Rumour: Command & Conquer Dev Attached to EA BioWare Label

[Sonic 295]

We try not to report on rumours and speculation, but as they get stronger, they become too hard to ignore. This update follows on form the news post Addressing the Generals 2 Rumours. These rumours speculate that BioWare could be developing the next C&C, possibly Generals 2. Sounds a bit far fetched, doesn't it? Well, today's news may be a bit more believable. Based on some "Internet sleuthing" by fans, the new rumour is that Victory Games is actually part of the recently established BioWare label, and Victory Games is the new BioWare studio. Here's the report from VG247....

 

 

Rumour - Command & Conquer dev attached to EA BioWare label

 

Internet sleuths have linked BioWare’s latest game, seen only in a teaser, with both the Command & Conquer series and a cancelled project from a defunct studio.

 

Elusive investigator Superannuation noted the LinkedIn profile of one developer employed at “Victory Games – BioWare”.

 

The studio, founded in 2010 to focus on the Command & Conquer series, had not been publicly attached to the BioWare label.

 

BioWare is set to reveal a game from a “new studio” at the Spike VGAs, with teasers showing a distinctly military bent.

 

Additionally, Neogaf user Nirolak has drawn some interesting links between the unrevealed game and the shelved Mercs Inc.

 

Mercs Inc was in development at Visceral Los Angeles, largely staffed by Pandemic Studios veterans, and was later rejigged for the Frostbite engine and recycled for the since-vanished Army of Two 3. The project was presumed shelved when the studio was dropped from the Visceral label.

 

EA elevated BioWare from a set of studios to a full label in early August during an organisational reshuffle.

 

A very quick tease of this new BioWare RTS can been seen in a video posted at GameTrailers.com. Or just watch the entire 3 seconds of footage below. Don't blink or you may miss it.

 

 

So are we looking at the next Command & Conquer here? Personally, I'm not convinced. But we will find out early next month at the Spike Video Game Awards, where BioWare will reveal this game.

[noxbox 1]

Hi first time posting, long time follower, these rumors got me to finally join.

 

http://aboutus.ea.co...nylabels.action

 

New Bioware label.

Edmonton (Alberta, Canada), Montreal (Quebec, Canada), Austin (Texas), Fairfax (Virginia), San Francisco (California), Los Angeles (California) and Galway (Ireland).

 

Either its a very brand new studio or Victory Games, although knowing EA its probably a re-branding of an existing studio.

 

Oh btw, here's a cached version of that LinkedIn Profile that fuels the whole Bioware/VG.

http://webcache.goog...bioware&ct=clnk

 

 

Now I agree with Sonic, its too early to tell but this totally beats not having C&C news in awhile.

 

EDIT: The cache version of the LinkedIn Profile has been deleted but now IGN is getting into this

http://games.ign.com/articles/121/1213223p1.html

Edited November 23, 2011 by noxbox

[Troopzor 5]

If this proves to be true I don't know what I'm gonna do with myself...

 

I love bioware games, and I love C&C games. I might just nerdgasm TOO MUCH. If that is even possible...

 

Probably shouldn't get my hopes up though, it is all rumor and speculation of course...

[Chronojam 3]

I am pretty sure that it is being developed by Victory Games, who just happened to be organized under the Bioware label. That means EA guys in Los Angeles and Austin looking to build strategy games, not Canadians looking to build RPGs. They're taking on staff of previous C&C games, not Mass Effect games.

 

There's no real story here as far as I can tell; just some org chart shuffling.

[Sonic 295]

I've had some time think about this. After taking stock of the rumours. This is just my opinion. This may come across as contradictory to what I posted the other day in this thread http://forums.cncnz.com/topic/16197-addressing-the-generals-2-rumours/page__view__findpost__p__198587 though.

• I think Victory Games is the "new BioWare developer" mention in the GameTrailers video
  
• It looks mostly likely to be a modern warfare based RTS
  
• I don't think its Generals 2
  
• I'm picking it will simply be called Command & Conquer. No sub title, sequel number etc... Think of a reboot game like EA Danger Close did with Medal of Honor.
  

But part of me says this all to easy to predict or guess and come December 10th when they reveal this game, we could be left sitting here with no news on the next C&C at all.

[Plok 323]

I'm picking it will simply be called Command & Conquer. No sub title, sequel number etc... Think of a reboot game like EA Danger Close did with Medal of Honor.

