Need for Speed Shift is a racing series that made Slightly Mad Studios famous to the PC community. Shift was one of the first racers that implemented a spectacular cockpit view and was more sim than any other part of the NFS series (excluding NFS: Porsche Unleashed). Now since both Shift and Shift 2 were commercially successful, a lot of racing fans have been wondering why there wasn’t Shift 3 and why Slightly Mad Studios decided to create the Project CARS series. And according to Ian Bell, that was all due to EA.
In a lengthy interview with SpotTheOzzie, Ian Bell spilled the beans and revealed how EA tried to destroy Slightly Mad Studios. As Ian Bell claimed:
“We made a game called Need for Speed: Shift, we made a game called Shift 2 and EA came to me and said <<We’ll give you 1.5 million if you agree not to talk to any other publisher, to agree any other games or work on any other arrangement with any other publisher. And we’ll give you 1.5 million and we’ll sign Shift 3>>. So I said OK. That sounds like a good deal. I took the 1.5 million, I paid the guys, lots of bonuses, and two weeks before we were due to start Shift 3 it was cancelled. With no warning. They said <<We are not doing that anymore.>>”
Ian Bell then claimed that EA tried to destroy the company, that they tried to f*ck them over, and that they tried to steal their technology.
“We were in trouble, we had nothing left. We were done. They literally destroyed our company. They tried to kill us, they tried to steal our technology as well. They tried to f*ck us over, there is no other way to put it. That’s what they tried to do. And we have no love for EA and this company.”
Ian Bell concluded that EA’s guys are a**holes, that he has no respect for EA, that he’ll never make a deal with them again, that they are horrible human beings and that they are corporate monsters.
Pretty bold accusations from Ian Bell. We’ll try to get in touch with EA in order to see whether they are interested in sharing their side of the story.
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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You kinda earned it when you agree to sold(or at least not to be creative for others) your creative stuff for 1.5 million. So, this is what happens when you make a deal with the devil…
nothing bad to say about ea then you idiot?
Ian Bell’s reputation on Sim racing community is not one of the best
ea has a history of putting dev companys down to rest, so it doesnt surprise me
yep
http://i.imgur.com/Kew7jqr.png
Shock level: 0.
EA being EA, nothing surprising…
“They tried to kill us, they tried to steal our technology as well.”
Sounds like a bit of hyperbole.
Not really, you’re taking it too literally. It sounds like they tried to kill the studio. Use shady tactics to shut the studio down and steal their tech.
I guess he intentionally worded it that way.
Sure, that makes sense. But it’s kinda amusing nonetheless… you’d almost think here’s this guy narrating this incident to the police and claiming a video game company (of all things) tried to murder him and his colleagues. I mean he does put up a convincing tale of betrayal, etc with his apparent fuming anger.
That’s all jolly and good (or bad). I however was just having some fun with the double meanings of words. I mean I’d have to give props to EA if they actually had put out hits on people. Sounds ballsy if nothing else. Not to mention hilarious.
The fact that Bell took the 1.5 million only makes it sound more like a drug deal gone bad than a video game getting cancelled.
You make a fair and reasonable point. The dev’s chosen use of language may have helped lead to greater column inches in the media but it does little for him being taking seriously. It makes him appear emotionally out of control and unprofessional.
Slightly Mad Studios? Seemingly so!
Before somebody chimes in to ‘enlighten’ me, I, too, “don’t give a rat’s a$$ about either EA or Ian Bell.”
EA: Taking the ‘f’ from out of Shift.
“Ian Bell concluded that EA’s guys are a**holes, that he has no respect for EA, that he’ll never make a deal with them again, that they are horrible human beings and that they are corporate monsters.”
Why is it a surprise to Ian Bell that he got dicked by EA? It’s common knowledge what EA is and has been for a long time now. I realize that most Developers need the backing of a big Publisher in order to have a successful AAA game, but EA? He should have known before he got in bed with EA.
These days I feel like making a deal with a publisher, is akin to signing the death warrant for your own interests as well as your own company. When you deal with a publisher, they end up controlling your funds, your ideas and generally how your game will likely turn out as.
He also mentions in that interview that EA tried to steal their technology, but that a clause regarding 3rd party companies in the contract saved them. Really good interview.
No, I was merely making a casual observation from a linguistic perspective. Therefore someone who misconstrues my intentions into something they want to believe probably has a stick up their rear which triggers whenever the mention of EA comes up. To be clear, I don’t give a rat’s a$$ about either EA or Ian Bell.
So my case still stands.
You either know nothing about EA or you were paid to feign ignorance.
Theres no hyperbole here, and EA has killed multiple companies before
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e08d16c4e3f662c1c03ffb8261415924be9cc521608fc96305b07417e479b7f1.png
It’s sad to see the trail of broken Developers in EA’s wake.
Man do I miss those studios so much. It feels like EA has largely been targeting PC studios, as if they don’t like the level of freedom that the devs had back then.
