EA shuts down DICE Canada

London, Ontario, branch of newly acquired Swedish studio closed, projects in development moved to Stockholm.

Earlier this week, Digital Illusions CE (DICE) and Electronic Arts announced that the long-in-the-works acquisition of the Swedish studio best known for its Battlefield series of first-person shooters was finally official. And now the first postmerger news from the pair is that Electronic Arts is shutting down DICE Canada, a London, Ontario-based offshoot that focused primarily on booster packs and patches for games.

An EA spokesperson confirmed for GameSpot that the studio is being closed, with development on its current projects being moved to the Stockholm, Sweden, DICE studio. The move will affect "roughly 30 employees," with "several" of those currently interviewing for positions at other EA branches in North America.

Last year, DICE was on the other end of a similar situation. Less than a week after its PC first-person shooter Battlefield 2 went gold, the company shut down Trauma Studios, a New York-based team it had acquired some nine months earlier to work on the project. Ultimately, much of the Trauma Studios team reformed under THQ as Kaos Studios.

154 Comments

  • LordAndrew

    Posted Oct 10, 2006 6:47 am PT

    "Electronic Arts is shutting down DICE Canada, a London, Ontario-based offshoot that focused primarily on booster packs and patches for games."

    We never needed patches for games anyway.

  • radiostyle

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 10:34 pm PT

    EA=Eat All
    EA is not game developer or publisher anymore.
    I think EA is a Game-Factory.

  • Pacemen2

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 7:47 pm PT

    sad that the game developing world can be so heartless. . .

  • aceshot777

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 7:12 pm PT

    tis it is sad

  • _Sam_

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 6:19 pm PT

    that's too bad

  • Sickboy_NOLA

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 4:55 pm PT

    Figures. EA is the antichrist.

  • messin18

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 11:33 am PT

    darth-revan, It's a joke how mis-informed gamers are. EA doesn't make half life. They just only recently started takeing over publishing for the game.

  • rollenlee

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 10:40 am PT

    Once again, DICE Canada did produce Battlefield: Vietnam, so it clearly existed for a reason other than just patches. (Anyone else think it's odd that most people just post without seeing what other people have said? Time to work on the listening skills and the community aspect, people...)

  • spydrman5472

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 10:29 am PT

    If DICE would have worked on releasing products without the need for major patches and updates then this studio never would have existed anyway. Be glad DICE released Battlefield 2 at all or else these people would have been out of a job a long time ago.

  • GohanIdz

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 9:53 am PT

    "They have the GR series, the R6 series, Far Cry, hell, even Splinter Cell!"


    Uh, Farcry was developed in Germany by CRYTEK...

  • Col0Korn

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 9:23 am PT

    yeah, what about all of your NFS games? EA Canada works on all of the NFS titles. Canada is home to many awesome game studios, like Ubisoft (Montreal, QC). They have the GR series, the R6 series, Far Cry, hell, even Splinter Cell!

    GO CANADA!

  • abelmaestro

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 9:02 am PT

    "Hey, abelmaestro. EA = USA? What about EA Canada? They work on your hockey titles for sure and other titles if I'm not mistaken. "

    Ehm....you don`t get it,right?Just think a bit, you`ll see that they are the same.

  • darth-revan

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 8:57 am PT

    i herby boycot all EA products excluding the following game frasnchises, Half-Life, Command & Conquer, and Battlefield

  • deftinwolf

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 8:09 am PT

    well this doesn't surprise me

    considering EA has the worst tech support of all time, why not get rid of essentially the last branch of your support team?

  • A-TEX

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 8:04 am PT

    Stop crying, people. It's not the end of the world for these developers. They have 3D programming experience/skills, which is in high demand. They'll find other jobs, whether it's with EA or someone else. Yes, EA is cutting costs. That's the price we have to pay for getting yearly updates of all our favorite sports titles. EA has to make a certain amount of profit and they felt that was impossible due to the extra costs associated with a studio whose sole purpose was to create patches. "Patches? We don't need no stinking patches!"

    Hey, abelmaestro. EA = USA? What about EA Canada? They work on your hockey titles for sure and other titles if I'm not mistaken.

  • abelmaestro

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 6:58 am PT

    EA=USA

  • quietguy

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 6:55 am PT

    EA. The new M$ in the gaming industry...

  • 1SleepyGit

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 5:41 am PT

    Typical EA. As others have noted they shut down the part of the company that patches the games, and don't give any figures to how many of these 30 employees are actually looking for new jobs with their other branches. "Several" could mean 5 people for all we know, with the other 25 left to fend for themselves. Also, they said 'roughly' 30 people, probable be about 39 people, I know its business but what EA is trying to do is produce a monopoly that spews out game after game with no actual quality. Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't that what made the game industry crash in the 1980s? All I can say is that I hope Ubisoft eats them, and then kicks out EA's higher management (hey, a man can dream can't he? A man can dream...).

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 3:02 am PT

    Of course it's the 'quality control' side of DICE that get's closed. So when your waiting for a patch for a DICE/EA game and it doesn't arrive or it doesn't fix the problem, remember today. After all, the bigger share EA has of the PC games market the more certain I am the PC game market will die.

  • SouthAmerica09

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 12:53 am PT

    Even if they knew for a longtime this was coming, finding a new job isn't always easy .....shame.

  • Antillia

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 11:54 pm PT

    Looks like Battlefield 2142 will be the last in the series then at least, for a long long time. Hell look at Command and Conquer it is the same scenario as when they Acquired Westwood way back when. Buy the Studio, Close the Studio, kill of the series and sack the employees. Sure C&C3 looks nice, but it will never, ever be considdered as your product the same will go with all Battlefield products from here on out.

    There is always a bigger dog EA and when that dog comes knocking on your door and buys your sorry ass out, the fans will not feel pitty but instead rejoice.

  • anthonykid100

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 9:37 pm PT

    The EA way. Acquire a compnay, make games that go gold, then shut down studios. People loose jobs while EA gains more money. I really hope they find some new jobs.

  • QualityJeverage

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 8:18 pm PT

    "DICE should have known better . . . as if they didn't see this coming. Those 30 employees should have been looking for new jobs a year ago."

    No offense, but I really disagree. Do you really expect those people to have sat there a year ago, and think "Wow, EA is totally going to close down this studio. I'd better find a new job quick!"

    Of course not. How about some sympathy for the people who just lost their jobs? Rather than commenting on how stupid they apparently are for not being psychic.

  • Bill-Rizer

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 8:09 pm PT

    DICE should have known better . . . as if they didn't see this coming. Those 30 employees should have been looking for new jobs a year ago.

  • crunchb3rry

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 7:47 pm PT

    "EA is to smaller developers what G4 was to TechTV."

    OUCH! Sad, but oh so very true. Too bad those fools at Comcast fired Hirschhorn and replaced him with a guy twice as ignorant.

  • supergamer1289

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 7:27 pm PT

    DICE you sold you soul to the devil (EA)

  • kaziechameleon

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 4:13 pm PT

    EA is a tiant on the game industry, they rush out games, look what they did to bfme2 and the command a conquer games, ha, laughable.

  • buruburu

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 1:44 pm PT

    its (Ontario; patch/expansion pack folk) current projects being moved to the Stockholm, Sweden, DICE studio.

    Perhaps Swedish studio will do the Ontario folk's job quicker, and more effectively.....?? better? (only time will tell)

    "Its not who I am, but what I do that defines me."

    BF2142, is ok, for a demo. I'm curious about the full version... 1 day; 23 hours @ EA Downloader (the other Valve).

  • Ek-Andy

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 1:36 pm PT

    "screw EA, they suck big time in making games always basically ma point is cudnt care less if EA stop making games. I played fifa07 this EA is pack of lies saying the ball and players is done real time when they AI is still dumber and stupid dan ever. Gd thing i only got my eyes on one soccer which is pro evo 6" Erm you do know that EA produce games not develop them right?

  • mrhankeydinks

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 12:35 pm PT

    wait they focus on patches! thats bad news for the Bf series.

  • QualityJeverage

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 11:40 am PT

    "Acquisitions are a standard business practice. It's easy to hate EA because they are a large company, but *all* large companies do this sort of thing"

    Just because it's business doesn't mean we have to like it.

  • Ryuketsu2043

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 11:32 am PT

    I hate EA with a passion...i really do..

  • RealXBoxKiller

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 10:49 am PT

    haha wow.. I had no idea so many people from london frequen this site and gamefaqs. whats up guys? and this company i had no idea even existed here.

  • CheddarLimbo

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 10:11 am PT

    Acquisitions are a standard business practice. It's easy to hate EA because they are a large company, but *all* large companies do this sort of thing.

    It doesn't make sense to have operations spread all over the world, especially for such a small production niche as was indicated. I'd do that same thing if it were my call.

  • Destroyeron13

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 9:13 am PT

    EA sucks...

  • Osinocavalli

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 8:17 am PT

    screw EA, they suck big time in making games always basically ma point is cudnt care less if EA stop making games. I played fifa07 this EA is pack of lies saying the ball and players is done real time when they AI is still dumber and stupid dan ever. Gd thing i only got my eyes on one soccer which is pro evo 6

  • QualityJeverage

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 8:12 am PT

    EA is to smaller developers what G4 was to TechTV.

    Eating them, chewing them, and spitting out a mangled, deformed version of their former selves.

  • CaptHawkeye

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 7:02 am PT

    Typical EA.

  • quack_er

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 6:21 am PT

    lol I didn't even know this company existed in my city (London, Ontario, Canada)

  • peeweeshift

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 6:03 am PT

    i still havn't bought bf2 yet so this aint effecting me

  • metdevthegamer

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 5:58 am PT

    That sucks.

  • GeigerdolylWodd

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 2:57 am PT

    TavLok
    Electronic Arts! "Striving to be the #1 driving force behind unemployment in the game industry"

    Our motto is........"If we buy it, WE WILL BREAK IT!" ==========================================================================================================================HA HA HA But seriously doesn't EA own MAXIS? Don't they still support the SIMS/SIMS2?

  • sharpshooter188

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 1:28 am PT

    sadly thats just business =( i sincerely hope the people that are out of a job have good luck in finding another soon. But with such a big hit under my belt like battlefield 2 i wouldnt be too worried about finding another job before next months rent is due.

  • bstclair1

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 1:04 am PT

    EA is a business. They may not excel at making games or being innovative but they are a great business. Smaller studios fall victim to buyouts by bigger, more established companies. EA will correct all their kinks and make them highly profitable by keeping their margins close.
    Like it or not, it is just business.

  • Sandro909

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 12:11 am PT

    Bastards. There goes support for BF2.

  • TavLok

    Posted Oct 7, 2006 10:17 pm PT

    Electronic Arts! "Striving to be the #1 driving force behind unemployment in the game industry"

    Our motto is........"If we buy it, WE WILL BREAK IT!"

  • VolcanoMan001

    Posted Oct 7, 2006 7:33 pm PT

    Wow that was quick!!!

    Sounds like a polite way of saying 30 employees are out of a job. Way to go EA!! Lets keep feeding the machine until all of our games are made by EA!!

  • Slash_out

    Posted Oct 7, 2006 6:55 pm PT

    Jakob_187 said:
    Looks like you need some wisdom distilled on yourself The article doesn't say those 30 employees are being interviewed. It you read closer it says. "with "several" of those currently interviewing for positions at other EA branches in North America."

    Several is not all
    --------------------

    I agree with sircyrus. And I'll add. Those "several people" could be, 2, 3, 4 or even almost everyone on the team. Howerver it is NOT said that those people will indeed have their transfer accepted. It's just an interview, with a POSSIBILITY of being taken in.

  • guynamedbilly

    Posted Oct 7, 2006 6:37 pm PT

    Is anyone surprised at all by this? It was only a matter of time, and it's also no surprise that the studio they shut down was the one that primarily worked on patches and add-ons.

    That goofy EA. Oh you.

  • the_real_VIP

    Posted Oct 7, 2006 6:15 pm PT

    Know what? If an EA game gets my attention, instead of buying it and giving them my money, I'll download it on torrent from the few who bought it who hates EA and wants EA to get the least money possible from us.

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