EA Black Box
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 1998; 27 years ago (1998) |
| Defunct | April 2013; 11 years ago (2013-04) |
| Fate | Merged into EA Canada in 2009, closed in 2013 |
| Successor |
|
| Headquarters | , Canada |
| Products | |
| Parent | Electronic Arts (2002–2013) |
| Website | www.eablackbox.com |
EA Black Box (formerly Black Box Games)[1] was a video game developer based in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, founded in 1998 by former employees of Radical Entertainment and later acquired by Electronic Arts (EA). The developers are primarily known for the Need for Speed and Skate series. It was renamed Quicklime Games during the development of Need for Speed: World , but after a series of restructures it was shut down in April 2013.[2]
History
[edit ]
Black Box Games had previously developed for game publishers such as Sega, Midway Games, and EA. In June 2002, during the development of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 , the firm was acquired by EA and became an entirely owned subsidiary of EA Canada.[1] [3] As a result of the acquisition the studio's name was changed to EA Black Box.[4] In March 2003, the firm lacked space for their current projects and as a solution the top four floors of an office tower in downtown Vancouver were used for expansion. In March 2005, EA Black Box became an independent studio from EA Canada,[5] but still owned by EA.[citation needed ]
On December 19, 2008, EA announced that it would be shutting down EA Black Box's Vancouver studio location and relocating operations to EA Canada's Burnaby facilities, as part of EA's worldwide consolidation plans. Officials stressed that EA Black Box would remain open, and said they expected the move to be completed by June 2009. The studio remained a part of the EA Games label, and was independent of the EA Sports studio also located within the Burnaby facility.[6]
In February 2012, EA confirmed a number of lay-offs at EA Canada and EA Black Box, and that they were transforming the studios towards "high-growth digital formats, including online, social gaming and free-to-play". EA declined to comment on whether EA Black Box's brand would remain.[7]
In July 2012, EA Black Box was renamed Quicklime Games during the development of PC game Need for Speed: World ,[8] under which name it operated until its closure in April 2013.[9]
Responsibility for the Need for Speed franchise was taken over by Ghost Games in late 2013.[10]
The former employees of EA Black Box have spread around other game developers making racing games, such as Ubisoft's The Crew and Slightly Mad Studios' World of Speed .[citation needed ]
Games developed
[edit ]References
[edit ]- ^ a b Walker, Trey (2002年06月11日). "EA to buy Black Box". GameSpot . Archived from the original on 2019年12月10日. Retrieved 2012年06月27日.
- ^ "EA's Instagram Page Is Flooded With Fans Demanding Skate 4". GAMING. Archived from the original on 2019年05月17日. Retrieved 2020年04月14日.
- ^ "Investment Canada Act, ARCHIVED — September 2002". Industry Canada (Gov). 2002年09月15日. Archived from the original on 2019年05月02日. Retrieved 2013年10月23日.
- ^ Fennimore, Jack (2017年10月19日). "Studios EA Has Killed: A History". Heavy.com. Archived from the original on 2020年03月05日. Retrieved 2021年10月10日.
- ^ Remo, Chris. "Report: EA Black Box Lays Off Majority of Staff". www.gamasutra.com. Archived from the original on 2020年11月12日. Retrieved 2020年08月04日.
- ^ Tor Thorsen (2008年12月19日). "EA layoffs hit 1,000, Black Box 'consolidated' Near the end of the development of Undercover, two people from Black Box died, Inderjeet Johal and Martin Sikes. This probably reflected on the development of The Run (along with only having 10% of their staff remaining)". GameSpot . Archived from the original on 2013年08月07日. Retrieved 2013年10月23日.
- ^ Fred Dutton (2012年02月03日). "Redundancies confirmed at EA Canada". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on 2012年10月31日. Retrieved 2013年10月23日.
- ^ "EA closing Vancouver studios PopCap and Quicklime in latest round of layoffs: report". Financial Post. 2013年04月25日. Archived from the original on 2013年11月06日. Retrieved 2015年03月04日.
- ^ Mike Futter (2013年04月25日). "EA Partners, Other Divisions Facing Closure". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 2013年10月17日. Retrieved 2013年10月16日.
- ^ David Scammell (2013年08月29日). "Ghost takes control of the Need For Speed brand". VideoGamer. Archived from the original on 2013年08月29日. Retrieved 2013年10月25日.
External links
[edit ]- 1998 establishments in British Columbia
- 2013 disestablishments in British Columbia
- Canadian companies disestablished in 2013
- Canadian companies established in 1998
- Canadian subsidiaries of foreign companies
- Companies based in Burnaby
- Defunct companies of British Columbia
- Defunct video game companies of Canada
- Electronic Arts subsidiaries
- Video game companies disestablished in 2013
- Video game companies established in 1998
- Video game development companies