EA Tries to Get DICEier

EA Issues Tender Offer for Outstanding Shares in Swedish Developer, Digital Illusions (thanks Frans) reports that the board of directors at Digital Illusions is recommending their shareholders accept a tender offer to acquire the outstanding shares of the Swedish developer. EA already owns 19% of the creator of the Battlefield series.
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28.
 
No subject
Nov 16, 2004, 04:02
28.
No subject Nov 16, 2004, 04:02
Nov 16, 2004, 04:02
 
Steam was not the first or anything innovative, its just restrictive.

If you want to distribute your games you can use Stardock.com - totalgaming.net

27.
 
No subject
Nov 15, 2004, 22:27
27.
No subject Nov 15, 2004, 22:27
Nov 15, 2004, 22:27
 
well if steam takes off and Valve licenses out the tech it could help indie developers get back in the game. which could also usher an era of garbage low end games dodging physical versions of their game...

Either way that's the only way I see to keep indie games alive

26.
 
Well....
Nov 15, 2004, 18:54
26.
Well.... Nov 15, 2004, 18:54
Nov 15, 2004, 18:54
 
As much as I hate to say it I purchased the sims 2 and need for speed underground 2. I didn't have any issues with hot pursuit 2, and I just enjoy torturing sims too much not to get Sims 2. That and I have faith in Maxis.

But unforently the days of small independant game companies is coming to an end. With EA, Microsoft, Sony, Ubisoft and Vivendi (not for long muhaahahaaa) gobbling up small companies it's just a matter of time.

Look at what happened to Gathering of Developers, they went belly up in 2 or 3 years.... and it's not surprising after their claim to fame was there e3 parties across the street.

In the latest Xbox Nation magazine they said the average game cost's 10 million to develope, and that's just the console market. While I certainly hope they don't completly sell out to EA ( or any major company for that matter) I can understand why they would consider it.

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25.
 
Re: I Wonder...
Nov 15, 2004, 16:31
25.
Re: I Wonder... Nov 15, 2004, 16:31
Nov 15, 2004, 16:31
 
Parallax Well said my friend.

Great games seem to have horrible deaths with EA. I stopped buying EA games after they ruined NFS (a long time ago). I gave bf1942 a chance just because of DC. After seeing all the isues in BF , BF:V, NFS:HP2 & NFSU I doubt i'll play any EA game soon including BF2.

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24.
 
RIP
Nov 15, 2004, 15:42
LSD
24.
RIP Nov 15, 2004, 15:42
Nov 15, 2004, 15:42
LSD
 
Alas, we loved thee well. I wish all the best to the employees there.

23.
 
Success = Death
Nov 15, 2004, 14:58
23.
Success = Death Nov 15, 2004, 14:58
Nov 15, 2004, 14:58
 
Apparently even if you make best sellers you are still subject to take-overs. Either it's because publishers like EA have a stranglehold on you through their satanic contracts, or because the other owners/controllers of the company are greedy and don't care about the company's future, or both.

Can you imagine this kind of thing happening in the book publishing world? You write a million-seller and the publisher ends-up owning some percentage of your life?

It's the money what does it - the massive amounts of money it takes to produce an "A" title. Just as in politics it breeds avarice and corruption.

And it's our fault for demanding ever-greater production values (generally at the expense of substance - look at BF: Vietnam), and then plunking-down the cash for pretty, empty games. So the publishers want more pretty, empty games. The last really substantial gaming experience in the FPS genre was "Call of Duty". Look at what a very pretty but very boring experience "Doom 3" was....and that sucker cost a BUTTLOAD of money to make.

-tAE-

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22.
 
Re: Fer the love of all things holy....
Nov 15, 2004, 13:48
22.
Re: Fer the love of all things holy.... Nov 15, 2004, 13:48
Nov 15, 2004, 13:48
 
Please DICE read the info about the lawsuit against EA by it's employee's.
Crying about it here does no good.

