Update: Community Manager Eric Krause has now also posted his thoughts on the cancellation and it doesn’t sound good for the franchise.
An alpha forum post from somebody claiming to be a (former) Victory Games employee has stated that the press release line about Command & Conquer being shut down due to unfavourable feedback about the alpha was “total bs.” Unfortunately it’s not possible to link directly to the alpha forum post in question, as it’s unlisted at the official forums. Our man Paul Younger has access as he’s in the alpha.
Since we can’t link directly to it, here is the post in full from EA_Baelor:
So Long And Thanks For All The Fish
Today, 08:40 AM
Hi everyone, I just wanted to say that it has been a pleasure working on this game and I hope you all have enjoyed the closed alpha!This isn’t official or anything, but you probably saw that our whole team got the ax. I hope you understand that we at VG all were dedicated to making a game for all of you to play, and that the press release line was total b.s. It was NOT any feedback from the alpha that shut this project down but just petty corporate politics and shenanigans.
We were all shocked and confused to find out that our studio is closed (and that we are all out of jobs!), but I am happy to see that the game is still up and running RIGHT NOW and that a lot of people are still having fun with it. Please enjoy the live game until they figure out how to turn off the servers (it might be a while)!
Cheers,
B
It emerged yesterday that production on Command & Conquer would be ceased, and that news was followed by confirmation from EA that the Victory Games team would be disbanded as well. The whole situation seemed a little sudden, so “petty corporate politics” may well have played a part. Of course this “B” character is not yet confirmed to be an actual Victory Games employee, so take that into consideration.
[Update 11 November]: We have now received direct confirmation from a second former Victory Games employee (who wishes to remain anonymous) that EA_Baelor is who he claims to be, and that all EA_ prefixed names posting on the alpha forum are/were with the company. So that clears that up!
A slightly less contentious post has also been made by development director Tim Morten. That one reads as follows:
I write this not as EA_Tim, but as private citizen Tim Morten, and this will be my final post in these forums.
I want to express my sincere thanks to the many community members who participated in the alpha. Just as the project was a labor of love for the team, I know those of you who poured hours into giving us feedback share the team’s disappointment about the cancellation.
As a project and as a team we were committed to striving for excellence, and though there will always be detractors, I sincerely believe that we were on the way to creating something great. I’m sad that we didn’t get to complete the journey with you – whether you were our staunchest supporter or our harshest critic, you have my personal thanks for participating, and I wish you all the best.
Farewell,
Tim
Paul jumped into the game last night and shares his thoughts on the cancellation and demos the gameplay in IncGamers: Plays the canned Command & Conquer and as also written an article looking at where the franchise could be going and what has gone before.
Published: Oct 30, 2013 07:03 pm