Die-berium: EA cans Command & Conquer FPS

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Sep 30th 2008 at 3:50PM }

Those hoping to Command and Conquer from a more personal perspective are sure to be disappointed with the demise of EA's upcoming first-person shooter, Tiberium. According to a report on Kotaku (we've verified with EA), development on the game was suspended due to its inability to meet "the high quality standards set by the team and by the EA Games Label" before its post-delay fiscal 2010 release.

According to EA's Mike Verdu, "The game had fundamental design challenges from the start. We fought to correct the issues, but we were not successful; the game just isn't coming together well enough to meet our own quality expectations as well as those of our consumers."

Though we're glad to be spared from any game that clumsily crashes into EA's recently lowered Limbo pole, Tiberium's cancellation will reportedly result in several members of the development team being "released." The publisher claims that it "will make every effort" to move "talented people" to other, actually-coming-out projects.

Update: We've added a full statement from EA's Mariam Sughayer after the break.

EA's Statement

EA has suspended work on Tiberium effective immediately.

The game was not on track to meet the high quality standards set by the team and by the EA Games Label. A lower quality game is not in the best interest of the consumers and would not succeed in this market.

This decision will result in some individuals being released. However, EA will make every effort to place talented people on other projects. Eligible employees will receive severance and outplacement support.

EA Los Angeles is home to several units of the company including EA Mobile, EA Casual Entertainment Headquarters, EA's Global Online group and others. At the EA Games Label studio in that facility, developers there are creating Command & Conquer Red Alert 3, a series of titles in development with Steven Spielberg, and other games which have not yet been announced.

Tags: Cancelled, Canned, Command-and-Conquer, EA, FPS, Tiberium

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Erluti @ Sep 30th 2008 3:53PM

NOOOOOO!

MuToiD_MaN @ Sep 30th 2008 5:47PM

WANTED D:

Courtney @ Sep 30th 2008 3:59PM

I'm kind of disappointed it wasn't panning out better. C&C Renegade was a favorite of our lan parties for awhile and I have a lot of fond memories of it. I was hoping they might deliver something as fun as it.

PeterF @ Sep 30th 2008 4:00PM

This is just too bad. I had a lot of fun time with Renegade.

Mikor @ Sep 30th 2008 7:22PM

Meh, Renegade was garbage imo...

Mischa @ Sep 30th 2008 4:09PM

Wow this game must have sucked horribly if they're cancelling it now when it was due out in 2010. But I also enjoyed renegade, this saddens me :'(

However, it's baffling to me that they aren't able to make this an interesting game, especially with the technology we have now. An FPS in the Command and Conquer universe seems like a solid fit.

Dirty @ Sep 30th 2008 4:08PM

Gotta make room for a boogie sequel.

xFenixKnightx (Mr ESC Resurrection Force) @ Sep 30th 2008 4:09PM

Bummer, I thought the game looked pretty darn good here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrYl8ps074k

:(

xFenixKnightx (Mr ESC Resurrection Force) @ Sep 30th 2008 4:11PM

Transforming gun...ftw :(

Haggard (steam: haggard_dawn, PSN: HaggyWaggy) @ Sep 30th 2008 4:42PM

There's also the fact that the game looked pretty far-on in development. So to pull it now seems a little odd. Perhaps they're trying to sell more in the console market, where the C+C brand isn't as well known.

xFenixKnightx (Mr ESC Resurrection Force) @ Sep 30th 2008 4:54PM

Exactly what I thought to myself when I read this. The game definately looked like it was moving right along and far in dev when I saw it featured on Gametrailer TV with Geoff K.

Oh well...

*kicks a rock on the ground.

#28 @ Oct 1st 2008 12:43AM

That game looked awesome. I totally agree, it was definitely marketing issues. They probably didn't think they could sell it on consoles, and that because "PC doesn't sell" EA wouldn't make enough money.

brian @ Sep 30th 2008 4:10PM

"the game just isn't coming together well enough to meet our own quality expectations as well as those of our consumers."

Nice one!

Moffka @ Sep 30th 2008 4:19PM

D: I'll go cry in a corner now.

Zertoss @ Sep 30th 2008 4:20PM

"the game was suspended due to its inability to meet the high quality standards set by ... the EA Games Label"

I'm not ashamed to admit that I laughed at this. Perhaps the game was just incompatible with SecuROM.

Nick the Hero of Canton @ Sep 30th 2008 4:24PM

All the gameplay videos made the game look horrible (and I was excited before I saw them) so hopefully resources will go towards making a game worthy of the franchise instead.

theturtle363 @ Sep 30th 2008 4:28PM

that's too bad but i cant say im gonna kill myself over it

AtomicPlayboy @ Sep 30th 2008 4:29PM

What is meant by "we're glad to be spared from any game that effortlessly slides beneath EA's recently raised Limbo pole"? Are you implying that Dead Space and Mirror's Edge are likely to excuse or offset the release of other titles of poor quality, or did you actually mean to say "recently lowered Limbo pole", meaning that EA has made it harder for bad games to make it out of its studios (as evidenced by the quality of the referenced titles)?

Ludwig Kietzmann @ Sep 30th 2008 6:03PM

You know what? That's a good point! Does it make more sense now?

Dan CiTi @ Sep 30th 2008 4:46PM

this game had tons of potential too.

Kizzle @ Sep 30th 2008 4:50PM

Good thing you've verified with EA, as Kotaku has been full of shit lately due to their laziness when it comes to fact checking.

devian @ Sep 30th 2008 4:50PM

Good, maybe someone who won't fuck up the game so badly it limps will make a "Renegade 2" now

Christian @ Sep 30th 2008 5:19PM

That robot looks just like the one in RoboCop.... can't seem to remember the name though...

Dirty @ Sep 30th 2008 5:31PM

ED-209. I swear I didn't have to look it up.

Titanium_Orchid @ Sep 30th 2008 5:37PM

my favorite character from robocop

: @ Sep 30th 2008 5:37PM

I actually tested an alpha version of this last winter. I'll be frank, the game was very, very medicore, bordering on terrible.
FMVs were pretty good, at least.

Aaron @ Sep 30th 2008 7:43PM

EA cares about quality? Get out of here!

Ludwig Kietzmann @ Sep 30th 2008 8:25PM

Woah, I did not see this quip coming.

Slaziman @ Sep 30th 2008 9:18PM

Poorly executed joke.

When a joke is so easy to make that most people thought of it while reading this article, you gotta make it extra clever to make it worth reading.

mj @ Sep 30th 2008 9:58PM

I just don't get it. They have Battlefield 2041 sitting around, this would amount to a mod that C&C fans have been looking forward to. Heck, if it had been the Red Alert universe, I probably would have picked it up and I've never been into C&C.

But then I think politics. Sony has like a dozen FPSs and MS's big game is Halo... They probably got a concession to can this. Let's see if Sony cancels their baseball games or maybe the Ensemble closing was relate (we'll cancel AoE if you cancel Tiberium).