EA Calls Developer Mentally Ill

[The Wooster]

EA Calls Developer Mentally Ill

EA refutes Oddworld creator's claims that it tried to buy his team and suggests Lithium to help with his "paranoia and Tourette syndrome."

Lorne Lanning has been an exciting interviewee these past few days. Talking at the Eurogamer expo, the Oddworld creator heavily implied that EA had run into trouble with Russian gangsters over the title of Stranger's Wrath. Later, during an interview with Gamesindustry international, he recounted how he bravely turned down an acquisition offer from EA.

"When you say that to us we go 'fuck you very much', quite frankly. That's not a sustainable model, that's a hostile acquisition," Lanning said. "That's why we had to strive to get independent. Rather than get into bed with someone we knew was a horrible bed partner we said 'let's stay virgins for longer'."

Here's where things get exciting: EA says that never happened, and responded to Lanning's comments with a statement that some may find inappropriate.

"We wish Lorne luck on the game and recommend Lithium for the paranoia and Tourette Syndrome," said EA's corporate spokesman, Jeff Brown. "Nobody here remembers a jet, a Ferrari or an offer to buy his company."

Though popularly associated with a compulsion to blurt out random obscenities, Tourette's syndrome actually covers a wide range of neuropsychiatric symptoms including vocal and physical tics. Because nothing says "funny" like uncontrollable twitching.

Putting aside the wild insensitivity of using a mental illness as an insult, the underlying conflict is interesting: Is EA lying, or was Lanning just trying to boost his indie cred by aiming a few barbs at an acceptable target? EA's reputation for aggressive studio acquisition does little to help its case, but at the same time, Lanning's indie posturing is also rather hollow. He fired most of the Oddworld Inhabitants staff at extremely short notice following the release of Stranger's Wrath, and the company has been a shell of its former self ever since. It's now chiefly concerned with "directing" HD re-releases of its previous titles, all of which are developed by other teams.

Source: Gamesindustry [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-10-01-ea-refutes-oddworld-acquisition-attempt-suggest-lithium-for-lanning]

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[Xan Krieger]

And maybe EA can take prozac to calm them down so they think before blurting out bullshit.

 

[Tahaneira]

Oh God.

May I formally predict the brewing shittornado as I sprint for the shelters?

 

[Andy Shandy]

I may need to get some sleep as I initially read that as Mentally 3, and was confused at why you didn't just put the number.

And I'm tempted to side with Lanning just because I like his analogy more. Instead of, you know, using mental illness as an insult.

 

[Moosejaw]

Eh, they were responding to a guy who told them 'Fuck you very much' and implied they were shit in bed. Clearly both parties here were being incredibly unprofessional, and they're arguing with each other on the same level. If you're going to call EA's behavior inappropriate, you have to say the same of Lanning.

 

[J Tyran]

Sucks to hear about how the staff where treated after the release of Strangers Wrath, that was a great game with an awesome world and atmosphere and great gameplay with its hybrid FPS/third person beat em up.

 

[Bloodstain]

We'll see for how much longer Jeff Brown will keep his job. The rest of EA is most certainly not amused -- considering how they already have enough PR issues.

As to who tells the truth...I have no idea.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Whether or not EA is correct, using a mental illness as an insult is something I would expect to find in Youtube comments, not coming form a mouth of a spokesman for a large company.

 

[Kargathia]

We'll see for how much longer Jeff Brown will keep his job. The rest of EA is most certainly not amused -- considering how they already have enough PR issues.

As to who tells the truth...I have no idea.

I'm not even sure. Retarded PR seems to be a company tradition. Remember they also had a hilarious slapfight with Activision over CoD vs. Battlefield.

But hey, it's two guys whose dignity and future employment I really couldn't care less about having it on in public - perfect opportunity to grab some popcorn, and enjoy the hilarity.

 

[Busard]

Not very professional but frankly, EA's got a right there to be a liiiittle bit touchy, because that is some nasty slander to begin with.

 

[Lunar Templar]

"We wish Lorne luck on the game and recommend Lithium for the paranoia and Tourette Syndrome," said EA's corporate spokesman, Jeff Brown. "Nobody here remembers a jet, a Ferrari or an offer to buy his company."

How about "integrity"? Do you remember that?

it is EA so probably not ...

ether way, nether side has a leg to stand on here, ones acting just as juvenile as the other

 

[Absolutionis]

Is this the same EA that is haphazardly sponsoring miscellaneous socially-progressive causes in a ham-fisted PR campaign?

Yes it is...

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

EA, we both know you've done a lot of shit you'd rather we forgot, but you do not, you do not, bad mouth the creator of Oddworld.

...Lanning's indie posturing is also rather hollow. He fired most of the Oddworld Inhabitants staff at extremely short notice following the release of Stranger's Wrath, and the company has been a shell of its former self ever since. It's now chiefly concerned with "directing" HD re-releases of its previous titles, all of which are developed by other teams.

...Oh. Well screw that guy too then, I'm out!

EDIT: Also using mental conditions as insults is bad, mmm'kay?

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Oh God.

May I formally predict the brewing shittornado as I sprint for the shelters?

Is a shittornado more or less damaging than Mortal Kombat's Soulnado?

To be honest, neither EA or Lanning have exactly been classy with how they've handled this. I'm kinda tempted to take EA's spokesperson and Lanning by the earlobes like an overbearing mother, and tell those two whippersnappers to take it outside.

Seriously, that's just bad PR on both sides.

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

... God dammit, Jeff Brown. No matter who's right or wrong here, you can't just insult someone by saying they have a serious mental disorder!

I don't care if the Oddworld guy is lying or if EA is lying, though EA's reputation doesn't do them any favours, Brown's comment was seriously out of line. To be fair, though, Lanning wasn't exactly a gentleman either. "Fuck you very much," indeed.

My jimmies are SO rustled right now. Like, what the hell?! EA could have at least responded without resorting to ad hominem. Then they'd only be suspected of lying, not suspected of lying and known to have insulted their challenger. And Lanning didn't need to use expletives, either.

I'm outta here, and I'm taking my cookies and tea with me.

 

[FalloutJack]

To quote or paraphrase probably several comedians: WHY THE FUCK IS THIS NEWS?!

More On Topic: Dude, you don't say that about anybody. It makes you a dick. Okay, in this case, MORE of a dick.

 

[Teacakes]

I do hope nobody's going to say "I'm siding with X" in this thread. Both parties are behaving like 13-year-olds over Ventrilo.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

snip

Using mental illness as an insult is nothing new. No matter how "professional" you expect EA or Lanning to be, we've heard worse from politicians to newscasters to even some articles on this website(the cam-whore comment that was edited due to bad taste in a recent article about the Philippines).

My point is Lanning was unprofessional first, yet the title of this article slams just EA. Come on now, EA's rep is pretty bad but not judging Lanning in the title as well seems to give a slanted view right off the bat.

At least Lanning's lackluster decisions have been made to light in this article. Seeing as how Stranger's Wrath HD finally came to Steam almost a year after its console counterparts, I can't really say that Just Add Water is doing well with or without EA owning them.


But that will be ignored because most people take any chance to bash EA as a buffet.Helps them sleep better at night.

 

[Bobic]

Someone swears a bunch and someone else makes an offhand comment about him having tourettes. I'm sorry, but so what? They weren't using tourettes as an insult, they were making the comparison of 'guy swears a lot, like someone with tourettes or something' (which yes, isn't true all of the time, but it's how it's viewed by a large portion of society, which no, isn't good and better education is needed. Hell, I'm schizophrenic, I know what it's like for everyone to get your illness wrong, but to call EA out of it, rather than, you know, everyone, is just bull)

Are you telling me you've never referred to something as 'crazy', 'retarded' 'the ref must be blind' or something along those lines? Or you heard your friend say something along those lines (or even someone cursing having tourettes, this isn't an EA invention) and didn't care because it's a complete non issue? This is such a pandering case of trying to make a story out of nothing. Hey, EA is quite hated, let's trawl through everything they say to find something we can stretch into a headline and desperately grab some page hits.

Really, all you can argue is unprofessionalism, but the comment that started it was 'fuck you very much', so it clearly isn't a professional conversation.

But basically, this really doesn't seem like news. It's horse race journalism. And it's pointless and petty.

tl;dr: It's political correctness gone mad!!!

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

... God dammit, Jeff Brown. No matter who's right or wrong here, you can't just insult someone by saying they have a serious mental disorder!

I don't care if the Oddworld guy is lying or if EA is lying, though EA's reputation doesn't do them any favours, Brown's comment was seriously out of line.

My jimmies are SO rustled right now. Like, what the hell?! They could have at least responded without resorting to ad hominem. Then they'd only be suspected of lying, not suspected of lying and known to have insulted their challenger.

I'm outta here, and I'm taking my cookies and tea with me.

They responded to rudeness with rudeness. To me it seems like dialogue from your average Family Guy episode. If Lanning didn't drop the word 'fuck' and imply bed-wetting, I doubt EA would have responded the way they did. Can't say what they did was right, but ignoring the catalyst of the response is kind of silly, no?