Visceral execs defect to Activision

That sucks. His whole plan for Visceral was to start making mature games for EA, akin to Dead Space. Too bad.

man forget the console wars how bout the developer wars man EA and Activision are GOING at it lol

well, what the hell is going to happen to the dead space franchise?, does EA own it's rights? if so, boo to this.

Thats a pretty big blow to EA. Especially seeing how good Dead Space was. And I will admit I was one of the biggest people to hate EA. But I think it really just because of how the bully around the sport franchises. Madden and now NCAA Basketball (hoping for CH 2k10) But other than that I do believe that EA has made some ground in other genres of games. I think Activision is really starting to take over the "bully" name from EA. I really wish that publisher would fight for consumer with the quality of their games rather than buyouts. In the end, we lose also.

They left an evil conglomerate to join... an equal evil conglomerate?

its only business XD

These guys are sticking it to EA.

Glad those two individuals severed their collective link from the borg. Their unimatrix must be weakening. I guess resistance isn't as futile :>

Well since these two are going to a new game studio, they have alot more freedom to do what they do best. If you notice in the article they had a hard time pitching Dead Space to EA. Obviously these two are talented and now that they are free from the EA cash cow machine, they can focus on putting more ingenious games in the hands of gamers. Instead of EA being on the game case, it will now say Activision; however the same great game disc will be inside for us to enjoy. Dead Space may take a hit, but the industry needs more new titles, not rehashes of the same old game time and time again. Just wait until we have Resident Evil 23, you guys will be sick of Resident Evil by then for sure.

Ouch....for EA...

Hope they will get paid in gold and silver bullion instead of worthless paper fiat currency.

What sucks is the fact that these guys were actually making EA good again.

Good for them, they got a better job offer and took it. Anyone of us would do the same. God knows with Goldman Sucks and the Federal Reserve causing massive inflation, the Jones need to keep up with an ever devalued US Dollar.

Bloody Activision, first the sueing, then the threats to Sony, now this. I like CoD & all that, but they weren't actually MADE by Activision (they're just the publishers), & Activision are seriously being bullying d*cks at the moment.

@ottumatic I did say super-corporation, I do not honestly think Bethesda meets the criteria. They might make 10.0 games, they might have a rich parent company who has their hands in many media outlets, however, when it comes to gaming, they do not have near as much of an impact overall. I DO see them expanding, but if you want to try to tell me as of now that they have a dominant piece of the market, you're kidding yourself. My point wasn't who is my favorite Dev, or who makes the best games. My point was out of the three industry leaders, by all measures, who deserves it? I stand by that point. I don't think Bethesda is #3, I believe Ubisoft has more of an impact on several different levels, not just quality of games. Likely, they employ 20x more people, they are based in USA, France, and Canada, that I know of, they own more studios, have a hand in more games on a yearly basis. Now, if you want to say Bethesda is an awsome dev, I'm right beside you. The facts are the facts, though, they do not touch the market on the same level. I personally did like Double Agent, as for Assassin's Creed, like many other games, good concept, poorly executed. The presentation was there, I found it compelling, but the biggest problem was they made a sandbox game with no sand. AC1 was flawed, but it wasn't a train wreck.

@ ottumatic Isn't Bethesda a developer, not a publisher?

you no what I really hope that EA will die because I hate them ...don't worry about the games they will keep coming....But my wish is that microsoft games will fall too .Activision is a very good publisher and I think they are better than EA so I hope that all Visceral Games studio will leave

@NoDice_386 Ubisoft? No way, play Splinter Cell and Assassin's Creed and tell if that made your day... The only publisher worth its size is actually Bethesda.

so what will happen to Dante's Inferno ?? NO PS3 version and yes PC version ?? u know what??? I really hope so :D

I really do wonder how long this EA / ActiBlizzard war will rage. EA goes from horrible to hit or miss. Activision goes from near bankrupt, to over saturated and being an industry bully. As far as I can tell, the only super-corporation worth it's size, stock value, sales, etc is Ubisoft.

that guy really did a good job in dead space

@Intrakitt That was Treyarch that made that "creative zombie mode" so dont snatch credentials off another name.

Aww man... Thats sucks:( I really think he did a good job with Dead Space...

dannyatkinson So let me get this straight you hate EA because of crappy games...for one dont buy them 2. Argubly the least popular sport in out of the big 4 MLB NHL NBA NFL the least popular being the NHL in America (not canada because canada loves its hockey) nhl 09 won 12 sports game titles of the year.....i dont remember any one game comming even close to that number. I like EA they make great games. Your mad at them for buying out companies well maybe you should be mad at the companie they bought out for taking the money. EA didnt force a gun to their head. EA is one of the biggest publishers in gaming today maybe even bigger than activision and yet people hate on them. Activision is the one who dropped brutal legend then wanted to sue EA because guess what....IT LOOKS LIKE A GREAT GAME!!! AND ITS MADE BY EA!! Go EA i love the nfl and nhl games you make and i hope you never die.

