If it was then EA would have used that as a legit excuse for why they closed Visceral Games down to justify their decision.

No. It was cancelled purely because it was a single player game, and EA took it upon themselves to demonize single player games because they couldn't milk every last penny out out people with MTs, etc...

It's Amy Hennig. Every single game she's directed has been absolutely phenomenal.

Disney is breathing down their necks now since Battlefront 2.

BFV's content is all free updates. That's one of the few games in the wild that should have MT. It's actually commendable that they took this long to add it imo. Whether ppl buy the stuff or not isn't falling for it. They get what they want and support the devs giving free content. BFV can get alot of flak but that's something it shouldn't get hate for

This is a truly interesting scenario, though. They have outright promised no MTX now, nor to be added in later. I don't believe any similarly high-profile game has made such a claim - certainly not EA, at least. I'm not saying it can't happen, but if they backtrack on that statement after making a promise that was not only public, but part of their marketing push...that would be an indefensible position, and EA would have a *very* bad time.

I wouldn't say that. For example, Massive came right out and said, "Hey, we're gonna have microtransactions in our game. But it won't be forced upon you." Then turned around and made it so you can still unlock all of the items in game by just playing the game. I haven't spent one extra penny on the game since the initial 60 bucks for it.

i said if they can. massive has microtransactions on their game so they cant. they have to explain how their microtransactions are not as bad as people think

sometimes people leave, and come back. case in point: cory barlog.

@ ziggurcat
Imagine how demoralising it is for employees who stay loyal to a company only to have their chance at promotion snatched away by someone who not so long ago decided they wanted to move on. Taking back someone who left to move onto something else, no matter how good they are at their job, is a one of the worst mistakes an employer can make imo. There has to be respect for other employees already in the company looking to get promoted to that job.

She left over creative differences at ND. And her bout at EA really burned her out on AAA games, even if Sony approached her and said here's the keys to the kingdom, do as you see fit, I think she'd be too traumatized from the last two instances to even bother. Especially since she experienced the worst crunches of the industry working at ND.

She's working on something now but it's a mid tier in development size and at a comfortable cadence for her and her team.

And that's all I'm happy about for her. Tho, I'd love for her to come back to Sony with her own studio with a new IP and given the same freedom Kojima has with DS. To simply develop at her place with very little stress involved.

I worked as the department supervisor for a large glass distributor; the largest, actually. I left to pursue stronger options. I was welcomed back, with open arms, to a plant supervisor positions years later.

Point being any mature company sees talent for talent, does what it can to bring in talent, but doesn't judge talent for looking to climb the business ladder, or make career decisions for themselves.

She left because of creative differences at ND... She's a creative, it happens... Cory left as well and Sony welcomed him back. Considering she gave Sony 3 incredible First Party Games that greatly shifted and changed the direction of games in the industry, I'd say she has a home with them should she chose to. The failing you speak of is beyond her control, as the game industry is volatile.

Stig Asmussen came off the amazingly well received God of War 3, was given reign over a new IP at Sony, and the game was cancelled after 18 months of development. And this was after Ascension didn't light up the charts.

Now he's at EA crafting Star Wars... No body is immune to existential failures, even Kojima suffered at the hands of corporate blunders...

It's not always on the individuals. The video game industry is ran like a machine 90% the time and more often than not people are consumed by it. And legends in that industry are sometimes casualties in it

This will be the 4th game in their catalogue as Respawn.
EA started crapping on Bioware after the release of the original Dragon Age; which was already far into development.

Don't know the reasons, but Respawn is starting to feel like a different sort of beast within EA.

Bioware released since acquisition the following major games

Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 as really good games.
Then came Dragon Age 2, The Old Republic and Mass Effect 3 that to some are really good, to others just mediocre.

Drag Age Inquisition was good but you could see something change. Then they went downhill after that

That's about 8 years that it went well with some missteps until Andromeda and Anthem.

Westwood studios same thing. They released Generals and command and conquer 3 which were great games including the expansions. Red Alert 3 however was mediocre at best and then came CC4 ruining everything with some other mobile games.

I already see titan fall 1, tf2, apex legends and this star wars game to be good just for TF3 to be mediocre and the next game to flop. I wish it was different but EA never learned from the past.