Fragmatic
2005.06.10, 1152
Seriously, they treat their dev teams like shit (perma crunchtime, low wages, etc), they make some real shit games (the need for speed series used to rock, but now they're trying to branch out to popular culture, it's gone all fast and furious :( ) and then they went and done this. (http://www.gamecloud.com/article.php?article_id=240)
Gamecloud spoke on the phone today with Frank DeLise, the head of Trauma Studios and the main creator of the Battlefield: 1942 mod Desert Combat about today’s decision by Digital Illusions (DICE) to shut down the offices. DeLise said the 12 employees of Trauma were just informed about the decision to close the studios today, although he told us he knew about the decision sometime before then. The reason for the closing was because of Electronic Arts’ majority purchase of DICE’s stock earlier this year. When EA bought into the company, it was decided that having a New York office along with the Swedish and Canadian studios was not going to be viable. DeLise did tell us that the final decision to close Trauma was made by DICE, not EA.
At the time of the studio’s closing, Trauma had been working on R&D for DICE’s newly completed Battlefield 2 game along with early work on an all new game. That new game’s development will now be moved to DICE’s Swedish studios. DeLise told Gamecloud that everyone at Trauma will receive severance packages. While they are also all being given the chance to relocate to DICE’s Swedish studios, DeLise told us he does not plan to do so. He does not know what Trauma’s other employees plan to do. DeLise did say he will be taking a vacation after the closing of the studio but added he does plan to return to game development at some point in the near future. He declined to discuss his specific plans.
The fact that Trauma Studios did so much for the community, they helped a lot of mod teams and created Desert Combat, the fact that they created the foundations of Battlefield 2, then they get this... It's really a shame.
Gamecloud spoke on the phone today with Frank DeLise, the head of Trauma Studios and the main creator of the Battlefield: 1942 mod Desert Combat about today’s decision by Digital Illusions (DICE) to shut down the offices. DeLise said the 12 employees of Trauma were just informed about the decision to close the studios today, although he told us he knew about the decision sometime before then. The reason for the closing was because of Electronic Arts’ majority purchase of DICE’s stock earlier this year. When EA bought into the company, it was decided that having a New York office along with the Swedish and Canadian studios was not going to be viable. DeLise did tell us that the final decision to close Trauma was made by DICE, not EA.
At the time of the studio’s closing, Trauma had been working on R&D for DICE’s newly completed Battlefield 2 game along with early work on an all new game. That new game’s development will now be moved to DICE’s Swedish studios. DeLise told Gamecloud that everyone at Trauma will receive severance packages. While they are also all being given the chance to relocate to DICE’s Swedish studios, DeLise told us he does not plan to do so. He does not know what Trauma’s other employees plan to do. DeLise did say he will be taking a vacation after the closing of the studio but added he does plan to return to game development at some point in the near future. He declined to discuss his specific plans.
The fact that Trauma Studios did so much for the community, they helped a lot of mod teams and created Desert Combat, the fact that they created the foundations of Battlefield 2, then they get this... It's really a shame.