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EA Announces Agreement to be Acquired by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners

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Re: EA Announces Agreement to be Acquired by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners

#341

Post by ReptileMan »

ecshafer wrote: post #277
gjsman-1000 wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I play a lot of Paradox strategy games. There is a new game coming out that they sold a premium edition with three pre-sold DLC (for something like $20 additional) with a roadmap of a year of post-release development. Some people are outraged that something is planned to be developed and released 6 months after release because that is somehow keeping pay walling game that should have been in the base release. The pri…

The problem is that DLCs are annoying. They lead to fragmentation and in some ways lead to being unable to experience everything. And they leave you with the feeling that you are being milked.

In the 90s it was simple - you get the game, 12 months later you get the expansion, then comes the sequel. The problem with DLC is the same as with objects - there are too many of them and they are too small. And the ratio of game/dollar is not that good.

Re: EA Announces Agreement to be Acquired by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners

#342

Post by johnnyanmac »

paxys wrote: post #230
pizzathyme wrote: post #64

Like them or not, EA has been a major force in gaming for over 40 years (I used to work there). They invented the term "Game Producer". Their early vision for promoting Game Designers like hollywood Directors was ahead of its time. They have a hallway lined with gold discs of million seller hit games. They basically created the casual gaming industry (The Sims Division, Pogo, Casual Divisions) in a time when games we…

The company you admire died a long time ago. Their focus today isn't on these historic franchises but releasing the same FIFA every year with new forms of microtransactions to hook a new generation of teenagers. And they have already laid off several thousand employees in the last 2-3 years.

This move will only lay off thousands more, sadly. Like the gaming industry needed even more veterans kicked out.

It's definitely not good times at all, no matter how you feel about the companies. Three of the largest 3rd party western studios in the last 3 years are being bought out. This doesn't bode well no matter where you are or what you consume in the industry.

Re: EA Announces Agreement to be Acquired by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners

#343

Post by johnnyanmac »

fidotron wrote: post #82
pizzathyme wrote: post #64

Like them or not, EA has been a major force in gaming for over 40 years (I used to work there). They invented the term "Game Producer". Their early vision for promoting Game Designers like hollywood Directors was ahead of its time. They have a hallway lined with gold discs of million seller hit games. They basically created the casual gaming industry (The Sims Division, Pogo, Casual Divisions) in a time when games we…

Yeah, I worked there too and share this sentiment: > I respect this company a lot, even though they always seem to do things that embitter the gaming community against them. What I saw, more often than not, was most of the company consisted of the biggest genuine fans of their own products, and it was a few well placed ultra cynical bad apples that persisted in causing such enormous antagonism.

>it was a few well placed ultra cynical bad apples that persisted in causing such enormous antagonism.

Too bad those bad apples were the ones all the way at the top. Kotick's "we'll charge for reloads during an online match" statements really were a harbinger on what those in power thought of gaming as.

(I had him as CEO too, I understand).

Re: EA Announces Agreement to be Acquired by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners

#344

Post by johnnyanmac »

fidotron wrote: post #299
Aeolun wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is because the credit can never be with those that purely provide money and dictate terms. Nobody thinks the investors are what make the company. It’s the founders.

I spent time as a TD on both the dev and publishing sides - the perception all EA (the publisher) is doing is money and terms is very much mistaken. To take the case of Bioware, the SW:TOR launch was a notable disaster. There is no way in hell Bioware by themselves could have recovered from that, and it took a lot of "external" firefighting to get that under control. OTOH various decisions many people assume came fro…

>One of the reasons Activision outperformed EA was they have a better culture of co-operation between departments. Efforts to improve this at EA never ceased to actually make it worse.

Why do you think there was such a clash between departments? There's always some friction because different divisions have different interests, but EA seems to sound particularly bad at this.

I also heard that EA was run very "corportate" like, comparatively speaking. In an era where many other studios would still go for this "fun factor" to build relations. Would that more hard-lined bureaucracy wove distrust compared to the executives that felt like they were on the frontlines with the devs?

Re: EA Announces Agreement to be Acquired by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners

#345

Post by johnnyanmac »

lentil_soup wrote: post #334
mlindner wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except the entire idea that games should be promoted like hollywood movies is _exactly_ what precipitated this whole downfall. Games are not movies nor should they be like movies. Personally I hope there are tons of layoffs. The entire industry needs to be rinsed clean and refreshed, especially the US gaming industry.

>> Personally I hope there are tons of layoffs Wow, I guess empathy is not a thing anymore

Sadly a thing us devs are used to compared to more coporate jobs. We'll take the blame for a lot of issues leadership actively forced the development to go down. We don't set prices or DLC/MTX schemes, and can only push back so much on release dates (especially in the day of "we'll fix it with a Day One Patch").

As a dirty open secret: most "unexpected bugs" found day one are probably on some Jira sheet, been there for months, and were triaged as such to "will fix later". Only magically being prioritized after public feedback that QA teams already expected.

