EA Chicago is no more

[BiG ToE]

:cry: why:cry:
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3164189

[ShadyD]

Bah!
I admit Def Jam was quite a let down but Fight Night was excellent!
Oh man.. I feel kinda bad for the 150+ employees.. :(

Wait.. Bigtoe,do/did you actually work there?

[East]

This is always sad news. You can say a lot of things about EA, but they do know how to make a profit. While I understand why they made this decision, in light of the information we got in the news post, it still sucks and I hope all of the employees there can be absorbed into other positions within EA, or have alternate routes to follow.

Just such a hassle to relocate if you have family with career spouses and kids with lifelong friends.. :\

[Flynny]

1 Day EA will make a deciion thatl bite them in the ass.

[Mogster]

hehehe <.<!

[Gavin]

It's funny reading the reactions to things like this. It almost seems if a lot of people think companies can stay open by not making any money at all. :)

It's shitty news, hopefully they get shuffled back into the EA family. Or find other work easily.

Gav

[poopinmymouth]

It almost seems if a lot of people think companies can stay open by not making any money at all. :)

Gav

I think most people understand that companies not making a profit have to close. The problem lies in the decisions that happened up until they stopped making a profit, and I guarantee that most of them were not made by the hard working artists/programmers/designers working at EA Chicago. The bad decisions ruining their profitability was most likely made by the upper management there, or at EQ HQ. That's what I personally am lamenting, that yet another bungle by upper management, cost hard-working, deserving people jobs.

http://www.mr-chompers.com/images/poop.gif (http://www.poopinmymouth.com)

[Amethyst]

I totally agree with Poop. Artists should have a bigger say in game productions. They know what is good and what has to be improved etc....

[Gavin]

Poop, I definitely agree with you, I think it's a shame that good people who were probably doing their jobs well got canned because someone above them was doing a crappy job. That sucks, don't get me wrong, and it's a shame. (I guess this is more in general and not really in reply to you or any statement in particular...) I think that if it were an artist calling the shots in that position though, things would be a lot worse and that's kind of my point and what really bugs me when people harp on EA for doing business. People aren't THAT stupid, I know, they understand you need to make money to stay afloat...but I think artists naturally believe that "If they just made something original, people would love it and they'd still make tons of money.." or at least that's the impression I get from reading response on the forums. It frustrates me because it seems like a lot of people forget that they're in a business.

East put it better than I did, I'll just sound like a jerk and offend someone :) "You can say a lot of things about EA, but they do know how to make a profit."

GAV!

[Flynny]

"You can say a lot of things about EA, but they do know how to make a profit."

Cant argue with that, but didnt a little known company called Enron make plenty too? :P

I can understand if a studio out spends its budget, it happens, but on this side of the curtain it seems more and more that EA is abusing what it can get ahold of.

Anyways, heres to those unlucky fellas getting new jobs.

[cgjeff]

I think artists naturally believe that "If they just made something original, people would love it and they'd still make tons of money.."


Yea, it does always seem like people think that if they just find that one unique idea that it'll shoot off like a money making rocket. Which is just not true at all. Hell look at Psychonauts, Grim fandango, and The Neverhood. All three amazing games, with a decent fanbase. But not a one of em made tons of money off the get go. Original ideas still have to be well marketed, financed, and advertised to even get the public's attention, and even then, who's to say that the general public is prepared for some radical and interesting idea. It could be just different enough to push them outside of their comfort zone for gaming and make them not want to play it.



anyways, on topic. That sucks to hear that the studio had to close. I hope that everyone either gets moved to a new position within EA or can easily find work elsewhere.