EA 'destroying' gaming - Minecraft creator

richymcdermott

Markus Persson says indie games "saving" the industry, while FIFA, Battlefield publisher is "methodically" running it into the ground.

the man has a point ..


http://uk.gamespot.com/news/ea-destroying-gaming-minecraft-creator-6374907

imitation

Sigh, more of the same about EA. I have always played a couple of EA games that interest each year and they have generally been good. They probably put out more drivel than the average publisher, but not that much more. At the end of the day they are out to make money and that generally means some safe choices like the latest fifa, battfield etc. No different to the latest cod or Guitar Hero.

I fail to see how EA are killing indie games. Infact Indie games were all but dead in the late 90s when people lost interest in stuff like shareware, the internet help revitalise it. App markets are helping even more. How the EA boogie man is supposed to be destorying this is beyond me.

Sabre0001

EA is also publishing work from smaller studios though and tend to make good choices >> Loved Shank & Deathspank titles and Warp was decent but a little flawed. (haven't played Gatling Gears so can't comment on that).

No, this "indie bundle" isn't "indie" in the traditional sense of the word, but is that the issue he has with it? The statement of them "destroying gaming" is a little more than silly though...

johnny_ultimate

Stephen Fry supports EA.

Are you saying Stephen Fry is destroying gaming Richy?

Because that's all I'm hearing. Stop hating on Stephen Fry.

richymcdermott

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Stephen Fry supports EA.

Are you saying Stephen Fry is destroying gaming Richy?

Because that's all I'm hearing. Stop hating on Stephen Fry.

i laughed..fair play:P

SeantheMan

I hate EA anyways

super_furry

Ah Notch. He must get antsy if he's not in the gaming press at least once a week.

Duggy747

A guy I know who works with Criterion Games (owned by EA) told me recently that they have to keep resorting back to the Need For Speed franchise whenever a similiar competitor is due to be released. They've been told to keep this shìte up until the competition dies down and then they'll be allowed to make another Burnout game.

Completionist

imitation wrote: »

Sigh, more of the same about EA. I have always played a couple of EA games that interest each year and they have generally been good. They probably put out more drivel than the average publisher, but not that much more. At the end of the day they are out to make money and that generally means some safe choices like the latest fifa, battfield etc. No different to the latest cod or Guitar Hero.

I fail to see how EA are killing indie games. Infact Indie games were all but dead in the late 90s when people lost interest in stuff like shareware, the internet help revitalise it. App markets are helping even more. How the EA boogie man is supposed to be destorying this is beyond me.

No one is saying EA don't publicise good games, But they do stop creativity.

Here is a comment from the article above, It describes perfectly why EA are ****e.

Much like Sky TV, they buy out something that's innovative and possibly brilliant... Then they force the devs to make changes that will help profit rather than allow creativity to flow freely as it will have done to create the masterpiece... Once the cash stops flowing because they've killed off all the fun and milked the money dry, they fire a bunch of people and move onto the next company/franchise.

K.O.Kiki

SeantheMan wrote:

Surely there is more to the comment/interview than that...what was the question that was even posed.
It could be taken out of context, as we don't know what was said before or after.
There is a one line statement, and a whole article written around it.

I'd like to see the source it was taken from to see Notch's whole opinion.
__________________

SeantheMan wrote: »

I hate EA anyways

THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU SAID WHEN I ORIGINALLY QUOTED YOU

https://twitter.com/#!/notch/status/197992550144032768

Or in full:

EA releases an "indie bundle"? That's not how that works, EA. Stop attempting to ruin everything, you bunch of cynical bastards.

Fwiw, I don't even call Mojang inde any more. Vlambeer is indie. Polytron is indie. Stephen, Ed, Terry, Derek, Tommy and Chris are indie.

Indies are saving gaming. EA is methodically destroying it.

I got into trouble on the interwebs again! The games in the bundle are good, I'm not questioning them. I'm questioning EA.

Welease

Completionist wrote: »

No one is saying EA don't publicise good games, But they do stop creativity.

