EA Shuts Down Visceral Studios

Megalith

Megalith

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Another EA studio bites the dust: this time, it’s Dead Space’s Visceral Games. They were developing an action-adventure title set in the Star Wars universe that was shaping up to be a story-based, linear adventure game. Apparently, EA did not like how this was going and is now “pivoting the design” to something that sounds multiplayer-ish and ripe for DLC or microtransactions.

A development team from across EA Worldwide Studios will take over development of this game, led by a team from EA Vancouver that has already been working on the project. Our Visceral studio will be ramping down and closing, and we’re in the midst of shifting as many of the team as possible to other projects and teams at EA. Lastly, while we had originally expected this game to launch late in our fiscal year 2019, we’re now looking at a new timeframe that we will announce in the future. Bringing new Star Wars games to life for every passionate fan out there is what drives us as creators.
 
Sad when a publisher has to much of a hand in what a game studio creates. They need to go back to the golden age of game when publishers actually just published the games and let the creators do their thing. I guess I'm to old school for today's standards.
Activision pretty much did this to infinity ward after MW 2. They dismantled the screw and turned the games into a cash cow / revenue stream and stifled any good game innovation.
 
Counting the days, until the multiplayer bubble explodes.
Fuck multiplayer, fuck microtransactions, fuck anthem, fuck ea, fuck the idea that mp only games are worth more than jack shit.

Mp used to be a tacked on bonus for a fully featured game with a fully featured story and campaign. Q3A, UT you started this garbage, and I hate your guts for it.
 
J3RK said:
Just read about this. Fucking EA. Visceral, and the portion of DICE responsible for Mirror's edge are their only good studios in my opinion. Oh well, one less reason to buy their stuff. :D
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Despite issues, I still like BioWare. However, they've made some bonehead decisions in recent years which will no doubt result in another corpse being left in the mass graves of studios EA's torn apart.
 
Kardonxt said:
At this point anyone who sells out to EA should expect this at some point right?

It's hard to feel bad or be upset when studios keep lining up to be bought out by EA. They have no one to blame but themselves.
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EA offers tons of cash to the owners of the company. The owners can't see beyond their pay day. Honestly, most of the don't give a shit beyond their compensation packages.
 
Gaming is going thru it's "Record label" phase. It's doing wonders for dev creativity just like it did for music too.
 
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IcePickFreak said:
Gaming is going thru it's "Record label" phase. It's doing wonders for dev creativity just like it did for music too.
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How true.

Almost all the big label music is complete and utter crap.

The indie music videos that are posted on youtube for the most part blow away the big label garbage.

And I feel the same exact way about almost all new video games. The indie stuff is leaps and bounds ahead in regards to gameplay and storyline.
 
Dan_D said:
EA offers tons of cash to the owners of the company. The owners can't see beyond their pay day. Honestly, most of the don't give a shit beyond their compensation packages.
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Still, such a weird streak that only EA seems to have.
 
M76 said:
Counting the days, until the multiplayer bubble explodes.
Fuck multiplayer, fuck microtransactions, fuck anthem, fuck ea, fuck the idea that mp only games are worth more than jack shit.

Mp used to be a tacked on bonus for a fully featured game with a fully featured story and campaign. Q3A, UT you started this garbage, and I hate your guts for it.
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Yeap.
 
visceral.jpg

Modified Image. Original Source.
 
M76 said:
Counting the days, until the multiplayer bubble explodes.
Fuck multiplayer, fuck microtransactions, fuck anthem, fuck ea, fuck the idea that mp only games are worth more than jack shit.

Mp used to be a tacked on bonus for a fully featured game with a fully featured story and campaign. Q3A, UT you started this garbage, and I hate your guts for it.
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Yeah pretty much this.
 
Guess they realized they couldn't fit enough microtransactions in a singleplayer game.
 
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Dan_D said:
EA offers tons of cash to the owners of the company. The owners can't see beyond their pay day. Honestly, most of the don't give a shit beyond their compensation packages.
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Not always true. In some instances they're doing what they think is best for everybody (everybody being themselves, their employees, and their studio as a whole) then find that they've been fucked out of everything when EA does a complete 180 on them.

Check this video out if you haven't seen it. The developer behind the NFS:Shift games giving out some serious EA business and how they almost killed off his studio (starts at 6:14:05):

 
SomeoneElse said:
Sad when a publisher has to much of a hand in what a game studio creates. They need to go back to the golden age of game when publishers actually just published the games and let the creators do their thing. I guess I'm to old school for today's standards.
Activision pretty much did this to infinity ward after MW 2. They dismantled the screw and turned the games into a cash cow / revenue stream and stifled any good game innovation.
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What? lol so they should let devs go at their own pace? Let me know how Star Citizen is turning out. Always give an artist a deadline.
EA has one objective. To put games on shelves. Screw around and you're out the door. I don't have a problem with that.

