EA Black Box

Last updated
EA Black Box
Formerly
  • Black Box Games (1998–2002)
  • Quicklime Games (2012–2013)
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Video games
Founded1998;26 years ago (1998)
DefunctApril 2013;10 years ago (2013-04)
FateMerged into EA Canada in 2009, closed in 2013
Successor
Headquarters
Burnaby, British Columbia
,
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]

Contents

History

Old Logo EA Black Box Logo.jpg
Old Logo

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

YearTitlePlatform(s)Notes
As Black Box Games
2000 NASCAR 2001 PlayStation
PlayStation 2
NHL 2K Dreamcast
2001 NHL Hitz 2002 GameCube
PlayStation 2
Xbox
2002 Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 PlayStation 2
NHL Hitz 2003 GameCube
PlayStation 2
Xbox
Sega Soccer Slam GameCube
PlayStation 2
Xbox
As EA Black Box
2003 Need for Speed: Underground GameCube
Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 2
Xbox
NHL 2004 GameCube
Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 2
Xbox
2004 Need for Speed: Underground 2 GameCube
Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 2
Xbox
NHL 2005 GameCube
Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 2
Xbox
2005 Need for Speed: Most Wanted GameCube
Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 2
Xbox
Xbox 360
2006 Need for Speed: Carbon GameCube
Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 2
PlayStation 3
Wii
Xbox
Xbox 360
Need for Speed: Carbon - Own the City PlayStation Portable Assisted Team Fusion
2007 NBA Street Homecourt PlayStation 3
Xbox 360
Need for Speed: ProStreet Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 2
PlayStation 3
Wii
Xbox 360
Skate PlayStation 3
Xbox 360
2008 Need for Speed: Undercover Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 3
Xbox 360
Skate It Nintendo DS Assisted Exient Entertainment
Wii
2009 Need for Speed: Shift Microsoft Windows Assisted Slightly Mad Studios
PlayStation 3
Xbox 360
Skate 2 PlayStation 3
Xbox 360
2010 Need for Speed: World Microsoft Windows
Skate 3 PlayStation 3
Xbox 360
2011 Battlefield 3 Microsoft Windows Assisted DICE
PlayStation 3
Xbox 360
Need for Speed: The Run Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 3
Xbox 360
As EA Jawbreaker
2015 Battlefield Hardline Microsoft Windows Assisted Visceral Games
PlayStation 3
PlayStation 4
Xbox 360
Xbox One

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maxis</span> American video game developer

Maxis is an American video game developer and a division of Electronic Arts (EA). The studio was founded in 1987 by Will Wright and Jeff Braun, and acquired by Electronic Arts in 1997. Maxis is best known for its simulation games, including The Sims, Spore and SimCity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electronic Arts</span> American video game company

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the designers and programmers responsible for its games as "software artists". EA published numerous games and some productivity software for personal computers, all of which were developed by external individuals or groups until 1987's Skate or Die!. The company shifted toward internal game studios, often through acquisitions, such as Distinctive Software becoming EA Canada in 1991.

Need for Speed (NFS) is a racing game franchise published by Electronic Arts and currently developed by Criterion Games, the developers of Burnout. The series generally centers around illegal street racing and tasks players to complete various types of races while evading the local law enforcement in police pursuits. The series is one of EA's oldest franchises not published under their EA Sports brand. The series released its first title, The Need for Speed, in 1994. The most recent game, Need for Speed Unbound, was released on December 2, 2022. Additionally, a free-to-play mobile installment released in 2015, Need for Speed: No Limits, is actively developed by Firemonkeys Studios, the developers of Real Racing 3.

Steve Barcia is a game programmer, game producer and entrepreneur, having founded the computer game developer Simtex Studios Inc. in 1988. The company released computer games such as Master of Magic, Master of Orion, Master of Orion II, and 1830: Railroads & Robber Barons the adaptation of the Avalon Hill strategy game 1830. They also developed the unreleased projects Mech Lords and Guardians: Agents of Justice.

Criterion Games is a British video game developer based in Guildford. Founded in January 1996 as a division of Criterion Software, it was owned by Canon Inc. until Criterion Software was sold to Electronic Arts in October 2004. Many of Criterion Games' titles were built on the RenderWare engine, which Criterion Software developed. Notable games developed by Criterion Games include racing video games in the Burnout and Need for Speed series. As of April 2017, Criterion Games employ approximately 90 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EA Vancouver</span> Canadian video game developer owned by Electronic Arts

EA Vancouver is a Canadian video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. The development studio opened as Distinctive Software in January 1983, and is also Electronic Arts's largest and oldest studio. EA Vancouver employs approximately 1,300 people, and houses the world's largest video game test operation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Propaganda Games</span>

Propaganda Games was a Canadian video game development studio based in Vancouver, British Columbia, founded by Josh Holmes in 2005, and bought by Disney Interactive Studios, the interactive subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company at the same year. In January 2011, Propaganda Games was closed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EA Montreal</span>

EA Montreal is a Canadian video game development studio owned and operated by Electronic Arts. The studio is based in Montreal, Quebec. It was inaugurated by EA on March 17, 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piranha Games</span> Canadian video game developer

Piranha Games Inc. is a Canadian video game developer based in Burnaby, British Columbia. The company was founded by Russ Bullock, President and Executive Producer, and Bryan Ekman, VP and Creative Director. Piranha Games is one of the oldest game developers in the Greater Vancouver area and was housed in the International Village Mall in the Chinatown area until their relocation to their current Burnaby headquarters. On 25 November 2020, Piranha Games entered into an agreement to be acquired by Enad Global 7.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capcom Vancouver</span> Canadian video game developer

Capcom Game Studio Vancouver, Inc., more commonly known as Capcom Vancouver, was a Canadian video game developer owned by Capcom with minority stake partnership by Microsoft Studios. As Blue Castle Games, the company was the creator of several successful baseball sports video games, including The Bigs, MLB Front Office Manager and The Bigs 2. They have also developed the Dead Rising series. Blue Castle Games was acquired by Capcom after the release of Dead Rising 2, and renamed Capcom Vancouver, where they continued to work on the Dead Rising series. Capcom announced the closure of the studio in September 2018, cancelling Dead Rising 5 and moving other development to their Japan-based studios.