Here is a comment from the article above, It describes perfectly why EA are ****e.

One could equally argue that Indie Developer greed ruins creativity.. If you don't want to be told how to develop your game, then don't merge funding with EA..

Mr Bloat

super_furry wrote: »

Ah Notch. He must get antsy if he's not in the gaming press at least once a week.

I wish that the gaming press didn't fawn over every thing that the likes of Notch and the Angry Birds lad say. These guys are only playing to the gallery.

Gunmonkey

Welease wrote: »

One could equally argue that Indie Developer greed ruins creativity.

Too true, how many millions has Notch made from Minecraft? Something around the likes of €70million last I heard. Now, even with Swedens high tax rate, he is still sitting on a s***ton of cash and yet his next game will now require a monthly sub

johnny_ultimate

Here's a list of great things EA have done in the last decade:

• Published We Love Katamari (candidate for best game of all time) relatively anonymously when no-one else would.
• Have proven themselves a vocal opponent of homophobia in gaming.
• Granted Harmonix the creative freedom to create several Rock Band games and spin-offs. Only pulled the plug when the series became a massive financial burden, and even then granted Harmonix the license to continue the series.
• Published niche, creatively ambitious titles like Mirror's Edge, Stranger's Wrath and Brutal Legend.
• Granted Dead Space a sequel despite mediocre commercial performance.
• Have made a vocal stand on quality vs quantity of output in recent years.
• Have turned FIFA from a lazy cash cow into the most commercially and critically successful football sim.
• Published the games of several independent studios, such as the ones in this bundle (semantically speaking, they still are independent).
• Published Valve's retail games (although also responsible for the shoddy port of The Orange Box on PS3, truth be told).
• Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, and everything awesome that that suggests.
• Published various high-quality third party titles, from Shadow of the Damned to Bulletstorm.

So yes, they have been assholes in numerous regards. But they've also made gaming a richer, more interesting place.

imitation

Completionist wrote: »

No one is saying EA don't publicise good games, But they do stop creativity.

Here is a comment from the article above, It describes perfectly why EA are ****e.

Its been leveled before, but I think to be fair EA have probably put a bit of work into expanding there portfolio into something more interesting with the likes of Dead Space and acquiring Bioware. Biowares stuff has improved imo since EA got it, although it has become more "mainstream" in some aspects, I know many people were frothing at the mouth about DA2, but I liked it at least.

I think EA gets singled out dispute the fact lack of originality is an industry wide problem (Call of duty one million anybody ?), at the end of the day if your investing millions into the game, its little solace if the masses shun it and it generates a huge loss, even if it does turn into a cult classic. Thats just business sadly

Helix

EA's problem is that the biggest will always be seen as the most hated, and they're definitely the biggest. it doesn't help that the company's reputation from about a decade ago precedes it either, but a lot has changed since the company were (quite rightly) hated for releasing a continual stream of garbage

for the amount of titles they put out from so many different studios, IMO they have a better track record for quality these days than anyone else

Overheal

Helix wrote: »

for the amount of titles they put out from so many different studios, IMO they have a better track record for quality these days than anyone else

I watched a redneck down a hog past night on sons of guns using a quad mounted auto shotgun... It took him 4 damn shots at close range. You know what he said? "accuracy by volume!"

Helix

Overheal wrote: »

I watched a redneck down a hog past night on sons of guns using a quad mounted auto shotgun... It took him 4 damn shots at close range. You know what he said? "accuracy by volume!"

nah i dont think that's the case with EA. they put out a lot, but most of them are better than most games put out elsewhere, with the odd clanger

gizmo

Some day I'm going to form my own company and release a couple of great games. Then when EA come knocking to buy my company I'll take the money and run. Some time later, from my deck chair on some beach in some faraway tropical country, I'll read various websites about how EA are killing creativity as they change the direction of the company I founded.

It's great how life is so simple.

Odaise Gaelach

gizmo wrote: »

Some day I'm going to form my own company and release a couple of great games. Then when EA come knocking to buy my company I'll take the money and run. Some time later, from my deck chair on some beach in some faraway tropical country, I'll read various websites about how EA are killing creativity as they change the direction of the company I founded.

