Talk:Electronic Arts

Isn't it a tad too biased ?

Not that I have some long lost love for EA, but the article does paint a very black&white picture, where EA just appears to the big evil Guardian which ruined the all goody Origin - while the actual situation was more complicated than that and some of the issues at Origins were just as much the fault of Origin's own mismanagment as it was the fault of EA's interference.

Ultima IX actually IS a prime exemple of this - EA didn't forced Origin to start from scratch after UO's release and craft a new 3D engine and game, and from a corporate standpoint I can certainly understand that they wanted Ultima IX out of the door after it had been in development for so long. Basically there are more shades of grey there than the article make it sound, and the relationship between Origin and EA was actually quite fruitful for some years before it totally went to hell when they shifted the focus to online after UO's unexpected success (while Ultima fans have a grudge because of U8&9 and for good reasons, you just have to look at the list of quality games Origin released while under EA).

Also it should probably be pointed in the article that had Origin not be sold, to company would most likely have closed after the release of Ultima VII.

I also suggest reading this article from a few years back at the Escapist which summs up the situation and how it evolved pretty well http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_14/87-The-Conquest-of-Origin --Sergorn 19:06, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

Agreed. Origin made business mistakes too, and we never even would have seen Serpent Isle, Underworld II, Ultima Online (amazing for its time), Ultima VIII, or Ultima IX if it weren't for Electronic Arts. Also, to their credit, as far as I am aware they have NEVER sent out a cease and desist order to any Ultima fan projects. Lazarus, U6Project, Redemption, Return to Serpent Isle (you're a busy boy Sergy), all of them have been left alone by EA. Heck, there's even some guy selling Akalabeth as an iphone app for like $1.99, and I doubt he has EA's permission. They've been kind to us fans. Look at the trials and tribulations the King's Quest Silver Lining team has been through. (Dungy 23:19, July 28, 2010 (UTC))

I think its less an act of kindness and more that they simply don't care any longer.--Tribun 23:28, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

Heck, even if that's the case, I'll take it. I LOVE my Lazarus and my U6Project, they're as good as any Ultima game. I doubt Ultima is dead forever though. That name is still worth money and fan recognition. (Dungy 23:49, July 28, 2010 (UTC))

I just say "Lord of Ultima". This is how much they care at EA about the brand (meaning not at all, aside from it attracting attention). It's just a label for them to promote something unrelated.--Tribun 00:08, July 29, 2010 (UTC)

I don't think that's quite true. Granted Lord of Ultima is just about capitalizing on the Ultima name, but other than that truth is EA has been trying to do new Ultima games for ten years now even if all ended up being cancelled (some of them, before they were even announced actually). Eck the latest attempt was just about 3-4 years ago when they tried to relaunch the series as an actual single player RPG, and it failed because negociation to find a 3rd party RPG developper fell through. EA has many other licenses under their belt that didn't even get such chances.

And even still there are lot of exemple of companies sending cease and desist letter to fans projects about licenses they don't use anymore: you can look at Activision for King's Quest, LucasArts, Square... EA could is they wanted. But they didn't and let all the numerous fans projects alone (not only for Ultima, but also for Wing Commander which had loads of fan content produced over the years), and for that I say thank you. --Sergorn 05:47, July 29, 2010 (UTC)

Hey Sergorn, seeing that you know enough about the topic, couldn't you try re-writing part of it to reflect better the situation? We even have a source, the article you've mentioned. If you can't, I'll probably eventually will, but I'd have to catch up more on the subject first.--Sega381 00:25, July 29, 2010 (UTC)

Alrighty, I'll try to reword the article. --Sergorn 05:47, July 29, 2010 (UTC)