can add BioWare to the list.
Cure Optimism Bioware is next for sure
Subtle Siren
You're an idiot.
Subtle Siren? More like Obvious Troll.
Nah, Bioware probably isn't next. I'm betting Criterion or Ghost Games.
Nah they still have Dragon Age 4, but if that flops as well, then yes they are done
This is perhaps my favorite video so far because of the info on EA, clearing up the past, and hearing more about Peter M. Thanks, Larry. :)
Fucking hell that was depressing.
Ross's Game Dungeon Awards about studios bought by EA:
- It's dead
- They killed it
- They will kill again
Maxis is playing EA torture simulator, once they were purchased out. IE they put them into a room took the door away and kept them alive with replacing left overs in the room, and put a fireplace but forgot to put the chair next to it.
*Sees Westwood Studios*
*Cries out loud*
I know your feeling, friend in misfortune.
RIP Westwood, and the brethren of Nod who fell with them.
(-_-)ゝ
Artuurs Z. Westwood is dead and there is only dark before me in C&C series after they are gone.
Command and conquer😢
Electronic Arts used to be a good company in the days of road rash but nowadays they've become complete C**ts.
I miss bullfrog :(
I'll never forgive them for Westwood, Maxis and Bullfrog. Never.
Perhaps *the* three most important developers to contribute to my early love of video games. And EA murdered them.
My biggest fear is that Respawn is next to be closed
Titanfall 2 didn't do very well for EA, but its CEO said it liked the critical reception of the game. They're perhaps in a bit of danger, but I think EA will keep them in pocket for rather a while longer.
Respawn is not owned by EA, though, so they are safe.
bioware is probably next akko
More that likely I think that Criterion Games will be one of the next studios to get the ax. I believe this because they have largely been reduced to helping other divisions of EA with Star Wars games and their racing game project from 2014 was cancelled.
I hope they all close. EA needs to go down.
What's up with Criterion? I know they're technically still around, but EA has wasted their talents on garbage, when the market is screaming for a proper, next gen, Burnout game. I used to have a lot of respect for EA back in the Genesis days. They took chances on new developers, and IPs, but now, they have become the graveyard for good developers to come, and die. Sad, just sad.
Criterion is pretty much dead. There were some internal conflict about the future which broke up the team. Now they are just a support team to other teams' projects.
That and NFS Most Wanted 2012's heated backlash from Burnout fans played a part in Criterion's breakup.
"If we can't make good games, _nobody_ can!"
"See? I can say good things about Molyneux."
Well, you can, but it looks like your mouth is bleeding now.
Mr Skysen Games
I will say this for Molyneux, the man had vision... he also had ADD severe enough to ensure that vision would never be realized!
It's due to companies like EA that the indie scene is doing so well.
For a side of the industry that claims to want all the money, AAA companies seem to leave a lot of it just lying around because they think they are above making genres like CRPGs, horror games, and space simulators. And then proceed to look like a bunch of dumb assholes when a random nobody makes a fortune off a game that they claim "nobody wants to play".
Nathan Cassidy tru
Yeah, if you want a fun to play game, go indie, or Nintendo.
careful now. If you make one of them indie studios too big, EA may just buy them up. No really, that's quite a probable threat these days sadly...
Nathan Cassidy Yea, the big four aren't really up to snuff anymore save for one but they are better off subcontracting or selling the IPs they don't use anymore. Big Four = EA, Konami, Square Enix, Capcom
not up to snuff Enix is still putting out good games that still sell well Squar on the other hand are not
Nice little Knightmare reference at 8:17. I loved that show back in the 90s. Good video Larry, thanks!
You'll never be forgotten Maxis. Your Sim Mania packs were always my favorite.
The history of EA itself is depressing. There was a time when their name really meant something, and they were dedicated to viewing and respecting game designers as artists.
Youwerethechosenone.bat
One of the early games i loved from EA was Arcticfox on the C64. Sure it was a battlezone clone, but damn it was fun. Skate or Die! was a fun one too
EA had a couple different studios like Eurocom making a shitload of Bond games in the sixth generation, all of them (plus TWINE on N64, minus Rogue Agent) were damn good.
Then Activision bought the license and turned 007 into the same damn Call of Duty clone three games in a row. I mean, the GoldenEye remake I'd still call good and if you have to play any of the Activision ones, I recommend that the most. It even has a normal health bar mode!
Skate or Die on NES man......good times, had it not been for that and 720 degrees the whole THPS series never would have happened cus Tony wouldn't have played those games and been inspired to make a game a decade later....granted THPS was activision but still...
Larry: "Their NFS games weren't much liked"
NSFU, NSFU2, and NFSMW: *Sells upwards of 10 million units each*
That one hurt....
No research whatsoever...
