EA Acquires Headgate, Turns To Wii

[Shawn Andrich]

EA Acquires Headgate, Turns To Wii

Electronic Arts has acquired Headgate Studios, the developers behind Tiger Woods PGA Tour and a number of Madden ports. EA has focused the studio on the Wii.

"Having worked with EA for the past six years, we know their teams share our work ethic, passion for creative excellence and commitment to quality. By joining EA, we are making official what we all already feel - that we are part of the EA family. We couldn't be happier," said Vance Cook, executive producer at EA Salt Lake.

Known primarily for PC ports of Madden, it's a surprise to find EA focusing the sports game studio on the Nintendo Wii. No games have been announced yet.

"The team at Headgate is a great fit with EA's creative team. Their creative spirit and technical leadership have separated them from the pack," said Paul Lee, president of EA Studios. "Salt Lake City is a terrific place to make games - it's a dynamic city with a vibrant creative community and a great quality of life. We are thrilled to have them join EA."

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[heavyfeul]

Known primarily for PC ports of Madden...

"The team at Headgate is a great fit with EA's creative team. Their creative spirit and technical leadership have separated them from the pack," said Paul Lee, president of EA Studios.

Call me crazy but I am not sure how making Madden ports qualifies a studio as having a "creative spirit?" Maybe making Wii games will allow them to tap into their hidden talents?

 

[Shawn Andrich]

I wouldn't mind seeing a good Wii port of Tiger Woods, personally.

 

[heavyfeul]

Yes, well, while I like football and golf games, I have been pretty disappointed in them for many years. Porting them to the Wii won't really make them better. It will just make the control scheme different. I think we are going to see a lot of these types of games on the Wii. Specifically, taking an older game with the same basic internal design and modifying it to use the Wii's controller. I alluded to this fact in another thread. While their may be some groundbreaking games on the Wii, I think their will be far more titles that simply take an old concept/design and tweak it for motion sensitive controls. Although, I am far more cynical in regards to the Wii's future than most