Kotaku
Bullfrog, Origin Systems, and Westwood Studios rank as some of the best development houses of all time. They also happen to represent three of EA's most spectacular failures. "We at EA blew it," said EA CEO John Riccitiello at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas this morning, "To a degree, I was involved in those things, so I blew it."
While Riccitiello was proud of his achievements at EA following his return to the company, he warned developers and publishers not to make some of the mistakes the company has made in the past. Those mistakes, he said, involved the stifling of creative talent and their ensuing departure.
Riccitiello took DICE attendees to school this morning with his talk on Game industry Economics 101. EA, like Activision, Sony, Microsoft, will continue to absorb developers, as it did with Bioware Pandemic last year. And that presents a danger.
"Organizations are not coming together in a good way," he said, resulting in less interesting products born of "creative failure."
In the cases of Bullfrog, OSI and Westwood, Ricitiello said that the belief that EA and its studios could be one big happy family, with a one-culture-fits-all mentality doesn't work. Those teams suffered, and eventually lost talent, because creative decisions were escalated to the top levels of the company and creative contributors were "buried in layers of bureaucracy and policy."
What does work, Riccitiello said, are what he called "city-state" teams, with strong leaders like the ones Bioware, Maxis, DICE and Distinctive. Outside of EA, he pointed to Rockstar Games, Valve and Blizzard as strong examples of the kind of creatively independent models to follow.
He had strong words for publishers who were looking to consolidate, saying "The command and conquer model doesn't work. If you think you want to buy a developer and take their name off the credits, taking away their autonomy, you're making a profound mistake."
The solution was to "Find the people you trust and give them the keys."
Comments
I'll never forgive those guys for Origin and what they did with the Wing Commander franchise.
Bullfrog? Didn't they make Dungeon Keeper? Which I loved, even the (considered by many) less-awesome sequel? Then they just killed it off? Right....thanks you fuckers. Excuse my French.
I don't blame the developers, in my opinion the blame falls on EA for not allowing their creative units the tiem and space they need to create a good product. it's like buying a shark and putting it in a 20gallon fish tank...
That 'In Bruges' ad sticking over the type is now past irritating.
@Candlejack: Bullfrog...that's a good drink......
Bungie. Nuff said.
Yea, the path behind EA is littered with the corpses of great game franchises and the creative minds who created them, so I guess this makes sense. Kind of like getting Hannibal Lecter to help you catch a serial killer.
Nice to see thay've learned from their mistakes. It gives me hope for the future of Bioware.
Well, good for him admitting what we all complained about all those years!
Show us you've learned from your mistakes, don't tell us.
NOOO! I now know what happened to Theme Hospital and yes I am serious >:(
I remember when Criterion mad Vanishing Point for DC. Great Game. I still have it.Now that they're owned by EA, I don't think we'll see another outing like VP. EA is content on making Burnout games each year just like Madden, Need for Speed and others. Basically driving the series into the dirt. Burnout Paradise looks promising though.
I view EA the same as UBI Soft especially after the craptacular Metal of Honor: Heroes 2 debuted. If you see their logo
DO
NOT
BUY
IT
@Everard: Agreed, one of my favorite motto's in life is you cant change the past, but you can use your past experiencs to change the future. Hopefully EA will start to allow creativity. I remember in 1999-2002 Sega diversafied their studios and allowed their producers to create what they wanted, some awsome games came out of that action, but when they shelved the dreamcast and reunited/sold many of their studios they started comming out with the crap that we see today.
I have to admit that EA has come a long way from where they were, their sports division notwithstanding. For the longest time, EA had the same personal stigma that JoWood carries - I just didn't care for anything coming out of their house of demons. With this gen, however, it just seems that they're really getting on top of their game. Hell, I'll go back and say that it really blew up with the Sims. EA realised that if you let someone do their thing, they come up with some great stuff. That's how Skate outsells TH 2:1.
@DigitalHero: i second that...i miss wing-commander. At least #wing-commander lives on...
pretty impressive owning up from the EA honchos. They've really been making some very large changes in that company, I say in 5 years people will have transfered all their EA hate to Activision and see EA as a leader in developer and quality first gaming. The wheels are already rolling on this one.
@Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.: You won't buy Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, Assassin's Creed, Brothers in Arms, Haze, FarCry (...)? I really don't want to sound like advertisement for Ubi but you are throwing things around too lightly. The crap EA spits out doesn't compare to the games Ubi has been creating.
@Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.: my bad...(really need an edit button in these threads) Burnout isn't a yearly outing but damn if there aren't too many of them out already. Give a chance to miss the series.
@Sinnbox: dude, Gun Valykrie. Awesome game that deserved a sequel but had one of the dumbest control scheme of the era. GV gave a glimpse of what a 3rd person Metriod Prime could have been. All it needed was a sequel or even a current gen remake with a better control scheme.
Same with Project Number 3. Great idea but a half baked game. Sequel or remake please to take advantage of the potential of the ideas behind the title.
I missed Sim ThemePark.
@Candlejack: my bad...I should have specified...UBI Wii games.
but I didn't buy any splinter cell, I didn't buy Assassin's Creed, I passed on Ghost Recon and GR2, i passed on R6:Vegas, Haze wasn't developed by UBI but Free Radical and there's a chance I won't be buying that either since it looks like a me-too-itis game, Prince of Persia...no, I like the first one, didn't like the second, passed on the third. Brother's in Arms...uh no
I hope that covers everything
So they have learned their lesson. Nice.
I am now seriously confused...
@Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.: Yea it does, and it's your opinion on the games, nothing wrong with it. Just down to taste, but they're still quality titles and franchises (at least the ones out by now).
Oh and Haze is published by Ubi, doesn't really have to be an internal production to have the logo on it :P
Sounds to me a lot like EA CEO John Riccitiello wants to lump all of the publishers in the same boat of shit he captains. Just because EA ruins good game studios doesn't automatically mean all of the other publishers will, too.
(I'm also not implying that they haven't, I just think it's convenient for a CEO to say 'look, this aspect of our industry sucks and here's a list of people besides us who do it.')
Of course the "command and conquer" method doesn't work - you killed it, you bastards.
Having said that, the fact that EA are finally admitting killing Westwood was a mistake is a start. Now they just need to APOLOGISE for doing so. =(
And here's hoping he actually sticks to his word and doesn't do the same thing again. I happen to like Bioware and Maxis.
@Candlejack: I wouldn't buy any of the games you mentioned myself, but Burnout Paradise is on my radar, and I'm a sucker for EA's NHL games.
to each their own.. to each their own :)
Interesting and promising words. Definitely a different direction the whole Borg-like philosophy. Saying all this now probably doesn't make the lost talent feel any better but admitting your mistakes is a good first step toward redemption.
Of course, this does nothing to change my perception of the company. Every time I play an EA game I feel like I'm playing a commercial.
One step at a time.
@Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.: Cheers for the GV reference (great game, crippling controls), but I thought PN03 was a lot of fun! A little run-and-gun arcade shooter with a touch of elegance. It would make a perfect Live or PSN game, really.
A big faceless corporation learned a lesson? Awwww, that's cute.
"Rockstar Games, Valve and Blizzard"
Blizzard = Vivendi Games.
Rockstar = Take Two.
Only Valve is independent ...
Besides EA already broken apart Maxis, how about we add then to EA death list?
Wait, so letting successful studios continue doing things their way after being acquired will hopefully allow them to continue to be successful rather than shove one's corporate culture is the way to go!?
I guess understanding this 20 years too late is better than never.
