Not looking good for EA - former Exec says they're in the wrong Business

[Schadenfroh]

But would the buyers buy them to make into games, or would they buy them to horde the rights to titles to keep them from being made by someone else. EA has the rights to many great titles that they don't use, but they keep them just to keep others from using them. I'm betting that many titles would be bought just to prevent competition.

Well, Activision basically liquidated everything that was not Blizzard, Call of Duty and Guitar Hero when Vivendi merged their Blizzard unit with them. Which means that if they bought EA, everything but EA Sports, The Sims and possibly select Bioware titles would go if they behaved the same way. Not sure if Activision would bother with any franchise that is not currently selling millions. Heck, didn't Activision even liquidate / sell Sierra's IP or do they still hold it? Maybe if Vivendi bought them and merged EA with Activision-Blizzard, they would sell off some of the great IP that EA has accumulated over the years to people that will actually continue them. Maybe even to companies stocked with their original developers, bound to be plenty of those guys floating around these days after such mergers / layoffs.

 

[Dorkenstein]

Yeah, good point. I have never understood how a publisher can just sit on a clutch of awesome "outdated" franchises like a greedy mother hen and never actually make games out of them ever again.

 

[Maximilian]

Well, Activision basically liquidated everything that was not Blizzard, Call of Duty and Guitar Hero when Vivendi merged their Blizzard unit with them. Which means that if they bought EA, everything but EA Sports, The Sims and possibly select Bioware titles would go if they behaved the same way. Not sure if Activision would bother with any franchise that is not currently selling millions. Heck, didn't Activision even liquidate / sell Sierra's IP or do they still hold it? Maybe if Vivendi bought them and merged EA with Activision-Blizzard, they would sell off some of the great IP that EA has accumulated over the years to people that will actually continue them. Maybe even to companies stocked with their original developers, bound to be plenty of those guys floating around these days after such mergers / layoffs.

That would be awesome. Thats another reason i dont mind activison as much as EA, activision sold the IP it wasent likely to use, EA just sat on all the IP it wasent gonna use.

 

[Acanthus]

Yeah, they've really killed some good Company's / Franchises, and they've screwed over the consumer in the process.

I'd like to see someone actually make some good use of some of the IP they have too.

Simcity 5 please

 

[shortylickens]

It might even bring about a 2nd video game crash. It will allow the modding community and independent developers to flourish in the new renaissance that emerges from the ashes.

Thats exactly what I'm hoping for but realistically they will get swallowed up by other companies.

The beast grows stronger.

 

[Sylvanas]

yay!

Let em' burn!

Maybe we'll have some truly brilliant games rise from the ashes.

qft. "just die already"

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

You mean a company that makes all it's decisions strictly based on profits now customer be damned is starting to crack?! Say it ain't so! I thought being a business out to make money made them immune to this stuff.

 

[Rezident]

Good riddance. The best thing to happen would be for EA to fall apart and companies to pick apart it's IP to the highest bidder.

Pretty much. After years of being an EA customer I honestly still have nothing good to say about them.

 

[mindcycle]

It's no surprise that a company purely focusing on profits and not giving a second thought to their customers in the process will eventually either fail or be forced to change. I'm sure we'll see some sort of major change within the next few years if they're profit margins continue to drop like they have been.

You can give someone shit and call it gold and they might believe you for awhile, but eventually they'll start to smell it.

 

[minmaster]

they probably don't realize they have the rights to SMAC.

 

[Kalmah]

It's no surprise that a company purely focusing on profits and not giving a second thought to their customers in the process will eventually either fail or be forced to change. I'm sure we'll see some sort of major change within the next few years if they're profit margins continue to drop like they have been.

You can give someone shit and call it gold and they might believe you for awhile, but eventually they'll start to smell it.

Or they can do like the RIAA and insist that it's illegal downloaders' faults. Then spam more copy protection bullshit and raise price. Instead of turning smart, they may remain stupid and just disappear.