EA kills 'Tiberium,' says misses quality standards

For fans of the Electronic Arts franchise Command and Conquer looking forward to the spinoff game, Tiberium, I'm afraid I have some bad news.

According to a story in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal, EA has decided to shutter production of the new first-person shooter, citing quality issues.

Tiberium was "not on track to meet the high quality standards" EA sets for its games, a spokesperson told the Journal. "A lower quality game is not in the best interest of the consumers and would not succeed in this market."

The Journal article calls the move a setback for EA, saying the company "has been working to turn itself around under (CEO) John Riccitiello (who) has made moves to help boost the game publisher's growth and lower development costs that have contributed to six straight quarters of loss."

But to me, I think it's a good move by EA to yank the cord on games it sees as sub-standard. To be sure, it would have been better for the company to have Tiberium be a big commercial hit; short of that, however, it shows a bit of maturity on the part of management to make the decision to cut short development of sub-standard games that would, in the end, water down its brand.

And that's because one of the reasons the company has seen quarterly losses piling up is a sense in the marketplace that its games have stagnated a bit. Of course, it has its regular stable of big hits like Madden football and FIFA soccer, and new games like Spore. But one big criticism of the company over the last few years is that it has relied too much on low-quality franchise games that have ceased to get the faithful worked up.

In a recent interview, EA Games label president Frank Gibeau told me that, "We (had) lost faith with our customers because we were churning out games that might have made sense from a financial standpoint, but frankly we had walked away from the art of making games and offering breakthrough creative experiences. There weren't as many games in our lineup that I wanted to play anymore."

Tiberium was a new game, but it was a spinoff of the Command and Conquer series, and so I suspect that the quality bar for it was very high. So I think it's good to see EA realize that it's better to lose a year's worth of development time than to keep throwing good money after bad, especially on a game that was not an entirely new experience.

Hopefully, the design team behind the game can now put their energies and efforts to work on something new that will excite them, the company as a whole, and the market down the line.

[umbrae]

Would have probably had damaging DRM anyway... The C&C franchise has been dead since EA killed Westwood Studios, and with Spore DRM in Red Alert 3 there is no evidence to the contrary.

[ukcannonfodder]

@ umbrae

fully agree, EA have just stabbed their fans in the back with restrictive DRM, trying to stop second hand sales.

EA SCUM.

[ukcannonfodder]

@ umbrae

fully agree, EA have just stabbed their fans in the back with restrictive DRM, trying to stop second hand sales.

EA SCUM.

[BlutoNYC]

I know everyone is quick to blame DRM on the publishers but I think the real problem here is companies like GameStop that push second hand games. These clearly eat at the revenues and profits of publishers. And guess what, if the publishers can't make money, they'll stop making games. Games that get old also get marked down by the publishers. The next time you go buy a used game so you could save 5 dollars, just keep in mind that the stores are making a huge profit on you. Gamestop and EBGames see the writing on the wall and the day of buying software online only is coming since high speed Internet is so common now. I only buy new. Sorry but I really think that the second hand gaming market it really hurting the industry.

[zclayton2]

Yeah, like the second hand book market is hurting publishing and second hand record/CD sales hurt the big music studios and used cars sales hurt the auto industry. Get a life.

[ukcannonfodder]

@ sbalourdos

Thats why you use the free adds, classifieds, or places like craigs list or ebay.

Telling people they cannot sell their games is disgusting and not defendable, but using DRM to stop sales then blaming pirates for their anti-consumer behaviour is unforgivable.

+ there is no mention on the game boxes or via the online distribution page about their DRM and Licence restrictions so it's a case of guilt by omission, i'm afraid.

[royitguy]

@ sbalourdos

These guys make $#!t loads of money. It is pure greed EA makes more money then some major movie studios. Gamestop and EBGames are selling used games that is a business.

[BlutoNYC]

@ ukcannonfodder

I'm not against you or any private person selling their old games. But when I go into a store to buy a game, I don't like being pushed a used game. I know it sounds hypocritical but I really think buying games at a store is somewhat outdated. All games and other software should be downloadable now with a premium charge if you request a hard copy on CD/DVD/Blu-Ray. Packaging software in paper and plastic creates unnecessary pollution. No matter what you think about my views and opinions I think the solution to this issue if far off though it doesn't seem to be a difficult one to figure out.

[bluemist9999]

Actually, there is a system called "Steam" (see http://store.steampowered.com/ ) that allows you to download games (once you've paid for them) to your PC.

[tekshow]

EA is a step up from where it's been in the past. In fact, they've had some great games in the last few years. I remember I used to boycott EA until they redid their branding structure and started putting out better games. Titles like Def Jam:FFNY, SSX Blur, Fight Night: R2/3, Burnout Paradise.... They not only have a high graphical benchmark, but good gameplay to boot. Earned a little more respect in my opinion with this press release.

[TheStairMaster]

Since when does EA have scruples with releasing low-quality games?

[TheStairMaster]

oh and @ sbalourdos

Criticizing the consumer for wanting to save money does not make any sense.

Gamestop has seen that many people wish to sell games they dont play, and that most gamers have no problems buying used, as long as the game functions perfectly, and have decided to capitalize on it.

It worked, so they continue. Good-old-fashioned American ingenuity at work. I congratulate them.

[gameonewizard]

The real problem started with them placing Chris Plummer in charge. The dude had no idea how to make a video game and had mostly marketing experience - no actual game dev experience other then a few nightmare projects at EALA. He didn't listen to any of the more experienced staff and changed his mind every few months, causing the team to churn and burn things over and over. The project ended up costing as much as a Hollywood movie and wasting years of people's time. You simply cannot succeed when the guy at the head of the project has no idea what he's making, and no idea how to really do it. I'm amazed they let him churn and burn for 4 years on it. Sad... there were some great ideas in the game and some great people on the team.

[konforty]

Pity, different peaple with different perspectives (or even different agenda), can judge the game quality in a different way......
Personally, I think CnC3:TW is a great game and I am waiting to RA3

[Commander117]

gameonewizard is right. But I think at some point some people are good to persuade others but they are actually bull.s.h.i.t.i.n.g.
They should make more poll to know what gamers want. It simple.