Why Mark Skaggs Quit EA

[Sonic 293]

Lets start this news post with a quick history lesson. Back in late 2004 Red Alert 3 was unofficially announced to the C&C Community by a man named Mark Skaggs. He was a Producer at Westwood/EA Pacific and responsible for the likes of Red Alert 2, C&C Generals and the Battle for Middle Earth games. Shortly after this unofficial announcement, in early 2005, Mark Skaggs took a leave of absence and then he was never heard from again, and of course Red Alert 3 never happened, until years later in 2008. All this time we never knew what happened, what went wrong.... until today. Webboy from United-Forum managed to track down Mark Skaggs to get the real story.

 

Mark Skaggs: The real reason I left EA in 2005 is because I was tired of continually being given deadlines that were too short to make c&c games. We were ready to start red alert 3 and then they told me it had to be done in 9 months.

Rather than make a big fuss about it, I decided that it was time to do something different. There was a big meeting to try to convince me to stay, but I decided to take some time off and that turned into an exit.

So there you have it the "real" story. It probably doesn't really matter after all these years but I guess some closure is a good thing. The original thread can be found here.

[[NE]Fobby[GEN] 10]

I was wondering what had happened. But yeah, that makes sense.

[Silverthorn 0]

Me too, no wonder why he left EA without a trace. And finish things in 9 months? Now that's harsh, and if I were him, I felt so hurtful, what does those EA bosses trying to do? Rush a pure quality game? Rome is not built in a day, people!

[Nmenth 289]

Rome is not built in a day, people!

It did burn down in six though, while EA Nero... I mean... fiddled in the flames...

[Malevolence 6]

Don't you just hate it when the big boss demands some project to be completed in just a short timespan. This is ridiculous!

[Silverthorn 0]

Don't you just hate it when the big boss demands some project to be completed in just a short timespan. This is ridiculous!

 

I know right, it's more like less time used, it means less budget was spent while producing high quality. Not always!

Less time and less budget spent = Poor final result.

 

That's why you see Starcraft 2 is taking its super sweet long time (& possibly lots of money spent) to get it done, and the result, you get a near perfectly good game.

Edited March 1, 2010 by Silverthorn

[Luk3us 63]

You know, typically I expect a bit more than just an extract from an MSN conversation....

 

Not to question Webboy or anything, but this is... Well weak at best.

 

I mean come on.

[ApornasPlanet 9]

So how many months were spent on developing the real RA3? More than 9 months? and how about C&C3 & 4, how long time in development?

[recover 2]

It's always good to tie up loose ends, so thanks for this Sonic.

This only confirms that when EA has a release date set, they almost never change it, even if the game isn't 100% ready. They rather cut stuff from it.

[Webboy 0]

You know, typically I expect a bit more than just an extract from an MSN conversation....

 

Not to question Webboy or anything, but this is... Well weak at best.

 

I mean come on.

 

 

this is actually a kind of film trailer, but I guess as you all might know, the trailer is usually the best part of the entire film.

 

well...I'm thinking about releasing the English original full interview here at CNCNZ, any interest?

[recover 2]

well...I'm thinking about releasing the English original full interview here at CNCNZ, any interest?

Yes, please do.

[Silverthorn 0]

this is actually a kind of film trailer, but I guess as you all might know, the trailer is usually the best part of the entire film.

 

well...I'm thinking about releasing the English original full interview here at CNCNZ, any interest?

 

Go ahead, it would be nice to read the full story.

[Sonic 293]

I'm thinking about releasing the English original full interview here at CNCNZ, any interest?

If you want to, should make for some interesting reading. Post it in the Community News forum http://forums.cncnz.com/index.php?showforum=3

 

[Luk3us 63]

this is actually a kind of film trailer, but I guess as you all might know, the trailer is usually the best part of the entire film.

 

well...I'm thinking about releasing the English original full interview here at CNCNZ, any interest?

 

Well you could have mentioned that initially.

[PurpleGaga27 39]

RA3 cannot be developed without the success of C&C3 and its graphics engine. Besides EA can't develop RA3 before C&C3 in the first place.

 

And the deadline to be done in 9 months? Gee, that hurts. The recent development of RA3 by EALA was not done in 9 months, it was more than that.

[Raptor 4000 0]

Don't you just hate it when the big boss demands some project to be completed in just a short timespan. This is ridiculous!

 

On a similar story, reminds me of the time I met a former Free Radical employee I met. The company was near bankrupted after it stood up to LucasArts over production issues related to Battlefront III. LucasArts was trying to rush the game, Free Radical were trying to make a decent addition to the series. They clashed, and LucasArts reclaimed their assets and left the company reeling, until they were brought up by Crytek.

 

God knows what would have happened to Mark Skaggs if he'd actualy stood up to his EA Bosses.

[sith_wampa 6]

Mark Skaggs is a smart man.

 

Webboy, please post the rest. We all want you to.

[Mighty BOB! 5]

9 months? That is an absolutely ridiculous time table. Even if they had an almost flawless working build of the latest SAGE engine at the time (which would be one of the BFME incarnations) with all the needed features for a Red Alert game at the very start of production 9 months is still ridiculous.

[Silverthorn 0]

A game can develop that fast must be Left 4 Dead 2, that's why the boycott happened as the dev team played an "All Brawn No Brains" move, that's why some people don't like certain parts, like me, I don't have a 100% like on the L4D2 survivors compare to the 1st game's survivors.

 

A real Valve game like each Half Life episode has to be a year or so, not to mention additional months to get it done perfectly. If EA wants less time and only wants the money for survival, then shut yourself down, no game can be built that fast, 9 months is not long, it's shortened from a reasonable 1 year duration.

[Sonic 293]

Here's the original e-mail message send out in December 2004.

 

 

From Planet CNC's archives: http://planetcnc.gamespy.com/fullstory.php?id=31471. The CNCNZ.com news archive doesn't go back to 2004 unfortunately.

[Silverthorn 0]

I knew he is one of the good guys around. But today, it all comes to Jon Van and I hope he'll bring light when the time comes.

[Sonic 293]

A few years ago many people blamed Mark Skaggs for screwing up the Red Alert universe by making Red Alert 2 and not sticking with the serious tone set by Red Alert.

[Nmenth 289]

A few years ago many people blamed Mark Skaggs for screwing up the Red Alert universe by making Red Alert 2 and not sticking with the serious tone set by Red Alert.

Interesting... that would have been before I entered the virtual community.

 

Personally, I wouldn't have minded RA2 being a little more serious than it was, but at the time I got it, it did not at all feel like the disappointment that came with C&C3 or an insult to the series like C&C4. In fact, regardless of the comedic slant, I was impressed enough to buy Yuri's Revenge right after release for full price, something I had never done for any game before (although I've always been able to afford it, I'm kind of a miser like that).

[Silverthorn 0]

Hmm, when I was playing RA2, I felt the seriousness are still kept good, although reduced a little bit when comparing the RA1 Heavy Tank & RA2 Rhino. So I don't know. But in RA3, it's just not really good when the brute Soviets becomes a clowny faction, which I don't like the idea & concept behind it just one damn bit. I want my old husky dogs, not the bears.

 

And yes, I'm with you, Nmenth, C&C3 was downhill a little bit, but then C&C4 is not on the mountain's valleys anymore, it's more like they just went underground, a rating equivalent of a school's Super 'F'.