When EA took the axe to their Victory Studios, Command & Conquer was presumed to have been lost in the wreckage.
But apparently that’s not so. Nu-C&C is still a going concern, and development will continue on – just as soon as EA find the right studio to hand it to.
EA have already refunded “any and all” money spent by players in C&C’s alpha – which ran on a free-to-play basis, just as the finished game was intended to.
“For those of you who bought The C&C Ultimate Collection, your early access to the beta will be honored once production of this title resumes under a new studio,” reads an EA support post picked up by IGN.
It’s a curious situation – given that Victory was home to plenty of former EA LA staff. who together boasted more concentrated experience with the series than EA are likely to find anywhere else.
It seems to take at least two studios to finish any sort of RTS these days. Robot relinquished control of Age of Empires Online to Gas Powered Games before its release, and Trion Worlds refitted End of Nations as a MOBA after prying it from the hands of Petroglyph. The eternal exception is Blizzard, of course, who seem to be happy to keep making StarCraft for the time being.
So the question is: who’s the right team to take on a nearly-there Command & Conquer? First chump to say ‘Westwood’ and make us sad gets their base bombarded to bits by the rest of us.
Thanks, Shacknews.