EA buying Ubi

[figgler]

Much like Galactus, the devourer of planets, EA continues on it's course to destroy everything. All competition must fall and all gamers will henceforth be forced to play half assed games only from the um, creative geniuses at EA

 

 

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6738052/

[Tempest]

Sigh...

 

Who wants to take bets on when the second great gaming crash is going to happen? Seems like it's inevitable with crap like happening...

 

Tempest

[dvdguy]

This is so irritating... and completely unnecessary.

[Jess Ragan]

When did EA get so frighteningly large, anyway? It seemed like it was only yesterday that they were releasing mediocre action titles like Sword of Sodan and Dark Castle on the Genesis. Does anyone know the exact moment when EA went from tiny US producer to industry behemoth?

 

JR

[dvdguy]

They made an effort to get exclusivity to the NBA too:

 

http://sports.ign.com/articles/574/574539p....html?fromint=1

[+FujiSkunk]

Does anyone know the exact moment when EA went from tiny US producer to industry behemoth?

 

It was a two-step process. The first step was taken when they approached John Madden to put his name on their football game. The second step was taken when they realized people would pay again for the same game every new year.

[PuddWakkr]

Kind of a shame. Ubi has been making fantastic games lately. The prince of persia's, Beyong good and Evil, XIII, the Rayman games, and all the clancy games - especially Rainbow Six3. I really hope this does not happen. I don't have any moral objection to EA it's just that I find most of their games suck a fat one. How horrid is the new GoldenEye for pete's sake? The only recent game I've enjoyed from them is the Lord of the rings RPG and that was only because it was a direct rip of Final Fantasy which I like alot. Hopefully EA will get so big it will implode and all the small devs they've gobbled up can go in peace to make good games again - or the world will have to bow to sucky remakes and rehashed madden games till the end of time.

[MegaManFan]

Not surprising, since Ubi was projected to be in financial trouble when sales of Prince of Persia and BG&E fell flat, and that was half a year ago or more.

[Clock]

I never realised UBI were in trouble seeing as they have had some massive hits in recent years especially with all the Tom Clancey games

 

I must admit I was a bit surprised when Prince of Persia sold so poorly that they made a sequel but it doesn't stop the fact that UBI make great games and EA make average plain boring games. Recently EA did give us Burnout 3 which is awesome but that's the only decent EA game I can think of from recent times.

 

So who's going to buy Tom Clanceys Rainbow Six 2006,7,8,9 etc etc etc?

[Dones]

I am not completely sure (feel free to correct) but I think EA bought the dev house who did the Burnout games, so you could say that game isn't exactly theirs too.

[jedijeff]

Much like Galactus, the devourer of planets, EA continues on it's course to destroy everything.  All competition must fall and all gamers will henceforth be forced to play half assed games only from the um, creative geniuses at EA

 

 

Actually, instead of Galactus, I think it's Microsoft your thinking of.

 

Jeff

[Atariboy]

They only bought 20% of Unisoft, aren't we exagerrating just a bit here?

[Atariboy]

Ubisoft

[Starscream]

They only bought 20% of Unisoft, aren't we exagerrating just a bit here?

 

Yeah I was going to say the same thing. IIRC, EA has owned a percentage for quite some time in Ubi.

[Chickybaby]

Well, all I can say is I guess -

"And another one's gone, and another one's gone, and Another one bytes the dust".

 

EA is nauseating. Not that everthing they do is 100%* horrible just that it's not healthy for the industry in general, I don't think, to have so few unholy large corporations with their greedy grubby mitts in everything.

[liveinabin]

I am not completely sure (feel free to correct) but I think EA bought the dev house who did the Burnout games, so you could say that game isn't exactly theirs too.

 

Well, I don't think they own Criterion outright, but they certainly bought the rights and threw them a shitload of money. Still managed to be a pale imitation of Burnout 2 though.

 

This whole buyout thing really sucks. Ubisoft are the ONLY third party console game manufacturer making really original content. After they fall, it really is the end.

[Jess Ragan]

Oh, c'mon! What about Capcom or Konami? Capcom in particular has been releasing some really cool, really original games in both the United States and their native country of Japan. Okami in particular looks fantastic... you play a white wolf running through a mystical land that bears a striking resemblence to a 16th century Japanese painting. It's a brilliant artistic direction for a game, and a nice change of pace for a company whose past games have had a strong anime influence.

 

I think Japanese companies like the ones mentioned above will keep the video game market from going to hell in Electronic Arts' bulging handbasket. The Japanese are too proud to sell their businesses to an American company (no matter how big and bloated it may be), and they will remain a strong force in the video game industry, no matter how much of the industry EA controls.

 

JR

[Atariboy]

"Well, I don't think they own Criterion outright,"

 

No, they own it now.

[Dones]

This whole buyout thing really sucks. Ubisoft are the ONLY third party console game manufacturer making really original content.

Right on man. Adding to that I think Ubisoft has the best localization department to date. Their games have excellent language and vocal translations. For me it's interesting that it takes an European company to make a serious effort at making games multi-lingually accessible. Maybe EA is aware of this too.

[liveinabin]

Oh, c'mon!  What about Capcom or Konami?

 

They do release the odd original game, true. But Capcom are the biggest Sequelitis sufferers out there.. how many variants of Street Fighter?

 

Fair enough though, I'll revise my statement

 

Ubisoft are the ONLY western third party console game manufacturer making really original content.

[figgler]

 

I think Japanese companies like the ones mentioned above will keep the video game market from going to hell in Electronic Arts' bulging handbasket.  The Japanese are too proud to sell their businesses to an American company (no matter how big and bloated it may be), and they will remain a strong force in the video game industry, no matter how much of the industry EA controls.

 

JR

 

I hadn't though of that so much, but you're right and it's comforting. Really EA can do what it wants over here as it would barely affect me directly. In the grand scheme, they may well destroy much of the creativity and independance in the stateside industry, but Japan will likley always be secure.

Being that 90% of my modern collection is comprised of games from Japanese companies such as Nintendo, Namco, Capcom and Sega I feel a bit safer thinking that the world's greatest developers are pretty much untouchable as far as the all consuming EA goes.

Resistance is not futile.

[Clock]

Oh, c'mon!  What about Capcom or Konami?

 

They do release the odd original game, true. But Capcom are the biggest Sequelitis sufferers out there.. how many variants of Street Fighter?

 

Fair enough though, I'll revise my statement

 

Ubisoft are the ONLY western third party console game manufacturer making really original content.

 

I disagree, Ubi mostly make 1st person shooters albeit very good ones so hardly that original. And what about Rockstar they certainly make high quality original games.

 

So it's not the end and it has to be better than UBI going into liquidation.

[pinball22]

The 20% EA bought makes it the largest shareholder of Ubisoft... http://ps2.ign.com/articles/574/574481p1.html

 

I miss the old EA...

 

[Dones]

It would be naive to think EA interest in Ubi is only stockwise. Ubisoft is their competition. We'll have to sit tight and see what develops next year.

[Starscream]

I think alot of you are also misunderstanding of the fact that EA is mainly a Publisher. While they do have in-house developement (EA Sports) etc, they have primarily become a publisher. Ubisoft is also a publisher. Please don't confuse who developes a game with those who simply take up the helms and release it.

 

While I know the new fashionable thing is to hate EA, it doesn't hurt to understand some differences in who does what relating to games before jumping on the "so and so sucks" bandwagon. Just because EA is gobbling up publishers (and a few developement teams), in no way indicates the decline of gaming. If anything, it will enable some smaller teams or companies the luxury of getting a game released by a publisher who can take the chance.