On its Support Page, EA has stated that in concerns to refunding money spent in the alpha, “For those of you who bought The C&C Ultimate Collection, your early access to the beta will be honored once production of this title resumes under a new studio. We would like to thank you for your time and interest in Command & Conquer, and we look forward to sharing the news with you when production resumes on this title in the future.”

Considering the amount of resources already expended on the project, it would be a waste to just cancel it. Will this next iteration of the free to play title be worth it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Visceral Games’ Star Wars Title

When it was announced that EA would be exclusively developing and publishing games based on the Star Wars license, the news also came about that internal studios DICE, Visceral Games and Bioware would be working on a title each. Each game would use Frostbite 3, and while we’ve seen DICE’s Star Wars: Battlefront, we’re yet to find out what Visceral Games is working on. Maybe a next-generation Republic Commando? How about a resurrection of Star Wars 1313? Hopefully it’s not a sequel to The Force Unleashed – seriously, what the hell happened with the second game? – but at this point, we wouldn’t mind a psychological horror action title that explores the darker regions of the Star Wars universe. Speaking of horror…

Dead Space 4

Despite stories of EA being disappointed with the franchise and subsequently pulling the plug on the same, Dead Space is still very much alive. How long will it be before Isaac Clarke returns again to face the latest round of unimagined and repulsive horrors that the Markers inflict? For that matter, will there be a brand new protagonist this time around, exploring a new far-flung region with Necromorphs inhabiting? The ending to Dead Space 3’s Awakened DLC certainly indicated that there are enough space zombies to go around. Expect Dead Space to be revived for the next-generation, though when it will be revealed remains to be seen.

Battlefield: Bad Company 3

The Battlefield: Bad Company team has been on a long vacation since the release of the second game…or so EA and DICE would have us believe. It’s no secret that there’s a demand for the game to return, especially since the last two installments in the Battlefield franchise have been core titles. Now that DICE has had enough time to familiarize itself with next-gen consoles and Battlefield 4 is finally released, is it any stretch to guess that the next Battlefield game could very well be Bad Company 3, powered by Frostbite 3?

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare

While it may seem surprising that PopCap Games first person/third person shooter tower defence hybrid would need the power of Frostbite 3 to realize its vision, we can’t say we mind having the engine powering Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare. From tons of zombies on screen, a variety of plants attacking at once, huge bosses, airstrikes, the disco zombies and cartoonish albeit highly detailed environments, Garden Warfare looks like a blast. Interestingly, as far as next-gen consoles go, it will only be available on the Xbox One despite making an appearance on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 as well. How will Frostbite 3 benefit from the Xbox One’s power in this case? We’ll need to wait and find out.

Bioware’s Star Wars Title

If you had told any Knights of the Old Republic fan that Bioware might be working on a Star Wars-related title in the near future, the excitement would have been palpable. Granted, Bioware DID work on a KOTOR title which ended up being the MMORPG The Old Republic, which failed to click despite its large budget and scope. But it’s been a long time since we’ve seen a true follow-up in the series, continuing the legacy of Revan and unlocking more of the mystery behind the Sith. The thought of Bioware creating a next-generation Knights of the Old Republic using Frostbite 3? Now that’s something we can get behind. Even if it turned out to be something else – perhaps a brand new RPG franchise –we’d still be excited. The point is, Dragon Age: Inquisition and Mass Effect 4 might be the cat’s pyjamas but Bioware Star Wars titles will always have the Force.

Which other games do you believe are in production and use the Frostbite 3 engine? Which games do you wish to see in the coming years from EA using the same? Let us know in the comments below.

Those who participated in the closed alpha will be refunded. As of now, the plan is seemingly to use what’s already been created for another Command & Conquer. However, an EA spokesperson told Polygon the development team has been disbanded. “The team at Victory Games will be disbanded. Wherever possible, we are working to help these talented people find other opportunities within EA.”

It’s a real shame, especially since Victory Games was adamant to go back to what made the C&C franchise so awesome. What are your thoughts on this recent development?

Speaking to Engadget at Gamescom, Moore stated that, “The ability for you to be able to interact with those franchises on a free-to-play basis is going to be part-and-parcel with every major franchise we do now.” This is exemplified with titles such as Heroes of Dragon Age and FIFA 14 which will both be free to play and on mobile.

“We don’t ship a game at EA that is offline. It just doesn’t happen. And gamers either want to be connected so their stats and achievements reflect who they are, or you want the full multiplayer experience on top of that. We don’t deliver offline experiences anymore.”

Which is hilarious since the most common complaints with online experiences has been related to the always-online SimCity and the Xbox One’s former DRM policies.