@Candlejack: true that. true that indeed. there are other factors behind the Splinter Cells and the Ghost recons etc...
for instance, R6:Vegas is better on LIVE and 360, but 360 doesn't support the Splitfish which I use for FPS games. I won't buy r6: Vegas on PS3 because it runs like crap. Assassin's Creed, I want to play it but I don't want it on 360 because I know the RRoD is upon me. But the ps3 version has glitches.
Wii has great potential for FPS games but look at Farcry for Wii. One of the most digusting games to be come out for the Wii since day one. Another UBI Soft game. It's a blurry, nasty mess of a game and UBI should be embarrassed to even expect anyone to buy it in that state.
Red Steel sucks...period. Don't get me started on that.
Especially since the last thing I heard about the sequel is that it was outsourced because the original dev team was having too many problems with the development. All of the games UBI soft have released for the Wii thus far have been terrible with the exception of those screwy Rabbits (original)
Haze...yeah..UBI is publishing it but you know what. I've watched a lot of footage of it and I like the 3D engine, textures etc...but gameplay-wise I haven't seen anything that makes Haze standout. The only FPS that I'm really looking forward to this year is Resistance 2.
Let's hope they don't fuck up Warhammer online...
Good to hear the CEO speaking so candidly. They'd better not repeat the same mistakes, because if EA ruins Bioware then I will never forgive them.
@Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.: Well I don't know about any of their Wii games (luckily) but you should really give AC a shot on the PS3 - I've played through it just 2 days after launch without any sort of patch and it never glitched, but just occasionally, like 3 times in total, locked up at one of the loading scenes where you can move around in whiteness. Framerate was very stable, too. So nothing actually kept me from playing it or advancing.
@HJungle: yeah, i had fun with PN#3 but the 3D engine was rough and a lot of the models and effects just felt unfinished. PN#3 could have been huge along the lines of DMC if Capcom would have allowed another few months of development and polish.
Dude, I loved GV but the controls were a deal breaker Trust me, I tried my best to get past it and couldn't...and like Shen Mue, I still believe a remake is in order.
Isn't "creative stifling of talent" a split infinitive? Was the stifling creative?
Sure, Star trek gets away with this stuff. I've watched Star Trek. I like Star Trek. But you, Mr. McWhertor, are no Star Trek.
Pro Tip - "Stifling of creative talent" is the correct answer.
If you think you want to buy a developer and take their name off the credits, taking away their autonomy, you're making a profound mistake."
Anyone think that was leveled at Take Two, and what they did to Irrational Games?
I'm glad they recognized the problem. I still don't forgive them for Westwood or Bullfrog. Nor do I expect that him saying he messed up will have any change on EA's aquisition and destruction of small, quality game houses.
EA: Hey, look... A company making good games. *OM NOM NOM NOM NOM* That company was good. Now, they will become my poop.
This is great. Riccitiello seems to understand the mistakes of EA's past, and its great that he's doing his part to spread the understanding and story of his mistakes with others.
Perhaps I can feel somewhat better about the Bioware aquisition now. At least they seem like they have decent intentions for not bludgeoning creative talent.
Anyone think that was leveled at Take Two, and what they did to Irrational Games?
That would be hilarious because of ... this:
[www.ea.com]
They are listing Mass Effect under the new releases.
As someone who worked for Westwood for years, I'm glad to hear him finally own up to EA's part in what went down. WW wasn't without blame, but it wasn't all just us.
@Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.: No More Heroes! RARAR! 8[]
Sounds like EA is saying:
"Hey guys, it's a bad idea to around buying up companies. Instead let us do it!"
@SaintWaldo: I just assumed that he actually meant that EA stifles talent creatively. Rest of the article made much more sense that way.
@SaintWaldo: My excuse for terrible grammar? I was overserved at the bar last night.
This article is about Origin ... explains a lot ...
[www.escapistmagazine.com]
@Caduceus: Seconded.
Acquiring, and destroying brilliant teams like Westwood, and Origin are EA's biggest crimes against gaming. It's good to know they now realize what huge mistakes those mov