Re: EA Announces Agreement to be Acquired by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners

#346

Post by johnnyanmac »

mlindner wrote: post #76
pizzathyme wrote: post #64

Like them or not, EA has been a major force in gaming for over 40 years (I used to work there). They invented the term "Game Producer". Their early vision for promoting Game Designers like hollywood Directors was ahead of its time. They have a hallway lined with gold discs of million seller hit games. They basically created the casual gaming industry (The Sims Division, Pogo, Casual Divisions) in a time when games we…

Except the entire idea that games should be promoted like hollywood movies is _exactly_ what precipitated this whole downfall. Games are not movies nor should they be like movies. Personally I hope there are tons of layoffs. The entire industry needs to be rinsed clean and refreshed, especially the US gaming industry.

I believe the GP's point was not "games need to focus on cinematics and mind breaking graphics over gameplay". It was how you make brands based on people, not teams. Jane's Combat Simulator, American McGee's Alice in Wonderland, Sid Meier's Games (when Fireaxis had closer relations with them), Clive Barker's Undying.

We have indies who embody their games, but EA was doing this well before that. And AAA companies never really tried doing this since (though some directors did market themselves very well despite that. Like Kojima or Romero). It's a shame we have husks walking under a brand when all the personality has long left.

Re: EA Announces Agreement to be Acquired by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners

#347

Post by dehrmann »

WorldMaker wrote: post #311
dehrmann wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At some point, the debt buyers will (or should) balk over the track record of this debt, or the company has enough collateral that they're happy either way.

The debt buyers are the same people that created that debt (the people doing the LBO in the first place). They force the company they just bought to pay them loan terms they set for the privilege of buying the company they just bought. That's why LBOs are pretty much a corporate Ponzi scheme. It's just too bad it is a currently legal Ponzi scheme. It might be nice to have legislation to prevent it.

> The debt buyers are the same people that created that debt (the people doing the LBO in the first place)

Sometimes, but not always. I did a quick search on who it is for EA, but didn't find anything.

> They force the company they just bought to pay them loan terms they set for the privilege of buying the company they just bought.

If the buyers are also the lenders, yes.

> That's why LBOs are pretty much a corporate Ponzi scheme.

It's not a Ponzi scheme because it's not multi-level and no one's left holding the bag. In the case of buyers also lending, there isn't even a sucker in the deal. If the company goes bankrupt, it either goes into chapter 13 bankruptcy, restructures debt (that the owners are paying?!), then continues doing business, or it goes into chapter 7 bankruptcy, liquidates, and pays debt holders with assets that are sold off. If you bought it and this is your goal, it seems easier to buy the company and immediately sell off its assets. Why bother with the hassle of LBO if the company is worth more dead than alive? Holding the debt is actually a sign of confidence in the company.

With the LBO cases you hear about PE doing, the debt holders can end up holding the bag. It's also not a Ponzi scheme because they're big boys making big boy deals. It's risky debt that's hard to price and everyone knows it.

You could argue employees are left holding the bag, but not really, since the company didn't owe them anything beyond a last paycheck. They're affected, but that's not the same. Bondholders actually lose money.

Re: EA Announces Agreement to be Acquired by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners

#348

Post by johnnyanmac »

boston_clone wrote: post #305
boston_clone wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So is Elon Musk.

To expand on this, the central issue is disreputable people obtaining a high degree of control over an industry; that their interests overlap is of little relevance - if anything, it’s a viable smokescreen for PR campaigns.

It's just a shame the smokescreens are at best some annoying exhaust from a car. Not really hiding much.

But yes, investing in a game doesn't mean you're actually making a game you'd find fun.

Re: EA Announces Agreement to be Acquired by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners

#349

Post by johnnyanmac »

Culonavirus wrote: post #200

Finally the beginning of the end of EA. The greedy bastards ruined so many franchises and chased so many fads that their absence will be a net positive. I do feel bad for the devs working there... but them having to find new jobs is genuinely the only negative aspect in all of this. I have very little respect for any company that is only interested in the next couple of financial quarters and in making their sharehol…

>I do feel bad for the devs working there... but them having to find new jobs is genuinely the only negative aspect in all of this.

In this job market, that's a pretty big negative. And EA was one of the biggest employers in the US. This is this industry's equivalent of Wal Mart leaving the market. The damage will be felt for years.

I think you're also downplaying the last extinguishing of hope for any non-sportsball IP's to be revived. Those wishing for Need for Speed, Mass Effect, Burnout, Dragon Age, and many many more IP's over the last 40 years aren't just going to say "good riddance".

Re: EA Announces Agreement to be Acquired by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners

#350

Post by johnnyanmac »

lofaszvanitt wrote: post #272
dehrmann wrote: post #251

Found this: > The investors are betting that AI-based cost cuts will significantly boost EA’s profits in the coming years, people involved in the transaction told the Financial Times. It halfway makes sense. EA is priced at current game production costs, but if that goes down, it'll be worth more. The other side of that is that someone might be able to vibe code with "make the next iconic video game franchise in the…

So it is going down the drain then.

Vibe coding absolutely does not work at the scale of an EA Sports game. Even if it could get to a compileable state, there will be loads of performance and memory issues. The kind of code needed for these codebases aren't exactly going to be scraped on Github.

And then there's console code rooted in NDA's. Throwing that into an LLM is a great way to be blacklisted as a publisher.

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