You either are clueless of the context of my comment. Or you’re an idiot. I’m betting on both.
Read my other comments if it pleases you.
i’m still shocked why EA canned westwood and pandemic
those developers f**king made serious money and broke many sales records (red alert 2, battlefront)
maybe EA doesn’t want to be too successful?
Is there anything this villainous company didn’t do?
in unrelated news, Steam is once again F**king things up for gamers
“Valve introduces histograms to Steam reviews to combat review bombing”
i think it’s only a matter of time before they take down steam reviews due to the whims of the publishers…
Have you heard… a Jewish guy got caught speeding yesterday in Tel Aviv and was booked. Therefore it’s only a matter of time before they start gassing the k|kes again!
(chuckle)
This industry it need a big crash, especially on triple AAA.
it really does, but the problem lies in within the consumers
there are too many sheep and shills who keep this industry afloat
and not only that, those AAA cancer-companies have too much control
on “journalist” sites, on reddit and even on steam forums
they outright ban you for voicing your opinion
there is nary a place on the internet where it isn’t controlled
even DSO there is a bias towards popular and over-rated games because of ad-money and clicks
nowhere is safe…
I’ll welcome more PUBG articles at DSOG for as long as it causes oxidized to continue having a meltdown each time!
personal vendetta’s are hardly worth the articles
i’ed really appericiate if DSO posted something decent for once
like old game revisits or giving some under-rated games some spotlight
Doesn’t surprise me. I mean EA snatched up DICE and so far they have been using just their tech for the most part. They even tried to use it for C&C Generals 2 and that was cancelled, both a version of Bioware merged with their own Victory studios were also liquidated when the project was cancelled. EA just cancel and kill studios, while taking whatever tech/ideas they can gather.
It’s not just EA I see this for, it’s others as well like Konami with the Fox engine for one example.
this will hopefully spawn a new age of independent developers who refuse to align themselves with publishers
Kingdom come deliverance are self-publishing, so is bannerlord (if it ever comes out)
while games like Metro exodus are confirmed to have a GOG release (at a later date though)
the fall of the AAA publishers is near, if only more people opened their eyes these mega-corps wouldn’t survive for much longer
I cannot wait for the day when AAA crumbles and A/AA rise up again. We’ve reached a point where pubs and AAA devs refuse to handle their budgeting properly, instead spending it on useless tech, marketing and exclusivity deals that end up harming both themselves and the consumers who wanted to play their game on their platform of choice.
Notice how most indie devs target as many platforms as possible?, even if it’s exclusive to one system, it usually isn’t for long, while AAA devs end up locking them down for months, sometimes years and even indefinitely.
You dont have to wait… You could just buy indie games.
I do buy indie games… I’m just waiting on the AAA industry to implode.
Then stop gaming. If you want big budget graphics that push new hardware you need AAA. no one is going to give you insane graphics with a shoe string indie budget.
Yearly updates at ridiculous prices and crap Need for Speed games, EA lost its AAA status many years ago. I still say that after the Mega Drive and Super NES era, EA turned into a beast. The demise is on the horizon.
EA used to be good, back at the early 2000’s
lord of the rings return of the king, SW battlefront, medal of honor, command and conquer…
their logo was once a seal of decency among the gaming community
that quickly changed until 2010 when they acquired the rights to bioware and Dice
since then, they’re on a rampage of mindless greed, lies and deception
they buried their best studios, they kill off franchises for no good reason
but soon their bad karma is gonna swing back and hit them in the face
people are already aware of the EA shills in youtube, and soon their propaganda machine will be null and void
EA’s end is nigh.
I doubt they always planned a console port for Sims 4… ffs its been years since Sims 4 released on PC and its sold gangbusters on our platform. Damn man try to relax a little and put the pitchfork down.
You’d think that, but there is nothing that says devs cannot pre-plan ahead of time for whatever their project is going to be designed for.
Sims 4 came out late 2014, it’s only 2 and a half years old, hardly as long as a game that would have come out say 4-5 years ago, which would be far longer for a dev cycle to still be going.
EA is just into making stuff less complicated for mass adoption and i think they succeeded since the games sold well, so well its one of the top selling PC games in the last few years.
Well it’s not boding well for the rest of their PC titles.
I am relaxed?.
Much respect to this guy for having the balls to say this.
To this day, I still don’t know how the Need for Speed games have lasted this long. I think the first one I played was Most Wanted on the original Xbox. They always looked decent graphically, but played like a bucket of crap. And after release, they always drop in price. Seems EA can’t even get these games to play properly. The way cars shake about is my biggest gripe. It’s about time Road Rash was brought back, but I’d hate to think how that’d turn out.
What are you talking about? They don’t “shake about”
lol
That stream was full of things like this. No formalities or anything like that, just honest, down to earth chatting. It was not some interview, just a really chill stream with the guy who was having a couple of drinks. I wish people don’t make big stories out of this, or atleast I’d rather they didn’t, because this might force them to not do such streams in the future.
