Video Game News Stories for February 29, 2024

Industry Layoffs and Restructuring:

Other Noteworthy News:

Battlefield 2042 Concept Artworks

Mirror’s Edge reboot and new Plants vs. Zombies console game dated for Q4 2016

EA shuts down Maxis the studio behind 'SimCity'

The studio that created SimCity and The Sims is no more. Today, EA confirmed that it will shut down Maxis Emeryville, displacing the folks primarily responsible for the aforementioned titles. In a statement, EA said that it'll relocate Maxis' development to its other offices in Redwood Shores, Salt Lake City, Helsinki and Melbourne. The company plans to move forward with projects already in the works, including a The Sims 4expansion pack and on-going support for the existing The Sims and SimCity faithful. Those two are massively popular PC titles, and the latter finally arrived on Mac in 2013with players everywhere encountering a truckload of launch issues.

In fact, the games had a much wider appeal than most, as virtual lives and social experiments attracted players otherwise not interested in the likes of Doom orWolfenstein. Although Maxis garnered the bulk of the criticism for 2013's botched launch, EA's servers that sort online gameplay and more had a key role, too. At the time, the duo claimed an offline mode wasn't possible, and then a few months later, delivered the feature via an update.

Expect EA to release Star Wars: Battlefront late next year (2015)—the publisher just announced that DICE's Star Wars game will be out in "holiday 2015." Battlefield 5 (yes, 5!) will be out holiday of 2016, EA said.

Bioware trailer teases mysterious project, rumored to be called Shadow Realms

The time is near

They are watching

Your power is rising

Cologne, Germany

You’ve Been Chosen

EA Giving The Sims 2 Away for Free on Origin, Along With All 18 Expansions

A decade after its release, Electronic Arts is giving away The Sims 2 for free through Origin--along with every single expansion and stuff pack ever released.

EA recently announced it would end support for The Sims 2, meaning it will no longer release content or technical fixes for the game. It will continue to offer for support to those who contact the company for help, but the game as it exists today will remain unchanged going forward (barring any efforts made by the modding community). EA contacted Sims 2 owners recently, informing them of the news and offering a free upgrade to the newly created The Sims 2: Ultimate Collection.

That same collection is now being offered to all Origin users for free for a limited time. To get it, simply open Origin, select the "Redeem Product Code" option from the menu, and enter the code I-LOVE-THE-SIMS. You have until July 31 at 10AM Pacific to redeem the code to your Origin account. If you don't already have one, you can sign up for free.

Ultimate Collection includes the base Sims 2 game along with "every single The Sims 2 expansion pack and stuff pack." The list of content that entails, as a result, is comically long: There have been eight expansion packs (which add new functionality and major features) and ten stuff packs (which, as you might guess, contain various stuff--primarily clothing and furniture) released since The Sims 2's launch in 2004.

The full list of eight expansions:

And all ten stuff packs:

The Sims 4, the newest game in the series, is scheduled for launch on PC on September 2. EA released alengthy gameplay video recently which may have inadvertently revealed its plans for a Battlefield Premium-esque service for the game.

EA shutting down 50 titles including classic Battlefield, Medal of Honor, Crysis, Star Wars

GameSpy announced earlier this month that they would be ending all hosted services for games, which impacts the online capabilities of a number of older titles, including some from EA.

Since GameSpy’s announcement, our teams have been working to evaluate options to keep services up and running.  Unfortunately, due to technical challenges and concerns about the player experience, we do not have a solution at this time. Online services for EA games on the GameSpy platform will be closed down at the end of June.

We know some of these games are still fan favorites, including Battlefield 2, Battlefield 1942, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and Command & Conquer games. We are still investigating community-supported options to preserve online functionality for these titles, such as multiplayer. Significant technical hurdles remain, and at this time we don’t have anything to announce.

Full list scheduled to go offline on June 30 follows:

Disney Abandons Star Wars 1313 Trademark

Disney failed to renew the title's trademark, which officially asphyxiates any remaining hope.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office currently classifies Star Wars 1313 as "Abandoned because no Statement of Use or Extension Request timely filed after Notice of Allowance was issued."

Obviously, Disney and EA could revive the trademark, but the fact that they let it expire proves that the game isn't on the radar. Last June, EA teased a brand new Battlefront sequel, which is scheduled to hit the market in 2015, and the publisher is already handling Star Wars: The Old Republic. So, it's probably safe to assume that EA isn't going to throw 1313 back into the mix.

