Recently EA purchased Bioware and Pandemic, two successful game-developer companys. To many this might mean the usual EA-method of publishing, new sequels every year with hardly anything new for the gamers. Unfortunately people buy them, Finns especially go for the NHL-franchise, but there are many more. Hopefully Bioware will remain as it has always been, the games the company has made are undeniably good in sales figures as well as among the fans. Hopefully EA won’t mess with their game-development and let them have their free hands to make a just sequel to Mass Effect.
The latest frowner is EA’s attempt to get the Grad Theft Auto-license into their hands. EA continues to grow, but as a company they have withered many talented game-developers into oblivion. They may have had good intensions in the beginning but now it seems that it’s the killer company of good game-developers that deserve to remain intact as they are. To me skate. was a cultural deed from EA’s Black Box and renewed the skateboarding-genre of games tremendously. Otherwise I haven’t had much respect for the games published under EA’s frightening name. Criterion still makes their Burnout series with a polished touch of unEAness, but you never know when things could change to worst.
John Riccitiello has expressed the regrets about EA’s past that has buried many brilliant developers in the flow of time. Next thing EA does is run after Take-Two and Rockstar. Hopefully EA offers their resources to developers without meddling with the important internal organs of game-developers. If Mass Effect 2 comes out the end of this year all half-assed, we will know that before you can say “I knew it”, Mass Effect 2011 is out. Talk about backtracking of the setting. MS is designed to be a trilogy and hopefully it will stay that way instead of EA taking it to new unwelcomed heights.