But were those NFS games made by BlackBox?
"The Run" was, as their logo is clearly shown during the startup sequence, but I don't remember the BlackBox logo in those 3 titles you mention.
@@Deniii4000 Black Box developed almost every mainline NFS entry from Hot Pursuit 2 in 2002 to The Run in 2011
@@samuraicowboyx I didn't know that.
I always thought BlackBox only made The Run.
Thanks for the info.
How about the really old NFS?
"Hey, what does this knife do? Ow, my finger! I won't do that agai-hey, a knife!"
-EA executive
I guess I will add to this video by adding a quote from the composer of music for old Maxis games.
"Yes, when I started there it was just Maxis. When EA took over they had a weird meeting where the told everyone not to worry about loosing their jobs and that they weren't going to fire anyone. Two weeks later about 80% of the people were gone. EA definitely changed the vibe and it wasn't as fun after."
Source: www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/53erny/iama_jerry_martin_music_composer_for_the_sims_and/d7sg4v3/
Another honourable mention is RenderWare. That legendary engine powered an entire generation of iconic games (including the PS2 GTA universe), but was bought up by EA who then shafted developers on the licensing terms then essentially kept it for themselves.
RenderWare being bought out was part of the reason why Rockstar built their RAGE engine (first used in Table Tennis) and the rest is history.
Man, EA are basically poison. I think this will happen to a lot of big name game studios as time goes on. Maybe indies will take over and hopefully not be bought up by bigger companies.
Man, it feels super weird hearing Larry say nice things about Peter Molyneux. I think I need to watch several Fact Hunt video to go back to normal.
EA is so bad it make Peter look good, that is just how it work.
I believe he was really positive about him in his early reviews of Peters games.
Cornelius Snow You gotta watch his early videos. He literally worshiped him
I'm French but not biased but I think Ubisoft used to be good
Dose anyone know what Peter Molyneux did to get on Larry bad side. Im out of the loop so to speak.
Don't forget that Westwood also did the "Legend of Kyrandia" games, a trilogy of point-and-click adventures that were pretty good in their own right.
Damn you EAids
you should make this a meme
Laughed then cried
I miss "Destroy All Humans".
Hopefully THQ Nordic brings it and Red Faction back.
Good news friend! Red Faction Guerrilla got a kickass PC port by Nordic, and they were the ones behind DAH 1 and 2 getting a PS4 rerelease.
Every second of this video reopens another years-old wound I thought time had healed. I'm feeling it Larry, I'm really feeling it now.
Don't forget EA Sports famous slogan
"Get the fuck out of my office!"
If EA keeps this up i cant wait to see their E3 press conference in 2023. In which they say ''we have one company left making a revolutionary new asymmetrical experience for the modem age so without further ado we would like to show you.... aaand its gone its gone ''
Can we all PLEASE just boycott EA, let's start by not buying the new Star Wars Battlefront 2, because we all know it's just a slightly enhanced version of the first one with a couple new characters and locations
I really do hate EA, they ruin EVERYTHING
actually Disney is getting pissed at EA for Battlefront 2
That's gotta say something.
Jae Darké It sold 7 million copies sadly ):
and I'm sure their new FIFA and Madden games are gonna sell like hotcakes as well
Yeah unfortunately they would stay alive just on their yearly sports games, the slight upgrades each year, and the millions of morons who eat that shit up. Those idiots give gaming a bad name. If you like ea sports games, your a moron, and dont write me back if this offends you, cause your opinion means less than nothing to me.
@@Cman04092 agreed you arnt a gamer if you play sports games
You can't spell Cheat without EA
Can't spell "cheap" without EA, either.
You can't spell *dEAth* without EA.
Can't spell steal without EA
Can't spell *dread* without EA
Can't spell eat without ea
Blackbox's nfs titles weren't liked much? Big mistake. Blackbox's nfs games are seen as the "golden era" of nfs and the sales peaked with the 2005 title most wanted. blackbox were killed off after being underfunded more and more each year to the point they couldn't even finish their game (Need For Speed The Run), that title was finished by criterion games which was also killed later on.
oh and "restructuring" happened several times throughout blackbox's life. the first big restructure was sometime between 2006-2008 where they laid off several people to make space for "new people with modern ideas".
This
Hot Pursuit 2, Underground and Most Wanted. Give them money and time we'd get the perfect NFS game. ;( I still listen to the Hot Pursuit 2 soundtrack
thank you speedyheart :)
Even their "bad" NFS titles are mostly pretty good, they're just mostly forgettable. That said, Criterion and Ghost have done a great job with the series since, although being the "EA Studio that makes NFS" is code in the industry for "short-lived career path," no matter how well the game sells or is critically recieved.
Do you think the disaster known Undercover was EA's fault? You know, the game that made the entire series stuck in the mud for almost a decade?