Read the full story over at The Escapist

EA's Origin Humble Bundle brings $1.65 million to American Cancer Society

In a tweet congratulating the team at Electronic Arts for their part in the highly successful Humble Origin Bundle, EA's Peter Moore said that the company had donated $1.65 million of the $10.5 million generated by the bundle to the American Cancer Society.

When EA, Origin, and the Humble Bundle announced the Humble Origin Bundle back in August, they said that all of EA's and Origin's profits would go to give charities - the Human Rights Campaign; Watsi; the San Francisco AIDS Foundation; the American Red Cross; or the American Cancer Society.

First Next Gen Golf Details Revealed, ends partnership with Tiger Woods

EA Sports golf fans have always loved authentic courses and players, but they've also asked for more choice and customization in how and where they play. We're working on a new approach to deliver the best golf experience to our fans — we think you'll love it, and so we’re excited to share the first screenshot of our next generation golf game currently in development.  EA Sports and Tiger Woods have also made a mutual decision to end our partnership, which includes Tiger's named PGA TOUR golf game. We’ve always been big fans of Tiger and we wish him continued success in all his future endeavors. Moving forward, we will continue to work with the PGA Tour exclusively to create groundbreaking golfing titles and our partnership remains strong. EA Sports is committed to creating a new golf experience that leverages the best technologies across EA to deliver a stunning and immersive game for mobile and next generation consoles. We'll have more news soon.

DICE boss teases E3 surprises

EA teasing 'Grass Effect' ~ Update: 'Dead Face' & Petal of Honor

EA puts an end to its Online Pass program

“Yes, we’re discontinuing Online Pass,” EA senior director of corporate communications John Reseburg confirmed to GamesBeat in an e-mail. “None of our new EA titles will include that feature.”

“Initially launched as an effort to package a full menu of online content and services, many players didn’t respond to the format,” Reseburg said. “We’ve listened to the feedback and decided to do away with it moving forward.”

“We’re still committed to creating content and services that enhance the game experience well beyond the day you first start playing,” Reseburg said.

EA Opening New Los Angeles Game Studio, WIll work on Star Wars Games

Electronic Arts fresh off announcing it cut 10% of its workforce to trim costs, is investing in a new Los Angeles studio for its Stockholm-based DICE game developer with the goal of poaching talent from rivals like Activision Blizzard.

The DICE unit, purchased by EA in the middle of the last decade, will be a key cog in the creation of a new series of Star Wars videogames. Walt Disney announced last week that it enlisted EA to make Star Wars games weeks after closing its LucasArts games division.

As DICE begins the initial phases of sketching out ideas for a new Star Wars game, it is in the process of opening a Los Angeles office this month to help with recruiting talent, General Manager Karl-Magnus Troedsson said in an interview at the Stockholm office.

"There is an extreme talent pool over that we want a part of," he said. "It's no secret that our main competitor is there," referring to Activision's Infinity Ward and Treyarch operations, which use Southern California studios to work on the popular Call of Duty game that outsells Battlefield.

While not divulging specific numbers, Mr. Troedsson said the DICE studio represents a significant investment with plans to add 60 staffers by the end of 2013. He said the firm is looking to add the best talent in the business for the venture, and that DICE needs to expand its wings following the success of the Battlefield franchise.

The new DICE studio comes on the heels of tough actions taken to slim down the wider EA operation. About 900 of the company's 9,000 employees recently were cut in order to achieve a 20% operating margin.

Mr. Troedsson said DICE will strive to maintain its Nordic work environment, where managers are known to make decisions by consensus and employees are afforded long parental leaves to care for children.

DICE also expects that the opportunity to work on the next Star Wars games attract talent from rival firms. "People stood up and cheered, when I announced that we were working on Star Wars," he said, indicating the same enthusiasm could be used in recruiting.

He said creators of the new Star Wars game are looking at either creating an entirely new experience or piggybacking on an older Star Wars game series.

Mr. Troedsson, who describes himself as a passionate gamer with an interest in motorcycles, said he is a fan of classic Star Wars games. "For me it's a boys dream come to life, I've grown up with Star Wars."

The new studio opened its doors recently, and has brought in some EA employees who worked on the Medal of Honor series, as well as outside talent.

EA obtains exclusive rights to Star Wars

Mirror's Edge & Mass Effect Artwork from Cook & Becker