TELLTALE GAMES CLOSURE

Telltale Games had been flying high ever since they released the first season of The Walking Dead in 2012, acquiring major licenses left, right, and centre, from Batman and Borderlands to Game of Thrones and Guardians of the Galaxy and so many others. But that reckless purchasing of licenses was, as it turns out, a huge reason for their heartbreaking downfall. Telltale Games abruptly shut down in 2018, with hundreds of people losing their jobs in the ugliest way possible. For the audiences, too, it was a tough pill to swallow- not only did upcoming games like Stranger Things and The Wolf Among Us Season 2 get cancelled, but the closure happened with The Walking Dead’s final season was ongoing- though at least that, thanks to Skybound Games, managed to get completed.

Not all surprises are good surprises. Case in point- when EA announced Command and Conquer: Rivals for mobile devices at this year’s E3. We all wanted to see the franchise be brought back from the dead, but not like this. If, however, you are interested in playing the mobile PVP real time strategy title, EA have announced via a press release that it will be launching worldwide on Android and iOS devices on December 4.

EA’s press release promises that Rivals won’t have “drop and watch” mechanics like mobile games typically do, and that players will instead maintain “100% control” of all their units at all times. Apparently, planning and preparation will also be crucial to matches, true to the game’s PC roots.

There will also be a weekly e-sports centric competitive mode called Rivals Champions, which is inspired by FIFA’s Ultimate Team Champions. Rivals Champions will see players competing in a run of matches through matchmaking pools that are “segmented by rank to ensure players of all skill levels can thrive and win”.

Before the game launches globally, you can still pre-register to receive a limited edition bundle at launch. If Command and Conquer on mobile devices isn’t up your alley and you’d rather have something more traditional, don’t worry- EA’s got remasters of classic C&C titles lined up as well.

Command and Conquer is PC gaming royalty, as one of the greatest strategy franchises to have ever existed, but the way the property has been treated over the last few years doesn’t really reflect that. A cancelled game, prolonged dormancy, followed by a mobile game that looks nothing like what fans of the series want are just a few of EA’s biggest missteps in handling the series.

However, there’s cause for excitement for Command and Conquer fans. With the series’ 25th anniversary coming up in 2020, EA has announced on Reddit that they’ll be remastering classic Command and Conquer games on PC.

“As most of you may know, we recently announced Command & Conquer: Rivals, a mobile game set in the Command & Conquer universe,” EA’s Jim Vessella wrote on Reddit. “Following the reveal of Rivals, we heard you loud and clear: the Command & Conquer community also wants to see the franchise return to PC. And as a fan of C&C for over 20 years, I couldn’t agree more. With that in mind we’ve been exploring some exciting ideas regarding remastering the classic PC games, and already have the ball rolling on our first effort to celebrate the upcoming 25th Year Anniversary.

“We are eager to hear your feedback to help influence our current thoughts for PC and what comes next. Over the next few weeks we’ll be talking to fans in a variety of ways.”

They also confirmed that the remasters would have no microtransactions. “We will not be adding any microtransactions to a C&C Remaster,” Vessella wrote in response to a comment.

This is definitely exciting news. Perhaps there’s a glimmer of hope for the future of Command and Conquer after all. Even if we never get a proper sequel, this is still better than nothing.

A sequel wouldn’t hurt, though.

Once upon a time, the mobile market was viewed as an existential threat for the console and handheld market- it was believed that mobile gaming would overtake everything. That very obviously did not happen, and mobile gaming itself became a glut of low end, poorly designed games with exploitative monetization. Of course, there were great games on there too- but the larger trend was more the former than the latter.

Of late, mobile gaming seems to be maturing, and finding its voice as a legitimate form of gaming again- which, EA argues, is the reason that it made its reimagining of Command and Conquer a mobile game (if you remember, this led to a lot of outrage at E3 this year).

“We believe this is a modern, contemporary interpretation of the Command & Conquer brand, but I think [mobile’s] scale–not only across age but across gender–made this the natural platform for it,” EA’s  EA chief design officer Patrick Söderlund said to GamesIndustry. “We’re going to come to a point where we need to respect mobile games as much as console games. I know that’s difficult to see when you come to E3, but our mobile business is growing quite significantly, and we look at those teams with the same value and the same integrity as we look at our console teams. And we believe this is the best interpretation we can do of the brand right now.”

He added to that last point, noting that mobile games are becoming more and more like console games, and a time will come when they need to be treated with the same kind of respect that a console game needs to be treated with.

“Game designs on mobile are starting to mimic more and more what we deem to be console-based,” he said. “The work Epic has done with Fortnite… I didn’t think that would work, to be honest. I was super skeptical, yet I see my daughters playing it on their mobile phones while I play on my PS4 or Xbox or PC. I think they’ve shown the world that’s possible. You can replicate a high-definition game onto a mobile phone and that works. The fact you can play against each other is also cool.

“The other trend we’ll see is games on these devices used to be relatively shallow and simplistic, where it felt like they were free so everything was there so you could start paying money. I think we’re seeing more sophisticated, deeper game designs. We’re seeing more sophisticated and deeper fidelity. And I think we’re going to see games that mimic what we see on the console side far more on these platforms long term, because they’re powerful enough now.”

Of course, assuming mobile games become actual, well fleshed out and developed games, rather than ad infested cash grabs that only try to wrangle as much money as possible from their players, that could and should happen- and I do think the mobile market is (very) slowly heading towards that, too. However, it hasn’t happened yet- and EA’s past efforts on mobile, plus the state of the mobile market right now, are enough reasons to criticize their decision to make a brand as venerated as Command and Conquer a mobile game.

Next to No Gameplay For Some Reveals

We’re not just talking about shocking games like Nioh 2 which didn’t have any gameplay. There were even games like Battlefield 5 at EA Play, Wolfenstein: Youngblood at Bethesda’s presser and Halo Infinite at Microsoft’s show that either had no gameplay footage or very little. At least titles like The Last of Us: Part 2 and Gears of War 5 got good gameplay reveals, even if they didn’t have release dates.

Among the many new games announced at EA Play 2018 was Command and Conquer: Rivals, a mobile RTS that focuses on 1v1 battles where players battle with various units and take control of different missile silos. Check out the announcement and overview trailers below.

Though boasting a different art-style, Command and Conquer: Rivals does feature some familiar forces like the Brotherhood of Nod led by Kane. Otherwise, the map design and overall gameplay are definitely scaled for mobile play. If you’re curious about the game, then head over to Google Play (iOS users can head here) to pre-register for the pre-alpha. Players in US and Canada should receive invites when it goes live.

Arguably one of the biggest mistakes that Electronic Arts made at EA Play 2018 was offering so much time to Command and Conquer: Rivals. If the name doesn’t ring any bells, it’s based off of the classic Command and Conquer franchise that served as the foundation for modern RTS games. Both trailers have enormous “Dislike” ratios but what are your thoughts on the game? Let us know below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyNXQpAFQJc