EA Phenomic Closes Down

[Andy Chalk]

EA Phenomic Closes Down

Electronic Arts says it's not giving up on free-to-play games, but it has apparently given up on Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances studio EA Phenomic.

The word out of Germany is that EA Phenomic, the studio behind the free-to-play games BattleForge, Lord of Ultima and most recently Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116337-Command-Conquer-Tiberium-Alliances-Enter-Open-Beta], is no more. Multiple sources have told GamesIndustry that Electronic Arts has shut down the 60-person studio and although EA would not comment on the closure directly, it did issue a statement acknowledging that "hard but essential changes" had been made.

"As part of EA's realignment in recent weeks, we have announced internally a small adjustment to some development staff to better focus our teams against priority growth areas," it said. "The decision to let people go is not something we take lightly and we are working to ensure that impacted employees are treated fairly and with respect for their contributions to EA, and with assistance to find other job opportunities."

EA Phenomic was founded in 1997 as Phenomic Game Development and created the SpellForce series prior to its acquisition by Electronic Arts in 2006. Despite the closure, EA said it does not intend to give up on either free-to-play or strategy games.

Source: GamesIndustry [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-07-12-ea-phenomic-closed]



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[Corven]

The sun rises, birds fly, and EA shuts down a studio, just an average day folks.

 

[CriticalMiss]

Well, that's what happens when you sell your soul to the devil EA. They milk you dry then close you due to 'restructuring' or 'realignment' with their F2P mobile strategy, even if you were developing mobile or free-to-play games.

 

[fix-the-spade]

The sun rises, birds fly, and EA shuts down a studio, just an average day folks.

It took them seven years to kill this one, say what you like about the games, but evidently Phenomic were tenacious little buggers.

 

[MCerberus]

And so PapEA brings another one of his adopted children out for a stroll to the trench.
We should start a pool for the next one. I'm saying the studio doing Generals 2.

 

[Kevlar Eater]

Oh, EA closes another studio? Seems like another day at the office.

*sips tea and resumes reading newspaper*

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Say hi to Pandemic and Maxis for us, Phenomic!

 

[jackpipsam]

I have heard that the studio was around 60 people.
Damn, I feel sorry for all those who lost their jobs.
But even though EA brought them in 2006, they only brought out 3 games, 2 of them were 2D browser-based which didn't seem any more advanced than the majority of Facebook games.
So I am sadly not surprised that EA didn't see the value in them, however I would assume they were working on something else, but goodness knows what that was.

Still all three games will still remain active, so I guess another EA studio will take them up.

Say hi to Pandemic and Maxis for us, Phenomic!

Maxis is still around.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Say hi to Pandemic and Maxis for us, Phenomic!

Maxis is still around.

Really? Huh, thought they just became part of something like "EA London" or something like that, my bad.

 

[jackpipsam]

Say hi to Pandemic and Maxis for us, Phenomic!

Maxis is still around.

Really? Huh, thought they just became part of something like "EA London" or something like that, my bad.

Nah, funnily enough it seems that Maxis is one of the few EA studios that we know of that hasn't been hit by any major layoffs.
Maxis is strange, the old Maxis studio stopped making Sims games (Sims 3 was made by a new studio), so the old Maxis only made Spore, Darkspore and the new SimCity.
However the spin-off studio which made Sims 3 has recently come under Maxis branding again.

So Maxis now is like Bioware, less of one studio and more of a collection of Studios.
From what I know Maxis has like three studios.

As for London, dunno cuz Maxis is American.
You might be thinking of Playfish.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

so, what was that about being optimistic about the next generation of gaming? Seriously, with stuff like this and Activision readying to get themselves into debt one way or another, the next generation isn't looking very certain.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Nah, funnily enough it seems that Maxis is one of the few EA studios that we know of that hasn't been hit by any major layoffs.
Maxis is strange, the old Maxis studio stopped making Sims games (Sims 3 was made by a new studio), so the old Maxis only made Spore, Darkspore and the new SimCity.
However the spin-off studio which made Sims 3 has recently come under Maxis branding again.

So Maxis now is like Bioware, less of one studio and more of a collection of Studios.
From what I know Maxis has like three studios.

As for London, dunno cuz Maxis is American.
You might be thinking of Playfish.

Well, what I meant was that I thought they were re-branded "EA (Location)".
Still, thanks for the correction.

 

[JenSeven]

Oh come on.
Someone needs to stop EA from buying up good companies and disbanding them.
This is just getting retarded.
EA is run by complete retards with no concept of morality or decency.
Yes I am mad. This is the xth time this happened and it's mental.
I wish EA just disbanded itself and buggered every CEO or manager up the arse with a Will-It-Blend blender.

 

[jackpipsam]

Well, what I meant was that I thought they were re-branded "EA (Location)".
Still, thanks for the correction.

You're probably correct about rebranding, EA rebrands studios like all the time.
Just look at Mythic for example.

Pre EA: "Interworld Productions"/"Mythic Entertainment"
2006(EA buys them): "EA Mythic"
2008: "Mythic Entertainment"
2009: "Bioware Mythic"
2012: "Mythic Entertainment" (although products simply say "Mythic")

There are many examples of EA Studios changing names and merging etc.
So you could very well be right about "EA ", but judging by past actions they're trying to not do that anymore.
Like "EA Stockholm" was renamed "Ghost" and "EA Los Angeles" was renamed "Danger Close" and now "DICE LA".

 

[Falterfire]

But even though EA brought them in 2006, they only brought out 3 games, 2 of them were 2D browser-based which didn't seem any more advanced than the majority of Facebook games.

Maybe two of them were terrible, but BattleForge was an awesome game that did a lot of cool things right. Maybe if it had gotten a marketing budget of more than three dollars it might have done a bit better.

 

[bafrali]

You fuckers. I loved Spellforce games. Hoping everything and everyone turns out OK. Except for that cancerous growth that is EA.

 

[Starke]

Until this article I had never heard of this group is, and I like EA published games. Must had been nothing but a money sink for this to happen so fast.

The developed some fun RTS/Action RPG hybrid games back about ten or twelve years ago... then EA ate them.

 

[Kyrdra]

NOOOOO not the battleforge studio

Damn it Battleforge was really fun

But even though EA brought them in 2006, they only brought out 3 games, 2 of them were 2D browser-based which didn't seem any more advanced than the majority of Facebook games.

Maybe two of them were terrible, but BattleForge was an awesome game that did a lot of cool things right. Maybe if it had gotten a marketing budget of more than three dollars it might have done a bit better.

And if they didnt decide to remove nearly all people from further development. After a Year I think there was missing PvE content and it felt like only 2 people were working at the title.

 

[rheianna]

Damn it. I played the Spellforce series and loved it. Then EA came along and gobbled up Phenomic and thus Spellforce was no more.

I still remember the announcement Phenomic made about being taken over by EA and how optimistic and upbeat they sounded. And now it ends with them in the trash heap. EA sucks.