So EA's loses the man behind the only good game they brought out last year? Bad news for them!

"As of press time, neither EA nor Activision corporate communications reps had responded to requests for comment." With a comment like this, I take it as if this report is unofficial.

I don't understand the hate for Activision. I think they are a great gaming company and have never had any problems with them. EA on the other hand. Where do I start. Crappy games, Unrealistic deadlines, and worst of all terrible DRM that punishes their paying customers. I have nothing good to say about EA in truth. I hate that they bought up Westwood and Bioware. It is only a matter of time until they dissolve Bioware. It will take a while because of Bioware's good name but trust me it will happen. I know Activision is not perfect but they are way better than EA.

@ WarPrime Sadly I do have an idea or two when it comes to the gaming industry, but from the viewpoint of an intelligent, and wise consumer. jrcorso put it best that these guys are just managers, and DrunkenGoon has another point that Schofield does come across as a good guy, I got the same impression from all the Dead Space dev diary stuff. To get a pat on the back would be enough for me, I have high standards for myself and those around me, and when I see this along with your comment all I see are dollar signs. How much good can come of that. If Acti give him something more that EA wasn't or would never, then as I said, best of luck to the both of them.

So let me get this straight! EA supported and put faith on these guys to come up with new IP, and EA even gave them their own studio and name. Now they defected them!!

The type of quality these guys brought to Dead Space. I hope they are allowed to do what they want with thier amazing skills in Activision to create an original IP as same caliber as Dead Space. Good luck to them.

Mm. So you hop from Dead Space and an up-and-coming action title, to a studio making the 13th iteration of [something] Hero? Right. Good luck with that, gentlemen.

Activision is more creatively restricting? Are you kidding? Aren't they the ones who published World at War, with it's incredibly creative Zombie mode? They also released Wolverine: Origins which, despite being based on a crappy PG-13 movie is an M rated game and completely badass. Then there's Prototype, which is incredibly creative if you have any interest in games whatsoever. I'm not sure how anyone could take EA's side in a discussion about creativity. The most creative things to come out of them recently were Dead Space and Mirror's Edge. Doesn't the fact that the execs behind Dead Space are leaving say something about your beloved EA? It's a bit of a bad omen if you ask me. EA's not creative, they're a corporate powerhouse only interested in what's making money at this very moment, and if your game company is then chances are it's going to get bought by EA. Activision might be guilty of this too, but then again they release many more quality games than EA.

Wow that's fantastic. So they go all nuts working to create some new IPs and then they get wooed by what? A bigger paycheck? They've gone to one of the most creatively devoid companies on the market today. Great step up there guys.

I hope this works out for them

But Activision is more creatively restricting than EA. EA is starting to let developers develop original IPs, while Activision is milking Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk, etc. Seriously, does there have to be a Call of Duty game or Tony Hawk gave every year? or a Guitar Hero game ever 6 months.

Wow.. Schofield has always come across as a really cool guy in my book. I just hope he continues to make great games wherever he happens to be.

Holy crap, i thought Dante's inferno was PS3 exclusive, yay it's also coming for 360

Rather than wooing and/or letting go established ones, why not give, up and coming developers a chance. You might get some fresh ideas and get good karma.; )

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EA has been moving towards quality this gen. Unfortunately Activision hasn't. Hopefully these two guys and the others they recruit can help change that.

This is going to get ugly.

All your developer are belong to us.

from every developers suggestions for aspiring developers, its move around a lot in the gaming industry. yeah he probly got some mula but perhaps he has more say now. as for ea redeemiing themselves, there trying hard, but every game is so short.

im tired of people giving ea such crap, they have been working hard to redeem themselfs for their crap years for years, and have been releasing some of the best games out their for a while, and activision had to offer them a ton of money for them to leave a studio that ea just allowed to make such far out their games such as dead space and dantes infurno for a new, unestablished studio where they have to leave behind their masterworks for nothing.

you know what? f=)@k EA!

Nothing but the best for them. Activision obviously offered major mulla.

This is not nearly as serious as when The Boss defected to Russia.

at that level people aren't following or looking for money. coo's and general manager are making bank regardless of where they are. they need to feel like their ideas are appreciated. the move will guarantee that their ideas are developed. i think that makes this a great move for activision.

The end-times are upon us.

EA has actually turned things around the past couple of years and Visceral/Redwood was an integral part of that turn about of higher quality games. I imagine they still will be, but I must say, talk about selling out even though you got a good gig already. How could they not be happy enough with the rising star that is Visceral? The sky is the limit with that dev team and they would have more than likely had a very secure future with them. Just go where the money is, right, Glen?