So thats what happened to all those companies owned by EA like Westwood…rip
But this can’t be true, EA is always telling me how diverse and inclusive they are. They even have a rainbow flag. It’s almost like corporations do this to distract you from how awful they are. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c7c6766ffafce67cb0d3ee04d080d73b5709720064a5d2ee79c1653f0d5b2880.jpg
Well depending on who you ask EA also destroyed Mass Effect, Crysis and Dead Space among others. So yeah im sure they have no issue killing off studios and cancelling games.
EA also ruined the Mass Effect series by forcing another sequel.
i doubt this very much…look at the wonderful work the did with Mass Effect!!……oh…shit….look at …um……need for speed….dammit…never mind.
EA = EVIL A55HOLES
I will leave it here.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e08d16c4e3f662c1c03ffb8261415924be9cc521608fc96305b07417e479b7f1.png
The REAL victims are the millions of players duped out of their money (unless they continue to buy EA games, then it’s on the gamer).
He told us nothing we already didn’t know. That is one game company I wouldn’t shed a tear over going under.
If there was such a deal they wouldn’t be alive to tell the late, so I suggest everyone to thread lightly instead of believing an assole word alone.
Yes I said assole, cause any fan who been following Project Cars and talking in their forums knows exactly that type of person he is.
Remember kids. Only you can keep EA alive. Stop buying their @%#^. Every game you buy allows them to f over other devs.
If it makes them feel better no one loves EA over this crap
Love doesn’t pay the bills. I don’t think EA gives a crap what people say or feel about them as they rake in billions from gamers who apparently really like their games.
Not defending EA, just saying what I think it true. They care about revenue. If their actions affect revenue then they’ll alter their actions.
i doubt this very much…look at the wonderful work the did with Mass Effect!!……oh…shit….look at …um……need for speed….dammit…never mind.
But,but… EA is inclusive and give hormone so the devs can become transvestites LMAO
This meme isn’t just for Lols…It is a warning. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d2107d17b59f89df76f29ca1186a14e0d25e2debfed6e28d3e08e327ed75a97b.jpg
more like a year from now
pay2win in a full priced game will destroy the (EA) battlefront franchise
lolThat stream was full of things like this. No formalities or anything like that, just honest, down to earth chatting. It was not some interview, just a really chill stream with the guy who was having a couple of drinks. I wish people don’t make big stories out of this, or atleast I’d rather they didn’t, because this might force them to not do such streams in the future.
Not to difficult to believe. How many other studios have died at EA?
EA is a win-lose company just like MS. I am not surprised EA tried to pull more garbage over these guys. Remember Peter “More” was head of Xbox when he pioneered overpriced DLC (aka horse armor) with Bethesda, and then he moved on to head EA bringing his greed hole with him.
“More” just stole every scraping crumb of money by overworking and underpaying talent and taking everything and anything he could from devs, customers, and everyone in between leaving NONE for others. Hook customers up with good amounts of content? F em! Hook up the hard working devs that got EA to the top? F em too!
The majority of gamers believed the vomit spewing from the hole of Peter “More” about games being oh so expensive to make. We have EA to thank, and Activision, for the 1/4 chopped up abominations we call standard edition games.
“Monotonous work with low pay”
sounds about right, EA has a history of overworking and underpaying their workers
not as bad as activision or Ubiscam
but being a game developer at 2017 in america means you either work for yourself (become indie) and hopefully succeed
or be some publisher’s b*tch until you get fired and keep living off minimum wage
nothing has changed the past decade, sad.
EA being EA, nothing surprising…
Business is dog eat dog. Profit is king. Killing the competition is paramount. That’s the way of the world, and only the strongest and smartest survive! I don’t like EA as a gamer, but, as an investor, I admire their unrelenting, destructive business model! When it comes to money and business, making your side win is ALL that matters! There is not much “moral” in the business world.
EA is definitely a company to look at investing in. Just look at their stock price skyrocket over the last 10 years… da mn!
Not surprising as EA was voted the worst gaming company in the world.
You cannot spell Ebola without EA
Dude took it cash for he’s TRADEMARK (and rights), later on have a butthurt about it, because NEW OWNER decided to delete the project.
That’s how things NEW OWNER can do whatever he wants 😉
But like always people see “bithing ea” but for the rest they are blind.
And now dude cries ,becasue he’s Project FLOP is not near Shift/Shift2 and is nothing compare to Forza M and Horizon or Asseto Corsa and GT, just avg racing game above arcade NFS 😉
you ea bumlicker
I don’t get how EA tried to destroy them, to steal their technology and why Ian Bell paid bonuses instead in keeping the money in the bank? By the way, what happened to those 1.5 million?
The deal was that they make no deals with other publishers and then they canceled their project. And EA just had wait until studio had its money depleted and force them to sell their stuff. But studio found a loophole and started community paid development and got their first game Project Cars out it turned out pretty good. And now they are closing to second release and many reviewers saying the most flaws are fixed.
“Your vibe attracts your tribe”