Without the green Tiberium ambiental environment? Forget it. Plus, the vehicles look a bit too technologically advanced for the game setting to be set in the late 1990s.

[Sonic 295]

No Tiberium, No GDI, No Nod, No Kane.... It will be an all new storyline. Honestly speaking, its probably better for the franchise that they drop the old Tiberium storyline and leave it dead and buried with C&C 4. Start with a clean slate. New factions, new technology.

[Troopzor 5]

No Tiberium, No GDI, No Nod, No Kane.... It will be an all new storyline. Honestly speaking, its probably better for the franchise that they drop the old Tiberium storyline and leave it dead and buried with C&C 4. Start with a clean slate. New factions, new technology.

 

I feel like they should temporarily drop the tiberium story line (say 5 years or so?) just to give it a rest, and more so people can forget C&C4 (at least mostly forget). Then try a redo of the 'end of the saga' or entire reboot of the Tiberium story.

 

I only say this however since the Tiberium series was my favorite of them all.

[noxbox 1]

No Tiberium, No GDI, No Nod, No Kane.... It will be an all new storyline. Honestly speaking, its probably better for the franchise that they drop the old Tiberium storyline and leave it dead and buried with C&C 4. Start with a clean slate. New factions, new technology.

I just hope its not cartoonish like RA3.

[Golan 6]

Agreed with Sonic, it's the best and, judging by the data, the most likely course.

[Alex06 39]

That game developer was working out of LA. Victory Games has teams in several studios, from Austin, TX, to Los Angeles, CA, Montreal, and Shanghai. They have small teams, but they don't have a Victory Games studio; It's merely teams from different EA studios that are working together under the "Victory Games" brand. BioWare also apparently started its own team in LA, but doesn't have enough workers to warrant a new studio in the region, so they're just working out of the same LA studio as a good portion of Victory Games' employees. This developer just happens to be on both the LA BioWare team and on the LA Victory Games team. She probably changed her LinkedIn profile to avoid more confusion and incorrect rumors.

 

Plus, if it was a C&C game, it would be announced not under BW's name, but VG's, and the reference to past games they'd make in the teaser wouldn't have been BioWare RPGs. Additionally, BW has apparently been working on a modern warfare-type shooter for at least the past few months, and the picture that was shown in GameInformer magazine is from the same game, which is apparently a "new IP". C&C is NOT a new IP, it's an already existing one.

 

I think that's all the info we need to bring back to light to kill off these rumors. I have doubts that a new C&C will be announced this year.

Edited November 23, 2011 by Alex06

[PurpleGaga27 40]

If the previews aren't CNC related, maybe it could be a Medal of Honor or BattleField RTS. It can't be a Call of Duty RTS because Company of Heroes is already that similar type of game. If the new CNC has a new storyline (not relating to Generals), this could become a new and fourth C&C universe of the C&C series setting in the modern times.

 

The other rumor was BioWare/EALA re-developing Mercs Inc after Visceral Games (with most devs from the defunct Pandemic) decided not to continue and had turned their resources to them.

 

Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/327082/is-biowares-new-game-mercs-inc/

 

My bet on this: Mercs Inc announcement over C&C is more likely.

 

We'll just have to wait until Dec. 10 on Spike TV.

Edited November 23, 2011 by zocom7

[Enoch 0]

Eurogamer has posted some interesting theory about new C&C.

http://www.eurogamer...and-and-conquer

 

I think it's true at least that VG is the new BioWare studio now.

Any thoughts?

Edited November 24, 2011 by Enoch

[lkRaven 0]

Bioware is also said to be working on a Modern military based shooter. So it might be that and we might be getting excited for nothing.

 

On the other hand, if its a shooter, I think Bioware would be targeting it for the next gen consoles since the current one's lifecycle is almost over.

 

Since an RTS would almost be PCs, this might be the Gens 2 or a new CnC entirely as sonic said. IMO it would be a CnC labeled new universe, seperate from Generals, Tib and RA, but going more or less along the lines of gens. (Basically what Sonic said)

[Luk3us 63]

Next gen consoles are still a while off, going by EA standards they're not going to give them that long of a dev cycle.

 

IF VG is part of Bioware or whatever does that mean we're get a good story? Or at least a formalistic Bioware styled story, which would still be more interesting than recent EA endeavours.

