EA shutting down Chicago studio (joystiq.com)

[7th lutz]

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/06/ea-shuts-down-chicago-studio/

Gamespot reports that monolithic publisher EA has decided to close down its EA Chicago studio. Over 150 employees are affected by the decision, as are future Def Jam games (oh noes!) and a second attempt at a Marvel fighting game. Citing an internal memo from EA Games president Frank Gibeau, the article notes that EA is looking to offer many EA Chicago employees opportunities at its other studios, as well as outplacement assistance.

"We're willing to take risks, make long-term investments, and to support teams and individuals between launches," reads Gibeau's alleged memo. "But each team is responsible for staying on a reasonable path to profitability. Sticking to that strategy is what gives us the financial resources and flexibility to take risks on new projects. Unfortunately, EA Chicago hasn't been able to meet that standard." If left unchecked, EA Chicago was not expected to become profitable until FY 2011 "or later."

I am not shocked about it. Ea as company lost money in the last quarter with their sales being less then expected due the decrease of sports games sales for EA.

Out of anything, I expected EA to announce they will not renew their exclusive video game contract with Nascar. Nascar 2008 only just over 200,000 copies for all platforms combined. That is not a good sign. I am pretty sure that was big decrease for Nascar game sales.

[Jorpho]

Is EA Chicago something that was principally a separate entity that was swallowed by EA, or has it always been an EA studio?

[7th lutz]

Is EA Chicago something that was principally a separate entity that was swallowed by EA, or has it always been an EA studio?

I am not to sure due tp EA being known to lie about the truth. EA Chicago was small in 2004 with 49 employees. It think it might of been a start up studio for EA due to the games they were doing or was a small game developing game developer that ea bought.

There is no info to my knowlege EA Chicago had a different company name prior to being called EA Chicago.

I am not shocked if EA covered it up if it were part of a different company without giving that info. Ea is selective in what they want the public think about their company in history with them treating lTrip Hawkins had no part of the company for founding it and a big part of the company before leaving to founding 3do.

[Jorpho]

Now that you mention it, I sort of wonder if EA Montreal used to be something else too. What fun uninformed speculation is!

[snes_collector]

Out of anything, I expected EA to announce they will not renew their exclusive video game contract with Nascar. Nascar 2008 only just over 200,000 copies for all platforms combined. That is not a good sign. I am pretty sure that was big decrease for Nascar game sales.

Which is probably not a bad thing. Even though I haven't played Nascar 08 yet myself, I have read that even though it is better than the last few years, it still isn't great. EA seems to be ignoring that people want a more real sim. Since EA seems to be ignoring what their customers want, I'm sure alot of people wouldn't be sad to see this if it happens.

[Rob2600]

I am not shocked about it. Ea as company lost money in the last quarter with their sales being less then expected due the decrease of sports games sales for EA.

If sales of EA's sports games decline, it just might cause the company to improve them.


I expected EA to announce they will not renew their exclusive video game contract with Nascar. Nascar 2008 only just over 200,000 copies for all platforms combined. That is not a good sign. I am pretty sure that was big decrease for Nascar game sales.

As snes_collector stated, that's not necessarily a bad thing. My friend Greg is a big Nascar fan and he hates the EA games. Perhaps this is the beginning of a wake-up call to EA...or perhaps it was just a slow quarter.

[7th lutz]

As snes_collector stated, that's not necessarily a bad thing. My friend Greg is a big Nascar fan and he hates the EA games. Perhaps this is the beginning of a wake-up call to EA...or perhaps it was just a slow quarter.

It is not a slow quarter. I can tell you that I haven't bought a Nascar game since nascar 2005. I felt like Ea was getting lazy with quality of the games since they got the exclusive rights to nascar games from nascar. I seen some quality control problems with commentry after a worse like claiming I had bad race after winning the race! That is a glitch. There had been other issues with the games. The last great Nascar game I played was Dirt to Daytona.

I am pretty sure that people have been picking that up to based on quality like myself. The consumers the only ones who can do something about it since Nascar only cares about getting the money from EA and tv contracts since Brain France took over. I haven't bought an EA game in a long time. I think Nascar 2005 was the last game I bought from them.

[Borman]

I know exactly what you mean with Nascar. I bought 08 for the hell of it, and havent played it at all really. The game had so much potential. No split screen? Cmon now. It was bad enough when they dropped 4 player down to 2, but then it just got worse. Its so dumb