Report: EA Partners - Publishers of The Orange Box, Bulletstorm and Rock Band - to Close

21
Lee Bradley

EA Partners is to shut down, as part of the publisher’s continued downsizing, according to the latest reports.

EA Partners is the wing of the company that publishes titles made by third-party developers. And while the project obviously wasn’t viable for EA any longer, it has had its fair share of hits down the years.

Titles like Rock Band, Crysis and The Orange Box were published by EA Partners. Unfortunately, however, so were the likes of Brutal Legend, Shadows of the Damned, Syndicate and Bulletstorm - all titles that failed to perform at retail.

There are two more remaining properties on the release slate for EA Partners; Fuse and Respawn Entertainment’s upcoming shooter. According to reports, these projects will continue unaffected.

The closure of EA Partners comes following the departure of CEO John Riccitiello, since when there have been a number of layoffs. Going into the next generation, EA is clearly narrowing its focus.

EA Partners was co-founded in 1997 and was initially known as known as EA Distribution. The idea was to attract smaller, independent developers - who would be reluctant to get into a standard publishing deal.

Unfortunately, however, it seems that EA Partners is just the latest victim of a console industry that is increasingly squeezing out all but the biggest, AAA releases.

[via GI.biz]

 

Comments
21
  • shame really. the orange box is my favorite ps3 game. best collection on the system.
  • They are taking keping hold of worst company trophy well then.
  • Don't worry everyone! There is a valid logical explanation for this! ... Blame EA. But really, I was never interested in any of these titles so I doubt I actually missed out on anything great.
  • @3 you did miss out. HALF LIFE 3 VALVE MAKE IT HAPPEN PLEASE and also Episode 3
  • Wait, does that mean that EA still keeps those external IPs? And if they're not gonna work with them anymore that means no Bulletstorm 2, no Shadows of the Damned 2, no more Crysis, no more Alice, etc. So, you're planing to visit THQ down there soon huh? Because we're f*cking waiting for it! On a side note, best of lucks to those who lost/will lose their jobs, and thanks a lot for publishing titles like the mentioned before (I wanted Bulletstorm 2 so bad though!)
  • That has not much to do with "squeezing out all but the biggest, AAA releases". For an independent developer there are much more attractive ways made viable now - smaller publishers with more freedom, self publishing via PSN/XBLA/Steam with support of the respective platform holders and crowd funding, though that's yet in it's baby shoes. There is little need for a whole subdivision of a big publisher. If EA /wants/ to publish an indie title, they're surely flexible enough to offer them the same conditions they'd get under EA Partners under the EA Games logo now. ... Or just buy the whole studio ;)
  • I'm sure with the amount of Rock Band stuff this was inevitable, The Orange Box Valve haven't done anything recently. Crysis Crytek does not need EA anyway, if Half Life 3 was going to happen they don't need EA to make it happen. Half Life 3 is a myth anyway, Suda51 is working-on a new and doesn't need EA to make Shadow of the Damned 2 to happen. But as it sold poorly it probably won't happen anyway, as for Bulletstorm there never going to be a Bulletstorm2 after sales.
  • Kinda makes me wonder what's gonna be left for the PS4. A bunch of small indie titles and a few cant miss AAA titles? Seems like everything else will be too expensive to produce, or won't make enough profit.
  • @7: You have hit the nail on the head. Poor sales combined with poor reviews sealed the fate of most of the above games long ago, I'm just amazed it's taken them this long to do the deed.
  • ...Shadows of the damned...and alice madness are the only 2 I know and cared about affected by this. Please EA, give back those ip's so the amazing games can continue on in another life :c
  • I think its so funny these huge publishers keep shutting down these teams yet they still are making billions each year. SMH
  • Noticed a few mentioned Valve? if I remember correctly, didn't they create the Left 4 Dead games? i had high hopes that they would be released on PS3
  • @12: Valve said long ago that they don't care for the PS3 (or the Xbox 360 for that matter) and to get a PC if you want get the most complete versions of their games.
  • @13 Valve also killed off the Dreamcast by canning Half Life (which was finished), as they took more money from ??? Anyway, I don't care much for Valve as I don't care much for PC gaming. Too many variables, and often the games don't work properly, depending upon the hardware set up.
  • Interesting. Does this mean that EA isn't doing as well as they want us to think, or are they just tired of having mostly-mediocre games pass through with their name stamped on the cover?
  • @13 Gabe Newell changed his mind about the PS3. He's a fan nowadays. Portal 2's Steam integration was a nice touch. PC is still their main focus, but he has changed his mind. He did hate the PS3.
  • @13: That was before they turned to PS3 with Portal 2, linked Steam and PSN accounts and neglecting the XBox base. Actually Valve is an opportunistic dickhead who turns tail as soon as something doesn't run the way they want. Best example would be Windows 8 and Steamboxes. If it weren't the only viable option for PC gaming, I'm sure they would stop supporting Windows all together. @15: Not really. EA does quiet well actually*, but - as every company now - not well enough for their shareholders and thus is undergoing structural changes. Read: they shrink to best 'productivity : costs'-size they can, losing "fat" on all ends. For a game publisher that means closing / shrinking inactive and lossy studios. And as I said earlier - the EA Partners label isn't really needed anymore. However, this is sadly a normal process for every major company, especially after the end of the fiscal year. I'm sure we will read about EA buying/founding new studios and acquiring new IPs soon enough. After all, at a certain point a company need to grow to make more money. *you can take a look in their financial report for 2012Q3, net revenue is over 2,3 billion USD if I quick glanced the numbers right.
  • @13 im not much of a PC gamer because i'm not too clever with learning the controls and i prefer to use it for media and editing, plus im using a mac and everyone knows they're pretty useless with gaming haha. ill keep my gaming on the 360 and PS3 for a while until the next gen has a bigger game collection
  • Aww, I really liked Brutal Legend :( Not like there was going to be a sequel to it, as Double Fine said they were moving on from it.
  • Crysis 3 shouldnt have been released 2 years after #2, there are few games that survive the 1/2 year cycle and usually the games end up having issues. Crysis 2 was very hyped cause it was released 4 years after #1 but i felt Crysis 3 was released to fast (2 years) after #2 and i thought it would be the same as #2 so i didnt buy it, if they waited another year or 2 I might have thought they spent more time on the game and may have bought it.
  • Well this sucks. I love Shadows of the Damned. Grasshopper is using a different publisher now?
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