So is EA just ran by a really bored yet rich manchild that knows they should just stop doing weird bullshit, but continues to keep going just to see what happens?
FrankyManky Most probably, yet debatable.
they know exactly what they are doing.
Well lucky for you I hardly played any EA games, and I never even liked them from the start.
Good, that means you are a well-educated gamer.
(Also I see your comments in like every 3rd video I watch)
I loved a lot of the games by companies EA bought... and that makes it sad when EA acquires them because it basically means you won't see them do anything meaningful again.
Nana-Kyoto At least play pvz ;-;
technicly we've ALL played EA games.. but only cuz the bastards bought the original studios that made those games...
I always run into you
You have the Eastern devil in Konami, and the Western devil in EA.
They make Capcom and Ubisoft look good in comparison.
nachoolo should say much about them that capcom and unisoft is better.
Jimmy De'Souza they've been shown to be practically slave drivers on multiple occasions from multiple sources. They don't care about their fans instead of making games they pump money into their gambling division and make pachinko machines based on games and develop all new assets for these machines. Like I used to love konami I grew up in the 90s on castlevania and contra lol but they're just about EA level of fucked nowadays. Plus metal gear survive? Take a popular IP and stick zombies in it and sell it just so people will buy it for the name. Fuck konami at least capcom and Ubisoft still come out with good games
Honestly Ubisoft isn't that bad, just shitty business strategies and unpolished games. Plus not good story telling in their recent games.
We also have Activision which is also a creativity sucking, greedy company obsessed with generic games and DLC.
So is Nintendo the worldwide demon because of taking down fan-games?
From the bad news I've been hearing about Anthem, namely the demo and this whole microtransactions thing, I've got a feeling Bioware's next on the chopping block. And if Popcap isn't dead, it like Maxis sure smells funny.
I eagerly await the day EA just collapses and it's remains (IPs) picked clean by other companies.
"A Slow, Painful death."
'Shows I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.'
......That's pretty apt actually.
EA: RUIN EVERYTHING
Dr170 EA=EARLY ANAL
They do this on purpose to eliminate competition.
Spore... also known as "No Mans Sky: The Prequel". ;)
Most of why it didn't sell well, though, was because they intentionally released the creature creator with built-in spyware and that came out, which greatly discouraged people from buying the full game
As much as EA screwed up SPORE, it's still many leagues better than what No Man's Sky failed to deliver on.
I actually enjoyed the creature creator infinitely more than I did the full game anyways.
+Mushafasa
join the club, the rest of the game was overly simple.
imagine if the space portion was like a customizable Empire at War.
TechyBen
But unlike No Man's Shit, it's actually good.
*Brings up Red Alert 3*
*No mention of Tim Curry and his OTT Russian accent*
I am disappointed. Well, off to spaaace!
I did almost expect Bioware to be on here. Granted they're not dead but they're a shell of their former self.
Ravenite "SPAYUS!"
All cutscenes in Red Alert 3 are very sad joke. Seriously, Red Alert 2 was full of C class actors but they were amazingly cheesy and funny and bloody memorable, mainly Soviets (Udo Jürgens as Yuri is for me like masterclass in Shakespeare) but here you have big stars just to read script and get some easy pocket money, Tim Curry is highlight because he is Tim Curry but who cares? Plenty of childish boob and ass shots, horrendous Tanya, George Takei completely wasted, Jonathan Pryce (badly) impersonating Alec Guinness, J. K. Simmons having time of his life, David Hasselhoff kinda amusing, it is a mess, not very entertaining, not very memorable, plus you have average game attached to it. And yeah, BioWare that developed Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2, that kind of BioWare I care about, isn't around anymore, sadly.
Jakub Lulek Yeah Red Alert 3 was the least serious Red Alert game, good game though but let's not pretend that all of us did not masturbate to that Soviet chick in RA2 as kids
+Jakub Lulek
as George Takei once said: You are made of stupid.
8:57 showing scenes from IHNMBIMS and saying "it's almost like EA kept them alive for their own personal amusement."
Very clever writing with a layered reference. Excellent!
I can't even call EA or companies like them out cuz people still support them. Star Wars BF 2 as an example, it literally has pay 2 win loot crates as it's only progression system and there are popular gamers/streamers still talking about how they preordered and are so excited to play and stream it with loads of dumb fans saying the same thing. Calling these companies evil but still buying from them is like screaming that you hate a lion for biting your arm off while you stick a steak in it's mouth with the other arm.
If you think about it, if it weren't for these sort of sheep, EA wouldn't have a viable business model. It's all one big ecosystem of stupidity, incompetence, and greed. Ripping off hyped nostalgia casuals who like to call themselves "gamers," EA isn't the only thing to blame here. Just leave these idiots to their own devices. There are still quality games to be found elsewhere.