PC gamers always shedding tears over the same devs that put consoles first.
 
WorldExclusive said:
What? lol so they should let devs go at their own pace? Let me know how Star Citizen is turning out. Always give an artist a deadline.
EA has one objective. To put games on shelves. Screw around and you're out the door. I don't have a problem with that.
PC gamers always shedding tears over the same devs that put consoles first.
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I agree about the deadline but when that results in an unfinished not fully working game that gets dropped AFTER the sales - I say not again. I'll be very careful what games I buy in the future, I'll wait a month, read reviews then buy
 
_l_ said:
I agree about the deadline but when that results in an unfinished not fully working game that gets dropped AFTER the sales - I say not again. I'll be very careful what games I buy in the future, I'll wait a month, read reviews then buy
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Yes, EA will roll out trash and abandon it. I didn't pre-order BF1 or BF4, bought them after release (BF4 I waited six months).
Always buy with caution with any game.

EA will kill companies. But many artist aren't business savvy at the onset to prevent that from happening.
EA wants your game and if you can't get the terms you like to keep doing business, don't take the money.

But EA for al their evil can put games on shelves and sell a ton of them. Which is why these devs sign bad contracts.
 
They really fucked up Dead Space 3...it was a cool idea and the game itself was decent (in co-op anyway), but the microtransactions and bullshit surrounding that game were atrocious. Likewise, I had a TON of problems with Origin and that game, more than any other game I've ever used on that platform.

That said, I did like the series overall and it's a bummer we won't see any more from them.
 
Now would be a good time to remind yourself that Dead Space I is actually a really good game worth re-playing, just get that mouse patch if you're on the PC.....remember when games gave you a reason to proceed slowly and savor the entire experience? Not just GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO DO THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER..ok bored, next shallow game please?

Dead Space 1 and 2 are worth a replay, but I never got very far in Dead Space III which, from memory, was more of an action game where you were on some ice planet? Not sure I ever got past that part...was more of an action game right....?
 
MavericK said:
They really fucked up Dead Space 3...it was a cool idea and the game itself was decent (in co-op anyway), but the microtransactions and bullshit surrounding that game were atrocious. Likewise, I had a TON of problems with Origin and that game, more than any other game I've ever used on that platform.

That said, I did like the series overall and it's a bummer we won't see any more from them.
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Lets be real, we know who to blame for the microtransaction bullshit. The first 2 games were great and had a balanced and fun weapon system.
 
I think the other way to look at it is, STOP SELLING YOUR SOUL TO EA you dumb ass smaller development studios. The devil WILL come to claim.
 
Kardonxt said:
At this point anyone who sells out to EA should expect this at some point right?

It's hard to feel bad or be upset when studios keep lining up to be bought out by EA. They have no one to blame but themselves.
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It's cute how you think businesses are apparently democratic and employees have a say in company decisions.
 
So sick and fucking tired of multiplayer battle royal bullshit games. Give me a god damned single player game that has a great story and simple gameplay. I dont want to fucking play a newer version of CoD or PUBG.
 
BoogerBomb said:
So sick and fucking tired of multiplayer battle royal bullshit games. Give me a god damned single player game that has a great story and simple gameplay. I dont want to fucking play a newer version of CoD or PUBG.
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But it's hard to add micro transactions to a really well made single player game :S

After seeing Law Breakers pound sand these last few months I'm surprised more larger sized studios aren't shuttering. Just look at Crytek's fall from relevance. People say they want huge, quality made, single player experiences, but when you have a certain amount of money invested, the game has to tow a middle ground catering to your average gamer. As a gamer you really have to decide what you want most out of a game. Is it challenge? Try Cuphead. Is it story? Try Hellblade or Xenoblade ect.

Truly amazing games are incredibly rare and hard to come by since the larger the budget, the more freedom is taken away from creativity. Most of the people making games are gamers at heart and it's getting harder and harder to fund large sized passion projects. Nowadays I usually play a game based on the willingness to sacrifice certain aspects in order to fulfill others. If you want a list of remarkable single player games send me a pm, I'd love to trade some favorites with you.
 
grtitan said:
Still, such a weird streak that only EA seems to have.
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I think EA uses the brand recognition some studios have for a time. As part of the buyout negotiations, EA probably guarantee the studio employees a job for at least a year after the acquisition. It's a common practice in merger / buyout deals. I'm sure EA is perfectly fine to leave some of these studios intact as long as they produce content within a certain budget and time table. The second EA doesn't feel like they get enough content quickly enough and on budget, the axe falls.
 
I can't forgive EA. Their lust for microtransaction money killed Visceral Games.
twonunpackmule said:
Hopefully, they'll finally be able to make a good game.
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No they won't. Non-compete clause likely prevents the devs from making a game at all for a while.
 
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