America's Army 3 dev team discharged

By Tom Magrino, GameSpotPosted Jun 19, 2009 11:12 am PT

US Army confirms squad behind free-to-play armed-conflict simulator has been let go, future updates shifted to Redstone Arsenal, Alabama outfit.

Earlier this week, the US Army released its latest iteration of its free-to-play recruitment tool, America's Army 3 for the PC. The launch, however, has been fraught with issues, with public representatives for the project saying that "due to this massive number of simultaneous connections, we're having some trouble keeping up with the demand."

Duck and cover!

One place the Army isn't likely to get help in resolving those issues is from the Emeryville, California-based team that developed the project. A representative for America's Army 3 confirmed for GameSpot today that the development team was discharged from the project, with all future endeavors shifted to an outfit working out of Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.

"The contractor team at Emeryville was responsible for completing work on our first release of the America’s Army 3 game," the US Army said in a statement. "That work was completed on 16 June and our game launched on 17 June. With that milestone complete, we are consolidating our development efforts at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama."

"In 2005, we established the America's Army program office at Redstone Arsenal to oversee development of both the public game and government applications of America’s Army 3," the statement continued. "Since that time, we have grown the team at Redstone to manage our contractor team in Emeryville and expand use of the game within the government. By consolidating operations at Redstone, we expect to gain additional efficiencies between our public and government applications."

The America's Army 3 representative did not indicate how many employees were affected by the transition, saying only that future game content will continue to be released in the coming months.

111 Comments

  • 68CJ

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 12:06 pm PT

    AA used to be good. but i havent played AA for about a year or so. and i just downloaded i guess the newest version AA3 and it reminded me of the xbox version... it sucks. what happened to the gameplay/graphics/ all the other maps etc. and if this dev team is the reason for it then im glad theyre gone... hopefully they will bring back how the game used to be... and now that AA3 is out can you still play AA2.8 or i guess the last of the good version?

  • TotenKopf42

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 10:46 am PT

    I like this game...
    I don't really understand why you think about it as "FPS garbage"...
    Yes - it has LOOOOT of bugs, can't really understand why it was released on time. Guys from d-team should have done something similar like guys from Valve with HL2 - delayed release date. Idk - maybe US Army thought that is was better to keep up with release date lauching bugged (IMO "BETA") product and blame d-team, than delay it, but...

    1st. Game IS FREE...
    2nd. Powered by UnrealEngine3 (no need for comments here - every gammer knows what it is)
    3rd. TEAM-based game. It was build in such way that if you want to get higher ranks and other stuff faster - you have to stick with your team. I am tired of CSS-like games - folks don't even know what is "team-based play" anymore. They just buying stuff and fragging. This game is about realism and teamplay - covering your team8s, healing them, supporting and etc. Teamplay is top priority. Actually - most people who are actively played or still playing damn CSS - always whines about AA3 being terrible and etc. - such players don't even know what IS teamplay - they - mostly rushing for SDM (sniper/marksman) position and fragging from a distance - NO TEAMPLAY. This is where (in most cases) such players failing and screaming how bad this game is...
    As for COD4 - yes - it is awesome game, but it was never aimed for realism - I mean - it is FPS for fragging other people mostly. You can't really hope to get same teamplay or realism level like in AA3.

  • facistinabag

    Posted Jun 23, 2009 5:39 pm PT

    I haven't played AA since the launch, and judging by the recent patch notes they've apparently "Fixed" a lot of the things that I mentioned in my last post. However, I've long since uninstalled it.

    The reason?

    Pressing the space bar dosen't move "up" your stance.

    DAMN that's annoying.

  • Excedra

    Posted Jun 23, 2009 2:49 am PT

    AA SUCKS!!!!!!

  • Innos007666

    Posted Jun 23, 2009 2:01 am PT

    AA is really nice team-FPS for one free game.Can't wait for AA3

  • baal46

    Posted Jun 22, 2009 2:57 pm PT

    Anti American bigotry is teh kewlness now, amiright?

