EA's Open Letter to Ubisoft

Alex Petraglia writes "I'd actually laugh at this if I didn't find it so disturbing. An open letter sent from Alain Tascan, General Manager of EA Montreal, to Joel Tremblay, Ubisoft Montreal, begins as such: 'On behalf of all game makers in Quebec, I urge Ubisoft to stop the illegitimate practice of forcing talented people to sign employment contracts that restrict their creative and economic freedom.' EA came under great scrutiny last year with claims of stifling employee creativity, refusing to pay for overtime, and generally engaging in less-than-savory practices. Additionally, it's widely known that EA currently seeks to gain greater control over Ubi through a hostile takeover."

Comments

Re:Instead of bitching about EA

[szembek]

It's not like they're a monopoly.

Except for NFL games with the NFLPA liscense, which means they will be the only ones who can make football games that have the actual player names on them. Who wants an NFL game that doesn't have the names in it? It's too bad because Sega's 2K series was pretty good.

E.A. was considering a hostle takeover of Ubisoft

[giblfiz]

I remember reading this not all that long ago

EA has also been moving in on gaming studios, recently buying out Digital Illusions CE (DICE), the makers of the Battlefield series, after a long dispute. More disturbing are its actions towards French developer Ubisoft, maker of the Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia series. In what the Ubisoft CEO said was a "hostile action," EA purchased about 20 percent of the company in shares, according to the online magazine GameSpot. EA declared that this was merely an "investment," and they weren't interested in a hostile takeover. Being a paradigm of corporate consistency, EA said last week that it's considering buying more shares and isn't ruling out a takeover of Ubisoft.

I pulled the above from this article:
http://www.nyunews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/02 /02/ARCHIVE72628

I don't know what sort of evil corprate games they are playing, but knowing E.A. they will probably manage to shaft everyone.

Oops... I forgot to add

[mestreBimba]

there is no job security in the game indistry. Period. Top talent is laid of with impunity at the end of development cycles. I worked under a really great lead programmer who has an incredible work ethic, is very talented, and who would work 100+ hours every week to make sure we didn't slip our milestones. He has numerous credits on top titles. Last I heard he was laid off by Lucas Arts (him and the majority of the project's team) after putting in blood sweat and tears to see the project to completion.

You are disposable in the games industry. there is no job security.

Re:Screw EA

[WhiteWolf666]

Actually, they can threaten you with damages and an injunction.

Incidentally, if you read the article, this is exactly what happened with the last 4 employees that EA poached from Ubisoft. Ubisoft sued, the court agreed, and issued an injuction against those employees working for EA.