EA Black Box

EA Black Box
Subsidiary of Electronic Arts
Industry Interactive entertainment
Computer and video games
Predecessor Black Box Games (1998–2002)
Founded 1998
Defunct 2013
Headquarters Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Products Need for Speed series
Skate series
Parent Electronic Arts
Website www.eablackbox.com

EA Black Box (formerly known as 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.

History

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][2] As a result of the acquisition the studio's name was changed to EA Black Box. 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, but still owned by EA.

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.[3]

In February 2012, EA confirmed a number off 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.[4]

In July 2012, EA Black Box was renamed Quicklime Games during the development of PC game Need for Speed: World,[5] under which name it operated until its closure in April 2013.[6]

Responsibility for the Need for Speed franchise has been taken over by Ghost Games.[7]

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.

It was revealed that EA Black Box was working on a video game based on the Miss Universe pageant using DICE's Frostbite 3 engine prior to its closure.[8]

Games developed

Title Year Platform(s)
GCN DC Mac PC PS2 PS3 Wii Xbox X360
NASCAR 2001 2000 No No No No Yes No No No No
NHL 2K 2000 No Yes No No No No No No No
NHL Hitz 20-02 2001 Yes No No No Yes No No Yes No
NHL Hitz 20-03 2002 Yes No No No Yes No No Yes No
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 2002 Yes No No Yes Yes No No Yes No
NHL 2004 2003 Yes No No Yes Yes No No Yes No
Need for Speed: Underground 2003 Yes No No Yes Yes No No Yes No
NHL 2005 2004 Yes No No Yes Yes No No Yes No
Need for Speed: Underground 2 2004 Yes No No Yes Yes No No Yes No
Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2005 Yes No No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes
Need for Speed: Carbon 2006 Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Skate 2007 No No No No No Yes No No Yes
Need for Speed: ProStreet 2007 No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Skate It 2008 No No No No No No Yes No No
Need for Speed: Undercover 2008 No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Skate 2 2009 No No No No No Yes No No Yes
Need for Speed: World 2010 No No No Yes No No No No No
Skate 3 2010 No No No No No Yes No No Yes
Need for Speed: The Run [9][10] 2011 No No No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes

Cancelled games

Title Year Platform(s)
GCN DC Mac PC PS2 PS3 PS4 Wii Xbox X360 XBO
Tap That 2011 No No No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
Miss Universe 2013 No No No Yes No No Yes No No No Yes

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Walker, Trey (2002-06-11). "EA to buy Black Box". GameSpot. Retrieved 2012-06-27.
  2. ↑ "Investment Canada Act, ARCHIVED — September 2002". Industry Canada (Gov). 2002-09-15. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  3. ↑ 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. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  4. ↑ Fred Dutton (2012-02-03). "Redundancies confirmed at EA Canada". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  5. ↑ "EA closing Vancouver studios PopCap and Quicklime in latest round of layoffs: report". Financial Post. 2013-04-25. Retrieved 2015-03-04.
  6. ↑ Mike Futter (2013-04-25). "EA Partners, Other Divisions Facing Closure". GameInformer. Retrieved 2013-10-16.
  7. ↑ David Scammell (2013-08-29). "Ghost takes control of the Need For Speed brand". VideoGamer. Retrieved 2013-10-25.
  8. ↑ http://whatculture.com/gaming/10-awful-sounding-video-games-that-fortunately-got-cancelled.php/7
  9. ↑ Ransom-Wiley, James (2010-07-01). "Need for Speed: Shift 2, Black Box-developed NFS both hinted for 2011". Joystiq. Retrieved 2010-08-05.
  10. ↑ Purchese, Robert (2010-11-02). "The future of Need for Speed revealed". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2010-11-14.