If Key DICE employees are long-term Smart rather than short-term Greedy they will monkeywrench whatever's left of the studio's intellectual assets before the sale so that EA gets nothing of future value, then quit en masse, then start up their own studio.

The Programmers and Artists and Musicians and Designers and others who actually DO THE WORK and MAKE THE GAMES in this industry have to stop being so fcking stupid about what they do, stop allowing themselves to be led around like sheep, and start taking control of their own creative and financial futures.

21.
 
No subject
Nov 15, 2004, 13:19
21.
No subject Nov 15, 2004, 13:19
Nov 15, 2004, 13:19
 


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20.
 
No subject
Nov 15, 2004, 13:14
20.
No subject Nov 15, 2004, 13:14
Nov 15, 2004, 13:14
 
How many people here own Sims games or the latest EA Sports crap? I hate EA and that's why I don't support them further by buying their unfinished crap and regurgitated licences.

I stopped buying EA games last year after Madden 2004 for Xbox. After that game I stopped buying EA games becasue they aren't much fun. NFS Underground and its sequel are quite dry for gameplay compared to Gran Tourismo or even Project Gotham 2.

The worst part is people will buy Madden games regardless if they are trhe same game as the year before. (03-04 season)

I tried to convince a friend to try NFL 2k5 and he refused because he 'might like it.'

All in all for DICE: Don't let EA get within 100 yards of your building if you want to keep your doors open.

19.
 
Re: I Wonder...
Nov 15, 2004, 12:58
19.
Re: I Wonder... Nov 15, 2004, 12:58
Nov 15, 2004, 12:58
 
How many people here own Sims games or the latest EA Sports crap? I hate EA and that's why I don't support them further by buying their unfinished crap and regurgitated licences.

I own The Sims 2, but I don't see how that invalidates my opinion that it would be bad to sell out to EA. Better companies than DI have been strip mined, gutted, and had all the majority of their employees cast in to the wind. EA's done it several times, and everyone knows that EA could easily just buy them, have them make a few games, decide the profit margain isn't enough, and just close their shop. EA still would get the Battlefield rights and other rights DI currently holds out of the situation, and the shareholders of DI would get EA stock out of it. However, the ones counting on their jobs there would be in trouble.

Talking about Maxis though, if EA decided they could just do sim games without the Maxis staff, which they could easily do, where would that leave the Maxis developers? Wil Wright and crew might be on the top of the world now, but without their SimCity and The Sims franchises to insure they have a future, they'd be in trouble. If they decided to do anything similar to those games, EA would most likely sue the pants off them as well.

All I'm saying is that if I were a developer, I'd certainly be against selling out to EA.


This comment was edited on Nov 15, 13:01.
18.
 
Re: I Wonder...
Nov 15, 2004, 12:47
18.
Re: I Wonder... Nov 15, 2004, 12:47
Nov 15, 2004, 12:47
 
yeah its a good point. we can whine all we like but we still buy the games... Look at all the horsehit we have got from valve and vivendi, yet we are all going to buy half life 2.
Money talks. Until everything changes from a purchase system to a rental (pay per play) system, there is no incentive for companies to produce good quality, fun, bug free games. If they can generate the hype, we seem to buy it.
If Half Life 2 is a bug ridden unplayable mess, Valve still get their money. (i dont expect this to happen, but with the current system, it could do).


www.positech.co.uk
17.
 
Re: I Wonder...
Nov 15, 2004, 12:30
17.
Re: I Wonder... Nov 15, 2004, 12:30
Nov 15, 2004, 12:30
 
Forget pinball.

Give me Dungeon Keeper 3 ! !

16.
 
I Wonder...
Nov 15, 2004, 12:27
16.
I Wonder... Nov 15, 2004, 12:27
Nov 15, 2004, 12:27
 
I fully agree with the posters here that this will not be a good thing for DICE in the long run (except the owners who can retire now), but I just have one question for those who are complaining. How many people here own Sims games or the latest EA Sports crap? I hate EA and that's why I don't support them further by buying their unfinished crap and regurgitated licences.

