EA_CIRE Discusses the New Command & Conquer

[Sonic 295]

The C&C Community manager, EA_CIRE, has posted on the Offiical C&C Forums a thread about the new Command & Conquer in which he discusses the reasons behind the shift from Generals 2 to the free to play Command & Conquer.

 

 

Today at gamescom, we announced a bold move for EA and especially for the C&C franchise. I don’t want to go into the typical marketing mode here with you guys. Instead, I want to talk to you as an honest C&C fan.

 

If you haven’t seen it already, WATCH THE TRAILER! Pretty awesome and yes, that’s how the games looks on max settings right now. But you probably have a billion questions, so instead of simply linking you to the FAQ (oh, I just did), I will answer some questions right here.

 

There is a reason why this looks like Generals 2. Content we’ve built for Generals 2 isn’t going into the trash – It is marking the initial content for this new Free Command & Conquer game. The way you play won’t change – Start a fully feature loaded desktop client, choose a game mode, play with friends, build bases, gather resources and command massive armies – Just like you are used to from the original Generals. The major difference between Generals 2 and this newly announce Command & Conquer is the amount you have to pay.

 

You don’t have to pay 60 dollars upfront for a game that you haven’t played before. You can start for free and play for free. Everything is packed into the Frostbite 2 engine, which delivers a never before seen level of visual awesomeness for the C&C franchise. If you like the game, there will be possibilities to support its development with cool customization options that will give you the power to differentiate your army from everybody else on the battlefield.

 

I know this is something else – Something many of you didn’t expect and most of you probably will instantly counter with “RIP C&C” or “PIEP CENCORED PIEP”. My immediate first thought after hearing this the first time was similar. But after thinking a bit more about it, I realized that this is how games will change in the near future – This is a chance to bring the franchise to players that were always afraid of spending 60 dollars upfront as they didn’t know if they would enjoy an RTS. A chance to create a supported platform for Command & Conquer that will be influenced by how you guys are playing it and what you’re asking for. It is also planed to revisit the Red Alert and Tiberium universe in the future.

 

This post became much longer than I wanted to, but I care about C&C as much as you do. And that’s what I want to bring across here – It is different, but not from the inside as the core C&C gameplay is there – It is different from the outside which we can use for our advantage, creating a fresh new start for the franchise to new audiences as well.

 

In full honesty

EA_CIRE

 

The more I read about this, the more I feel this could be a great move for the future of the franchise. Click here for the original thread.

[F15pilotX 4]

Agreed. The franchise has plenty of fans already, but it needs fresh blood and this seems like a good way to do it.

[[NE]Fobby[GEN] 10]

I was hoping they'd just do a high-quality singleplayer and multiplayer game, maybe with some extra content and expansion packs after release. Not sure if the F2P change is a good thing. I personally play RTS for their singleplayer campaign, which is why I liked Starcraft 2 (long development, high production value, high budget, lengthy campaign, lots of cinematic and story value). Even with multiplayer, the game is still being supported frequently and there is a very lively online community. When SC2 blew C&C4 out of the water, it showed that there is a very high demand for classical style high-quality RTS game. So when they first showed of Generals 2 with the Bioware label, that's what I expected. Bioware is famous for its triple A campaigns - if this goes through, they'll lose that reputation they worked so hard to build and their label will become diluted. This looks like a complete change in direction and I really thought they'd get things right with Generals 2. If there's no singleplayer and you need to pay for units or factions, then I don't know if I'll be trying the game.

Edited August 15, 2012 by [NE]Fobby[GEN]

[Johnnyxp64 20]

Fobby[GEN]' timestamp='1345059060' post='206838']

I was hoping they'd just do a high-quality singleplayer and multiplayer game, maybe with some extra content and expansion packs after release. Not sure if the F2P change is a good thing. I personally play RTS for their singleplayer campaign, which is why I liked Starcraft 2 (long development, high production value, high budget, lengthy campaign, lots of cinematic and story value). Even with multiplayer, the game is still being supported frequently and there is a very lively online community. When SC2 blew C&C4 out of the water, it showed that there is a very high demand for classical style high-quality RTS game. So when they first showed of Generals 2 with the Bioware label, that's what I expected. Bioware is famous for its triple A campaigns - if this goes through, they'll lose that reputation they worked so hard to build and their label will become diluted. This looks like a complete change in direction and I really thought they'd get things right with Generals 2. If there's no singleplayer and you need to pay for units or factions, then I don't know if I'll be trying the game.

 

personally as long as i have the option to play against CPU i dont care that much about single player in Generals universe! Generals universe Single player is Hard to be made and nothing that a EoN style missions online or co op with friends or CPU you cant do, i mean Generals was just skirmish missions with some blah blah no special story, so thats why they choose this to go for the new strategy, if it was for example StarCraft universe they just could not do it! because Starcraft and Tiberium is all about STORY! then multyplayer!

 

i have played in all beta even in End Of nations, and i was thinking damn, what if this was CnC with full clasicc base building, and not capturing points and landing zones crap like cnc4 had, that would be EVEN better for me, and now i think EA is going to give us that with this new CnC games! pure classic RTS!!!!!! no more MMO hybrids bs.

[Nmenth 291]

The poor CM struggling to put a positive spin on this...

 

I truly hope his optimism comes to fruition...

 

[PurpleGaga27 40]

First, I heard that Generals 2 is in development and now EA and the CM are saying that this new C&C is a free-to-play game that is still called C&C but without the Generals 2 subtitle in it.

 

Whatever EA has just announced actually reminds me of a replacement to the cancelled C&C Arena game, particularly this one, along with Tiberium Alliances. So I guess this pisses off almost everybody.

 

So I guess the real Generals 2 is a long time from now.

Edited August 16, 2012 by zocom7

[Guest Stevie_K]

I'm open for it. Hope they can pull it off the right way and revive the franchise with this title.

For every failure there is something to be learned, and we've had a few with this franchise.

[Plok 327]

Whatever EA has just announced actually reminds me of a replacement to the cancelled C&C Arena game

In what way?

[Guest Stevie_K]

Well it could hint at originating from the same basic idea. Having an online only C&C game. I don't see any other major similarities.