<i>Need for Speed: World</i> 2010 massively multiplayer online racing video game

Need for Speed: World is a massively multiplayer online racing game published by Electronic Arts, and the fifteenth installment of the publisher's Need for Speed franchise. It was co-developed by EA Black Box and EA Singapore, with Easy Studios and EA Vancouver later taking over operations during its run. It was the first freemium game in the Need for Speed series and was available on Microsoft Windows. World was released worldwide on July 27, 2010. However, people who ordered a "Starter Pack" had an early "head-start" in the game, which started on July 20, 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firemonkeys Studios</span> Australian video game developer

Firemonkeys Studios is an Australian video game developer and publisher of video games, based in Melbourne, Victoria. In May 2011, Electronic Arts announced the acquisition of Firemint for an undisclosed sum, making it an in-house studio for EA Interactive. IronMonkey Studios were also taken under EA Interactive's wing back in 2010. In January 2011, Firemint acquired fellow Australian video game developer Infinite Interactive, best known for the Puzzle Quest series. In July 2012, Firemint announced a post on their blog that Firemint would merge with IronMonkey Studios by EA and merge their names into Firemonkeys. All-new games, including Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Real Racing 3, are released with the new company name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Front Games</span> Canadian video game development studio

United Front Games, Inc. was a Canadian video game development studio based in Vancouver. They created titles for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. They are the developers of ModNation Racers and the critical and commercial success Sleeping Dogs in addition to collaborating with other studios on projects like Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition and Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Video games in Canada</span> Overview of video games in Canada

Canada's video game industry consists of approximately 32,300 employees across 937 companies. In 2021, the industry generated an estimated US$3.4 billion in revenue, having grown by 20% since 2019. Video game development is beginning to rival the film and television production industry as a major contributor to the Canadian economy. The industry this year in 2023 projects to make in U.S. Dollars about 5.77 Billon Dollars.

Star Wars 1313 is a cancelled action-adventure video game that was under development by LucasArts. The game would take a more mature, gritty direction compared to past Star Wars video games and, like 2002's Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, would emphasize fast-paced gadget and weapon-based combat using tools exclusive to bounty hunters rather than Force and lightsaber based combat.

<i>Need for Speed Rivals</i> 2013 racing video game developed by Ghost Games and Criterion Games

Need for Speed Rivals is a 2013 racing video game developed in a collaboration between Ghost Games and Criterion Games, and published by Electronic Arts. It is the twentieth installment in the Need for Speed series and the debut title for Ghost Games, who would be established as the primary developer of the series for all subsequent non-mobile installments up until 2020. Rivals was well received by critics at E3 2013 and was awarded with "Best Racing Game" from Game Critics Awards. It also received mostly positive reviews upon release. It was followed in 2015 by the mobile game Need for Speed: No Limits and the unsubtitled reboot of this franchise.

EA Gothenburg is a Swedish video game developer owned by Electronic Arts (EA) and located in Gothenburg. The studio used to have two other locations; one based in Guildford in the United Kingdom and another in Bucharest, Romania. From 2013 to 2020, they oversaw the development of the Need for Speed racing game franchise. Employees of Ghost include former staff members of EA DICE, Black Box, Criterion Games and Playground Games.

SkyBox Labs Inc. is a Canadian video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. Founded in 2011 by Derek MacNeil, Shyang Kong and Steven Silvester formerly from EA Vancouver, they are mostly known for their work with Xbox Game Studios on the Halo, Age of Empires and Minecraft franchises.

References

  1. 1 2 Walker, Trey (2002-06-11). "EA to buy Black Box". GameSpot . Archived from the original on 2019-12-10. Retrieved 2012-06-27.
  2. ↑ "EA's Instagram Page Is Flooded With Fans Demanding Skate 4". GAMING. Archived from the original on 2019-05-17. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  3. ↑ "Investment Canada Act, ARCHIVED — September 2002". Industry Canada (Gov). 2002-09-15. Archived from the original on 2019-05-02. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  4. ↑ Fennimore, Jack (2017-10-19). "Studios EA Has Killed: A History". Heavy.com. Archived from the original on 2020-03-05. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  5. ↑ Remo, Chris. "Report: EA Black Box Lays Off Majority of Staff". www.gamasutra.com. Archived from the original on 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
  6. ↑ Tor Thorsen (2008-12-19). "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 2013-08-07. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  7. ↑ Fred Dutton (2012-02-03). "Redundancies confirmed at EA Canada". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on 2012-10-31. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  8. ↑ "EA closing Vancouver studios PopCap and Quicklime in latest round of layoffs: report". Financial Post. 2013-04-25. Archived from the original on 2013-11-06. Retrieved 2015-03-04.
  9. ↑ Mike Futter (2013-04-25). "EA Partners, Other Divisions Facing Closure". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 2013-10-17. Retrieved 2013-10-16.
  10. ↑ David Scammell (2013-08-29). "Ghost takes control of the Need For Speed brand". VideoGamer. Archived from the original on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2013-10-25.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.