“From both a features and an ongoing, adding-to-the-product point of view, it was more exciting to go the free-to-play route than it was the boxed route. We have fans in every country around the world: Eastern Europe, China, you name it… We want to be able to bring this game to everyone, and I think not going the retail route was the way that we could expand our audience to a bigger audience.”

Of course, there will be plenty of content updates with new missions,f actions, and even additional universes added to the mix with the new “Live Service” that Victory is looking to introduce.

Caneghem stated that, “Yeah, I think maybe the days of a boxed [Command & Conquer] release are probably over.”

Victory Games took the stage at EA’s Gamescom 2013 press conference to showcase the upcoming free to play Command & Conquer, developed using the Frostbite 3 engine.

Taking place 2023, C&C sees China challenged by the European Union and the Global Liberation Army in a battle for power. Some new details for the game include the ability to blind enemies using smoke, and employing nitro boosts to quickly traverse distances. There will also be episodic story missions that you can play by yourself or in co-op with a friend.

We also got a look at Railgun Tanks and some of the helicopters, with the overall action being significantly quicker than previous C&C. Victory Games will also be featuring new content, such as generals, maps and more, over time and will even take the opinions of fans into account.

Command & Conquer will be heading to PC, with a release date still to be announced.

Here is a full statement from EA that was sent to GamesIndustry regarding the closure of Phenomic.

“As part of EA’s realignment in recent weeks, we have announced internally a small adjustment to some development staff to better focus our teams against priority growth areas,” the statement read.

“The decision to let people go is not something we take lightly and we are working to ensure that impacted employees are treated fairly and with respect for their contributions to EA, and with assistance to find other job opportunities.

“These are hard but essential changes as we focus on delivering great games and showing players around the world why to spend their time with us.”

Let us know what you think of this situation in the comments section below.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more news and updates.

Electronic Arts understood this – which is why the team at Victory Games, handling the new free to play Command and Conquer title will be looking to “wash away the stain of C&C4”. Check out the part 1 of “Behind the Battle” to learn more about how they’re doing that.

One way is to take inspiration from one of the more better series in the C&C universe, namely Generals. The game was actually meant to become the next Generals game, before going free to play but thankfully the team hasn’t changed its focus. Some of the gameplay is a testament to that, though it has “reboot” written all over it.

Currently, Command and Conquer will be the first of a series of free to play titles, which will use the Frostbite 2 engine and release sometime in 2013.

EA has announced that the beta for their upcoming BioWare developed free-to-play title Command & Conquer will begin in the first half of 2013, and will be the longest running beta in the history of C&C.

“Now, we know you have a lot more questions about the new Command & Conquer and you may be wondering why we are so silent about it,” C&C global community manager EA_CIRE wrote on the Command & Conquer blog. “We’ve decided to actually let the game speak for itself, instead of starting the typical marketing noise you normally would expect. That being said, it might be a few more months before we reveal more information – we don’t just want to tell you about the game, we want to show you.”

He also talked about how the series hasn’t really been up to scratch recently, and went on to assure everyone that the BioWare Victory developed installment will not be similar in that regard.

“The team here and I know that previous Command & Conquer titles had issues – some less, some more,” he said. “C&C4 (yes, I just named it!) was especially far below the expectations and standards a lot of us had for C&C games. So we know how you guys feel – and I am talking a lot with our design team to discuss the game mechanics, features and meta-game of our new Command & Conquer in development.

“We all have the big picture in our mind where we want to go with this new Command & Conquer, making a great RTS game that can wear the C&C logo with pride. Yes, the direction is new and many probably would say that this is not a ‘true’ C&C, just as many did when the original Generals came out.

“For me, Command & Conquer isn’t just about Tiberium, Kane and the crazy Yuri. It’s been more about fun to play, engaging, and high quality RTS experiences. And that’s what we’re aiming to deliver, just in a different way.

“So looking at where we are right now with our game and the ongoing service that comes with Free 2 Play games actually makes me believe that this game can become a great Command & Conquer. And we will be working together with you – The Fans – to make it better and better.”

[Eurogamer]

This time, he aimed his ire at big publishers like Electronic Arts taking to the free-to-play model. EA recently announced at GamesCom 2012 that Command & Conquer: Generals 2 would be going free-play, besides announcing earlier that Bioware Mythic would be doing an F2P title.

On Twitter, Broussard stated, “f2p is generally going to be a waste of time for uber pubs like EA. Chasing biz models vs letting game design thrive.”

“Well crap, investors expect us to embrace f2p. We have any old ip just sitting around? Ultima? C&C? Ship it!”, he said.

This could be Broussard complaining more about EA trying to milk it’s IPs over creating innovative games and pioneering game design. But as long as F2P gains traction, it’s a given that more and more publishers will hop aboard the train.