  • Imconfused2007

    Posted Jun 22, 2009 2:18 pm PT

    @ Toomsuba2

    Ever hear of irony, because you're the ignorant epitome of all the crap you just spewed out. America started out as settlers, plain and simple. Roanoke, and then Jamestown, were settlers for the British, not criminals. Every country that had a stake in America, including Britain, Spain, France, Denmark, Portugal, even Russia, contributed to the deaths of the Native Americans. And finally, how did we cheat against the British? This was before the Geneva Convention. Have you been watching The Patriot too many times? Learn to get your history from somewhere else besides Mel Gibson movies.

  • jer_1

    Posted Jun 22, 2009 11:07 am PT

    Such a bummer considering how good the other releases were...

    /end sarcasm

  • rpgfreak02

    Posted Jun 22, 2009 10:40 am PT

    @ toomsuba2
    I could have sworn the pilgrims were uhh, Puritans who disagreed with the Church of England, not criminals....actually, the only place i can think of like that is actually Australia, which started as a prison of sorts. And...cheated against the British? When did that happen? Is that like a cheap shot at American strategy during the revolutionary war? I guess we should have stood infront of them and just traded shots volley after volley even though we didn't have a standing army, just you know, the volunteer militia. Or maybe your referring to how the French supplied America with weapons? I guess that's cheating, cause right there at the top of the Geneva Code it says, "no getting weapons from allied nations during times of war!" I suppose the only thing you said that was true is that America is responsible for the deaths of many Native American tribes, as are the English, the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Italians, the French, and probably a few other "great" nations of the modern world as well. I don't know, i guess what I'm saying is your an idiot Toomsuba2, at least more so then the other guy.

  • GhostyMcboo

    Posted Jun 22, 2009 9:45 am PT

    Not to throw stones in glass houses, but Toomsuba, you get mad props from Canada! "O! Canada! Our Home ON Native Land!..." We're not so great up here, either.

  • kevboard

    Posted Jun 22, 2009 8:52 am PT

    AA3 sucks! i will play AA2 because ist so mutch better than this new s***

  • Boydy91

    Posted Jun 22, 2009 2:55 am PT

    well i downloade this game the same day as i got Arma 2, and even though i had to pay £20 for Arma 2 it's far superior, they should have made ppl buy the game for at least £10 so that they could improve it with the money they got. im not complaining cos its free so im playin it.......just that Arma 2 is the superior game

  • forhekset

    Posted Jun 22, 2009 2:06 am PT

    So they laid off the entire team that made the game and handed it over to somebody else just as it launched? Is it just me, or is that the most retarded move ever. Sounds like there's a lot to fix and surely the team that made it would know how best to go about fixing it faster than anyone.

  • morgonstjarnan posted Jun 21, 2009 11:47 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    morgonstjarnan

    Posted Jun 21, 2009 11:47 pm PT (hide)

    It'd be interesting to know what would've happened in history without the US army. Imperial Japan spreading plagues and building rape camps in China. Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia ruling Europe, possibly Africa as well. Concentration camps and gulags everywhere. So yeah. It's always hilarious when some angry, radical 15 year old whines about America's "evil".

  • blangenakker

    Posted Jun 21, 2009 11:15 pm PT

    I really want to play this game! but there are no servers.

    Got into one saw a Join Team screen then i couldn't do anything.

  • eddy_purpus posted Jun 21, 2009 11:09 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    eddy_purpus

    Posted Jun 21, 2009 11:09 pm PT (hide)

    FVCK YOU POWERDONUT NORTHKOREAN DEER LEEDAR DICK SVCKAR ...
    MUTHAFVCKAR!

  • painguy1

    Posted Jun 21, 2009 10:34 pm PT

    something needs to be done about this game. protested, sewed, publicly humiliated. It has to be brought to public attention

  • Montaya

    Posted Jun 21, 2009 8:39 pm PT

    They were, "discharged"? What are the video game developers military personnel too?

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