WR3ND Literally, it's so dumb, like 90% of the fools who complain still buy it, play it, stream it and watch streams and wonder why they don't stop. They don't care about a salty comment or reddit post when they're laughing their way to the bank, if everyone who complained had just not bought the game/stop playing altogether, then they would be forced to actually stop and fix it.
and we also have the dudebros still buying their sports games.
Well, I don't buy anything from them - most games that I have are older classics (such as the Civ series and "Rome: Total War") or idie titles (such as "Cthulhu Saves the World" and "Huniepop"): I refuse to buy new AAA games until the "games as service" model is left behind in the dust - as such, EA hasn't made a dime off of me in years.
We're all thinking it, I'm gonna say it...
BETRAAAAAYAL!
BETRAYED ME!!
8:00 you timed “but, no” perfectly with the guys animation
give it a year or two and Bioware will be on the list too... mark my words.
EDIT: well i knew it would end badly but damn, i hate being right, but i didnt think Anthem would be AS bad as it has been.
EA will take the cash from Anthem then kick the corpse onto the pile, its their style, leech the good from the company then kill it off.
Since they merged with Pandemic in 2005, would they technically be on the list already?
BioWare has been like that for years since Dragon Age 2.
Bioware's been on the list for years.
Subtle Siren "Alt-right terrorists" are you on crack?
When a game-franchise doesn't perform like expected anymore, EA should just tell the developers to create a NEW franchise.
It should be expected that the "same" game, over and over again doesn't sell over a long period of time.
But not for EA! Just close amazing game companies, because they can't do good ever again, or what?!
But sure, shovel more and more -Assassins- -Creed- in our asses until we vomit money. What a shit-show.
[EDIT] I can't distinguish between most studios anymore, can't I?
TrueMG Assassin's creed is Ubisoft.
TrueMG
Assassin's Creed is Ubisoft.
EA has nothing to do with the series.
What does Assassins Creeed have to do with anything?
TrueMG EA doesn't actually don't have much say in what their studios make. They actually tend to be one of the more hands off publishers out there. Sadly because of the the studios over promise and under deliver which ends up in cancelled games or games that go well over budget or under perform in sales. This ends up in the studios bleeding money and it gets them closed. There are cases where EA has tried to shake things up in the studios to turn them around, but it ends up not doing anything.
The good thing tho is when EA closes a studio they move the employees to other jobs in EA, if they take the offer.
Reminds me of this villain in a science fiction series I liked called Animorphs. The Villain was a complete monster in almost every sense of the word and his soldiers, researcher, and other underlings feared him because they knew if they messed up even once or made him even slightly angry he would remove their heads from their shoulders right then and their on his own with out saying or word or even flinching.
... came for the title and stayed for the script! Excellent job once again Mr Bundy Jr! I always wondered what your beef was with Armando Iannucci and then I took off the 3D glasses....
Press "F" to pay respect to Westwood
Press "U" to pay respect to Bullfrog
Press "C" to pay respect to Origin
Press "K" to pay respect to Pandemic
Press "Y" to pay respect to Mythic
Press "O" to pay respect to Black Box
Press "Ü" to pay respect to Maxis
Press "E" to pay respect to Visceral
Press "A" to pay respect to Danger Close
Press "‼" to Pay respect to BioWare
CasanovaUnlimited well EA were just gonna dead if they still needing devs to deceloping games for em valve still exist because steam but if every studio is dead at EA they only have 1 thing left origin(that just gonna making em losing money slowly)
dumbass
To me, the buy out of PopCap was the thing that truly showed me that EA was the coming of the fourth Reich. PopCap had so much potential for greatness, but the smothering of their abusive step father doomed them to a fate of rehashed mobile games and Garden Warfare.
1:33 Battlezone II was such a fun game with some great twists on the RTS formula. Thanks Pandemic! I'll never forget.
Wow I never thought I'd see the day that the Guru admitted that Old Petey boy ain't the worse kid on the block. As to EA, haven't forgotten the murder of Playfish. Sure it was just "social games" but they were fun and they killed it.
Same thing with PopCap.
Electronic Arts?
more like
Electronic Farts
Electronic Sharts
However, they let the Westwood Studios spiritual successor, Petroglyph handle the Command & Conquer and Red Alert HD Remasters which went the extra mile in all of the content, especially the music which was given not only remasters by the man who wrote them. Himself, Frank Klepacki....but all new full band versions via Frank and The Tiberian Son's.
Their games were top notch, the collectors edition came with all of the high end things that all had places in the foam insert in the box.
Now EA needs to let Petroglyph remaster Red Alert 2 and Tiberian Sun!!!
The sponsored video was for some new EA Starwars phone game lol