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EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by Gwil on Mon Dec 20th at 8:16pm 2004

LOL Crono.

I'm pretty sure there is ways to do that in the UK as well. Just because the US is the evil empire, it doesn't make us "civilised" European states completely infallible - far from it in fact.

It's not international law that dictates stuff like that, its the ruthless and vindictive nature of capitalism.
[addsig]



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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by Adam Hawkins on Mon Dec 20th at 8:40pm 2004

If I remember correctly, that 5 year thing was in my contract with Bits Studios - but then they sacked for no reason so I ignored it and applied to other companies.

[addsig]



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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by Joe-Bob on Mon Dec 20th at 9:40pm 2004

I hate EA, but I'm not really a bandwagon hater. They may have bought Maxis in '95, but that didn't make me hate them. It's when they had Maxis stop making classics like SimCopter and make awful expansion packs for the Sims.




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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by ReNo on Tue Dec 21st at 12:19am 2004

I dislike EA a lot, but I'm not a hater of any other company really. I wouldn't even dislike EA if it wasn't for the fact they keep buying up independant developers and rival publishers. I'm surprised to see Ubi having such a chunk bought out, and seriously hope they don't fall under EA. They have a good reputation amongst gamers for making, as far as I can think of, original and forward thinking titles, whether you enjoy them or not. Sure we might be seeing a fair amount of sequels from them but most are worth buying. I certainly wouldn't have imagined many people would criticse Ubisoft for pumping out rubbish Gwil, they probably have one of the best line ups of games out of all publishers.

I find it sad when many of the games companies I knew as a child fall to the ever growing giants; when will they be happy with what they have?

[addsig]



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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by gimpinthesink on Tue Dec 21st at 1:30am 2004

I dislike EA for their tendency of buying up companys that try to compete with them but I do like some of their titles like Battlefield Vietnam and some of the Medal of Honour series and especially the Comand and Conquer series [addsig]



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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by Crono on Tue Dec 21st at 1:33am 2004

? quote:
I dislike EA for their tendency of buying up companys that try to compete with them but I do like some of their titles like Battlefield Vietnam and some of the Medal of Honour series and especially the Comand and Conquer series

Command and Conquer was (originally) made by Westwood. Which was bought out by EA many years ago.


[addsig]



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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by Pvt.Scythe on Tue Dec 21st at 10:19am 2004

It's really sad what happened to Westwood. I still remember Dune II... What happened to G.O.D.(Gathering Of Developers) by the way? [addsig]



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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by sde on Tue Dec 21st at 11:11am 2004

EA...God damn, I hate EA. The C&C series was a fantastic piece of work, and anyone who had completed both C&C: Tiberian Dawn and C&C: Red Alert (the original two titles, based on the same engine and made by Westwood with no influence from EA) could see that they tied in (storyline-wise) very well, and that there was something that - if kept at this sort of quality - could be continued almost indefinitely. This isn't something that I'd usually support but these were so good that I didn't really mind. When C&C: Tiberian Sun and Firestorm came out - by this time Westwood was being eaten by EA - the storyline was still strong but it was a little eratic - and the game wasn't really of the same quality as RA and Tib. Dawn. Then came C&C: Red Alert 2.
Now, as far as a game can be judged in it's own terms, RA2 is a middling to good piece of work...good fun, good music, lengthy single player etc. etc... but it totally wrecked the storyline. RA2, by the way, is after EA had bought Westwood (or at least very close). The RA2 storyline works entirely off the more obvious elements of the RA storyline - ie. it completely ignores the tie-ins with Kane, GDI, the Brotherhood of Nod's influence, etc.etc.. and works in a purely "Cold War Battle" sense. It's incredibly irritating to see it ruined. Finally, C&C: Generals - which has absolutely nothing to do with either a Soviet vs. US scenario OR the original (and incredibly potent) Nod vs. GDI story - comes out and grinds dirt into the memory of these classics. Generals was by a huge extent the worst piece of work I've ever seen from "Westwood", although by this time it was definitely just EA. They also fired the actor who played Kane, even though he enjoyed it so much he offered to work for free.
Idiots.
I think that EA now wants to make a Red Alert 3...I can guarantee that this will ignore the Tiberium references made in the original storyline just as much as RA2.
By the way, I ignored the Dune series (Emperor: Battle for Dune was by no means a bad game) because they don't come under the C&C series, if I remember rightly.




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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by Dred_furst on Tue Dec 21st at 11:26am 2004

EA are horrible, I must admit the first two addons for the sims i was willing to buy, but SEVEN!!! thats ludicrous, 7X20=140! ?140 for seven addons, that is just plain cheeky, and by the end of the second, it sucked anyway, they get a beutifully crafted game, that runs smoothly, and turn it into an unbalanced s**tty hole of crapness for lots of fools. because of it, im steering away from the sims 2.