It's great how life is so simple.

Alternatively, take their money and use it to form a new company and make more great games.

super_furry

Overheal wrote: »

I watched a redneck down a hog past night on sons of guns using a quad mounted auto shotgun... It took him 4 damn shots at close range. You know what he said? "accuracy by volume!"

That doesn't stack up really when it comes to EA though.

http://www.metacritic.com/company/electronic-arts?dist=positive

MOH

But they are destroying gaming. One game at a time.

JohnMarston

EA Games ruined the Command and Conquer franchise when they took over Westwood studios, so the hell with 'em

aN.Droid

JohnMarston wrote: »

EA Games ruined the Command and Conquer franchise when they took over Westwood studios, so the hell with 'em

This

gizmo

Odaise Gaelach wrote: »

Alternatively, take their money and use it to form a new company and make more great games.

But what about the future of the studio and IP I'm leaving behind? What's to stop the publisher "realigning corporate interests" and sacking a bunch of my (former) staff after I leave? Or "dumbing down" my once great hardcore IP in order to appeal to a wider audience?

Maybe I could do what Louis Castle (co-founder of Westwood Studios) did when EA bought the company? Stay on and watch the franchise crumble around me and then become so incensed at what happens when the studio is closed that I become Vice President of Creative Development at EA LA for another 6 years before eventually ending up at Zynga as their VP of studios.

But yea, it's all EA's fault.

wyrn

I have a chip on my shoulders since 2003 - when they closed down Westwood Studios. Red Alert hasn't been the same. Not even Tim Curry could save RA3. Also I really really really want Mirror's Edge 2. I loved Mirror's Edge, it's a nice change from all the FPS and MP games out there.

I know I shouldn't be this irrational and I ought to get over it, but I can't see past it. Although I have mellowed a little bit in my old age.

That said, each studio has it's own hangups, like Valve and their timing issues.

JohnMarston

Consistant Mediocrity, reskinning old sports titles year after year.

EA, it's in the game.

ShiverinEskimo

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Here's a list of great things EA have done in the last decade:.

...

So yes, they have been assholes in numerous regards. But they've also made gaming a richer, more interesting place.

Made a stand against Tim Landell and his shameless trademark trolling.

johnny_ultimate

JohnMarston wrote: »

Consistant Mediocrity, reskinning old sports titles year after year.

EA, it's in the game.

Sports titles that sell millions upon millions of copies annually and have been widely accepted as games that genuinely improve from year to year. While I don't play any of them, I know from my many friends and relatives who are obsessed with FIFA that EA upped their self-proclaimed game and mercilessly trashed Pro Evolution when it posed a genuine quality and commercial threat. Can't really begrudge hard-earned success of that type, TBH: a situation where pretty much everyone benefits. Except Konami.

JohnMarston

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Sports titles that sell millions upon millions of copies annually and have been widely accepted as games that genuinely improve from year to year. While I don't play any of them, I know from my many friends and relatives who are obsessed with FIFA that EA upped their self-proclaimed game and mercilessly trashed Pro Evolution when it posed a genuine quality and commercial threat. Can't really begrudge hard-earned success of that type, TBH: a situation where pretty much everyone benefits. Except Konami.

I was playing a copy of fifa '09 with some lads back in february. My little nephew owns fifa '11 now and was playing some matches with him last week to keep him occupied. I was blown away by the different soundtrack and slightly different roster

TheDoc

Gaming "news" websites will continue to publish such bollox.

There was absolutely no clarification or justification as to why how or when.

EA release indie game bndle.
Your man says EA are bollox.
Yor man says the games are good
Still says EA is bollox

It is not EA's fault there is a massive market for yearly updates to sports games and yearly updates to first person shooters.

And people shouldnt feelbelittled for enjoying them either

Massive Battlefield fan
Enjoy Fifa aswell

If people had their way Fifa yearly updates would be free and new maps and equipment in Battlefield would be free

Get a grip