Parallax Abstraction
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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15.
 
Dice Rocks!!!!
Nov 15, 2004, 12:04
15.
Dice Rocks!!!! Nov 15, 2004, 12:04
Nov 15, 2004, 12:04
 
Dice Rocks= BF:1942 had to be one of the most inovated Online games ever to be made- Too bad they didn't make BF:Vietnam- BF:2 -Something to look foward to after Half-Life 2 tonight

14.
 
Re: No subject
Nov 15, 2004, 11:55
14.
Re: No subject Nov 15, 2004, 11:55
Nov 15, 2004, 11:55
 
Darnit! I wanted to mention Pinball Fantasies/Illusions/Dreams



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13.
 
EA vs Dice
Nov 15, 2004, 11:49
13.
EA vs Dice Nov 15, 2004, 11:49
Nov 15, 2004, 11:49
 
EA have already corrupted DiCE. The producers on BF2 are all EA-drones, and as a consequence BF2 will be more like that sorry tragedy BF:Vietnam than BF42, or even Desert Combat.

12.
 
No subject
Nov 15, 2004, 10:36
12.
No subject Nov 15, 2004, 10:36
Nov 15, 2004, 10:36
 
If being bought by EA means a sequel to Pinball Fantasies, I'm all for it.

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11.
 
No subject
Nov 15, 2004, 10:24
11.
No subject Nov 15, 2004, 10:24
Nov 15, 2004, 10:24
 
I have to agree with many of the posters here. Getting bought out by EA may work in the short term, but when you look at all the companies that have been purchased by EA, very few are still around today. We're talking about companies that did have a good track record and all it took was one minor slump before EA wiped them out. Westwood had been around since the mid1980s, and had a number of good franchises and titles under their belt. Origin was the same way. Bullfrog had many popular titles as well. All of them hit a slump, which may or may not have been due to EA pulling their strings, and once that slump hit, EA was pretty quick in wiping those companies out and keeping their intellectual properties.

If The Sims stopped selling well as a franchise, I don't think Maxis would be around that long afterwards. I wouldn't be surprised to see an announcement on EA disbanding them within the next five years. The Sims will eventually run it's course, and Maxis doesn't really have anything else under their belts right now.

The shareholders of Digital Illusions will probably win from this, but the development studio won't win in the long run.


10.
 
Re: Ding! Ding!
Nov 15, 2004, 09:57
10.
Re: Ding! Ding! Nov 15, 2004, 09:57
Nov 15, 2004, 09:57
 
Professional, apparently you only know of their Battlefield games.

DiCE also makes the Rallisport Challenge games, which I'm sure will die or be horribly mutilated if EA buys DiCE out. RSC2 had some issues when it came out, but they went through and fixed all of them. EA just doesn't really care if the games they put out are supported, they'd rather have DiCE working on the next title than fixing the old one.

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9.
 
Maxis....
Nov 15, 2004, 09:57
9.
Maxis.... Nov 15, 2004, 09:57
Nov 15, 2004, 09:57
 
As long as maxis pumps out expansions and more The Sims games they are fine. But Westwood is a prime example, after Dune 3 and the C&C/Red Alert Games they were no longer useful, and EA took over and put out Generals. And Ultima Online 2 (working title) and Ultima Odyessy (spelling) were both canceled after having SIGNIFICANT amount of work done on them, in fact if I remember correctly Lord British said that Ultima Online 2 was feature complete and just needed content and it was canned. And then there is the Wind Commander Series. Also didn't Violation do Red Faction for EA or was that THQ?

Even the folks that did Freedom Force won't use EA as a publisher for Freedom Force 2.

At this point in time I'd much rather have Microsoft buy Dice then EA.

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