I must admit Generals is nice and all, but is a huge tangent, and gives too much tension to be fun, (if your not skilled)

RA2 was nice, isometric and all, but I'd rather have something coherent,

Classics, ah yes, great stuff, shame they broke on win2k/xp...
[addsig]



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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by ribbz on Tue Dec 21st at 11:29am 2004

The only bright side is that at least they will have no decision making ability at Ubi due to the small amount of shares, plus you never know the US anti-trust might not give clearence for the deal (unless there are back handers!!)





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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by KungFuSquirrel on Tue Dec 21st at 1:43pm 2004

? quote:
The only bright side is that at least they will have no decision making ability at Ubi due to the small amount of shares, plus you never know the US anti-trust might not give clearence for the deal (unless there are back handers!!)


20% is small? Ubi's stock soared yesterday. What do people do when stock goes up? They sell and take the profits. What does that mean? More stock available for purchase.

In maneuvers like this, companies often buy a set percentage of stock to drive the price up, forcing sales, letting them wedge their way up to the 51% and up mark.

There's still too many publishers and developers out there to consider this a monopolizing move, even though it's clear EA will take any steps necessary to not compete (which is healthy for all companies and consumers involved) but instead annihilate.

Things do not look good. [addsig]



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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by ben_j_davis on Tue Dec 21st at 2:26pm 2004

Hmm, well i was thinking about working at EA, but then i began to read at some of the stories coming out of the company about the way they treat their staff and i was like "hmm maybe not"





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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by ribbz on Tue Dec 21st at 4:04pm 2004

Perhaps they will get so big that they will eat their own greedy fat behind?!



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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by Dred_furst on Tue Dec 21st at 4:16pm 2004

I want to work at valve when im older XD
[addsig]



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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by gimpinthesink on Tue Dec 21st at 4:57pm 2004

? quote:

Command and Conquer was (originally)
made by Westwood. Which was bought out by EA many years ago.


I know C&C was originaly made by Westwood but EA got C&C when they got Westwood so it became there product. [addsig]



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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by $loth on Tue Dec 21st at 5:32pm 2004

? quote:
I want to work at valve when im older XD


Say hi to gabe, if he's still there, and tell him to lay off the doughnuts
[addsig]



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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by Crono on Tue Dec 21st at 10:09pm 2004

Everyone is forgetting Nox. I love that game.

[addsig]



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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by Orpheus on Wed Dec 22nd at 7:26pm 2004

not up to reading all 4 pages but this seems about as big an issue as everyone around here crying that Wal-Marts is killing all other business. Wal-Marts is not the bad guy, look at the checkout lanes, they are always full.

i do not see how this can be harmful to the gaming industry, but i am never surprised anymore.

[addsig]



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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by KungFuSquirrel on Wed Dec 22nd at 7:40pm 2004

That's an issue anywhere with a Wal-Mart. All things considered, though, their marketing strategies are pretty tame.

But to keep the analogy going... What would your opinion be of Wal-Mart if they forced 80 hour weeks on their employees, even with nothing to do sometimes? If they gained exclusive rights as the only store to sell any NFL, PGA, or Nascar merchandise and started making plans to acquire exclusive rights for sales of all NBA and (as is speculated) MLB merchandise? And if they started buying small local businesses for the sole purpose of shutting them down? Or if they bought a 20% share of Target with the intent of gutting it for only what they need and throwing everyone else out on the street?

EA is doing what makes them money, and they do that very well. They're a recognizable company with a wide range of games appealing to incredibly wide audiences. But their continued efforts in this direction are highly detrimental to the quality of games - putting employees under 80 hour work weeks mandatory with no overtime, firing employees who try to take christmas day off, and secretive 'loyalty' exercises (asking if a person would like to move to another project within the same company, and if they say yes firing them the next day) don't improve the quality of games. It results in a tired and burned out work force that cannot hope to create a quality product, and it is chasing some damn good talent out of the industry entirely because people believe that there is no better way, that it has to be this way everywhere else. Why do you think EA trying to replace its dwindling veteran talent with fresh kids straight out of high school and/or college?

I know people who have worked at EA or on a project for EA, and the horror stories I hear are a disgrace to what should be a great industry. And if they can go for Ubi, who else might they be able to go for? As an Activision employee, that is a very scary prospect! [addsig]



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 Re: EA buys 20% (well, 19.9) stake in UbiSoft
Posted by CrazyC on Wed Dec 22nd at 7:41pm 2004

? quoting Dred_furst
EA are horrible, I must admit the first two addons for the sims i was willing to buy, but SEVEN!!! thats ludicrous, 7X20=140! ?140 for seven addons, that is just plain cheeky

Ever played Everquest? They have 7 (might be 8 ) expansions released, and with every one they release a new pack containing the original and up the the latest expansion. I know MMORPG's need addons, but cmon. I stopped partway through.

As for EA, well, this discussion makes me feel guilty for having and somewhat enjoying the Sims 2. They are already planning an expansion I believe though






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