Here's an update on EA's Westwood consolidation. HomeLAN Fed has received the following information from Jeff Brown, EA's VP of Corporate Communications:
HomeLAN has more information on the closings of both Westwood Studios and EA Pacific as announced by Electronic Arts earlier today. EA's Vice-President of Corporate Communications Jeff Brown told HomeLAN this evening in a phone interview that the new consolidated Los Angeles EA studio (which currently handles the Medal of Honor series) will be the new development home for the Command and Conquer franchise. Most of the C&C: Generals team will be moved to the new LA studio and Brown said there are still plans for new C&C titles in the future.
For players of Westwood's massively multiplayer RPG Earth and Beyond, Brown told HomeLAN that the game's servers and support will be moved to EA's Redwood Shores, CA studios (where Motor City Online is based) in about a month after the closing of Westwood's Las Vegas offices. The transition should be seemless for players, according to Brown. Brown stated that Earth and Beyond's subscriber base is growing and that EA still plans to support the game.
The new LA studio will be moved into a new building this summer, according to Brown, and will have 200 employees at first but Brown told HomeLAN that EA plans to hire as many as 300 more people for the new EALA studio within the next year after the move.
I figured it was best to give you the post in it's entirety. Interresting name... EALA. Well, it is good to know that CNC will not die because of this merger, and the exisiting and soon to be released titles won't be affected.
Update: I also just want to take a brief moment to quote transnote of Renegade Generals:
It looks like the end of a good run for Westwood Studios. They are going the route of Maxis, creator of the Sim games. SimCity 4 is almost associated more with EA then it is Maxis. Sigh. At least CNC will live on.....
That basically sums up how I feel. It is sad to see Westwood go, but I am sure that there will be plenty of great CNC games in the future.