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Without the green Tiberium ambiental environment? Forget it. Plus, the vehicles look a bit too technologically advanced for the game setting to be set in the late 1990s.

You're going to say this after what we saw in RA2? That **** was the 1980s and it has more advanced tech than we have now. Hell, it had some **** TS didn't have. C&C is kinda starting to mean crazy **** that's ****ing awesome.

 

No Tiberium, No GDI, No Nod, No Kane.... It will be an all new storyline. Honestly speaking, its probably better for the franchise that they drop the old Tiberium storyline and leave it dead and buried with C&C 4. Start with a clean slate. New factions, new technology.

I hope so. Kinda sick of everything C&C has.

[Plok 323]

You're going to say this after what we saw in RA2? That **** was the 1980s and it has more advanced tech than we have now. Hell, it had some **** TS didn't have. C&C is kinda starting to mean crazy **** that's ****ing awesome.

Maybe, but Gens and the Tiberium universe didn't have technologies inappropriate for their age (except maybe for TD Stealth Tanks)

 

Kinda sick of everything C&C has.

What are you doing here, then?

[noxbox 1]

The green trucks look similar to this...hmmmmm Russian equipment...

 

 

Pantsyr-S1 SA-22 Greyhound 96K6

[lkRaven 0]

Next gen consoles are still a while off, going by EA standards they're not going to give them that long of a dev cycle.

 

IF VG is part of Bioware or whatever does that mean we're get a good story? Or at least a formalistic Bioware styled story, which would still be more interesting than recent EA endeavours.

 

Im not sure....apparently the new XBOX might get release in early 2013. PS4 is also rumored to be in development. having said that, given the current craze with modern military themed shooter, Bioware might be making a shooter (eventhough EA has already spammed the market with BF, Bad Company and MoH titles).

[Sonic 295]

Eurogamer has posted some interesting theory about new C&C.

http://www.eurogamer...and-and-conquer

 

I think it's true at least that VG is the new BioWare studio now.

Any thoughts?

 

Well that article just rehashes everything already covered here and on other sites. But its good to see C&C being splashed over other gaming sites once again.

 

What are you doing here, then?

 

Maybe I shouldn't be here then either , I share the same idea as Doc. C&C needs to move away from its past. After 15 years they can't keep churning out the same game over and over. Leave that to Activision and their Call of Duty/Modern Warfare rubbish

[[NE]Fobby[GEN] 10]

I am feel this rumour may be true. If EA is making Bioware a label, that means several different studios can all share the same "Bioware" name. Kind of like "EA Sports" and "EA Games" - they're multiple developers put under a single label. I can see why they'd make Bioware a label: it's got a good reputation and there's a lot of folks out there that buy their games just because of the Bioware name. Especially with games like KOTOR, Mass Effect, Jade Empire, and the upcoming SWTOR, which are all high quality.

 

To put this into context, it's worth asking, has Bioware ever created an RTS game? I don't think it has. That definitely adds to the possibility that Victory Games, an EA studio, has been put under the new Bioware label. It's also about time we see something, since this game has been a year and a half in development. Something tells me this is legit, but time will tell.

 

And Sonic right, a series reboot would be best right about now. C&C4 pretty much killed the momentum for Tiberian games, so it's best they don't touch it soon, if at all. A Red Alert game is possible but I think unlikely. I personally was not a fan of the original Generals, because it played too much like Blizzard RTS games, did not have much of a story (other than turn Team America into a video game), did not offer anything new to the genre, and did not have anything incredibly iconic in comparison to Tiberium, Chronospheres, Tesla coils, etc. A complete reboot of the C&C Universe is what's necessary right now - a high quality game with multiple years in development, a huge singleplayer and story, and gameplay that learns from classic C&C games rather than whatever they thought they were doing with C&C4's mechanics.

 

I guess now all we can do is wait.

[PurpleGaga27 40]

With all of this Bioware thingy coming back to EALA, this might mean that David Silverman may come back to bring back and re-host Battlecast Primetime, that is if a new C&C game is officially announced.

[Doctor Destiny 41]

What are you doing here, then?

I said I was tired of the same boring ideas in C&C games, not that I don't still enjoy what's there already.

[Gben 20]

Mildly intersting, but not bothered either way.

(I do like Luk3us lateral thinking about a better story at least.)