Westwood Studios

Westwood Studios
Industry Video games
Fate Acquired by Electronic Arts in 1998, closed in 2003
Successor EA Los Angeles, Petroglyph Games and Jet Set Games
Founded 1985
Defunct January 29, 2003
Headquarters Las Vegas, Nevada
Key people
Products
Website www.westwood.com (archived homepage on 2000-03-04)

Westwood Studios was an American video game developer, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in 1985[1] as Westwood Associates and was renamed Westwood Studios when it merged with Virgin Interactive in 1992. The company was bought from Virgin Interactive by Electronic Arts (EA) in 1998, and closed by EA in 2003.[2]

Westwood is best known for developing real-time strategy, adventure and role-playing genres. It was listed in Guinness World Records for selling more than 10 million copies of Command & Conquer worldwide. The last former Westwood employee quit working for Electronic Arts after the release of Command & Conquer: Generals in 2003.

Early history

Brett Sperry and Louis Castle founded Westwood Studios in 1985.[3]

The company's first projects consisted of contract work for companies like Epyx and Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI), porting 8-bit titles to 16-bit systems like Commodore Amiga and Atari ST. Proceeds from contract work allowed the company to expand into designing its own games in-house. Their first original title was Mars Saga, a game developed for Electronic Arts and released in 1988. They laid the foundations for the real-time strategy genre with the release of real-time tactics game BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge, one of the more literal translations of the classic tabletop game BattleTech.

Later success and acquisition by Virgin Interactive

One of the company's first great successes was Eye of the Beholder (1990), a real-time role-playing video game based on the Dungeons & Dragons license, developed for SSI. Other publishers of early Westwood games included Infocom and Disney. Their company was eventually acquired by Virgin Interactive in 1992.[4]

The company in the late 1980s was known for shipping products late, but by 1993 it had so improved that, Computer Gaming World reported, "many publishers would assure [us] that a project was going to be completed on time because Westwood was doing it". The magazine added that it "not only has a solid reputation for getting product out on time, but a reputation for good product", citing Eye of the Beholder, The Legend of Kyrandia, and Dune II as examples. By then Westwood had about 50 employees, including up to 20 artists.[3] Other well-known Westwood titles from the early 1990s include Lands of Lore and Westwood's greatest commercial success, the 1995 real-time strategy game Command & Conquer. Building on the gameplay and interface ideas of Dune II, it added pre-rendered 3D graphics for gameplay sprites and video cinematics, an alternative pop/rock soundtrack with techno elements streamed from disk, and modem play. Command & Conquer, Kyrandia, and Lands of Lore all spawned multiple sequels.

Acquisition by EA and liquidation

In August 1998, Westwood was acquired by Electronic Arts for $122.5 million in cash. At the time, Westwood had 5% to 6% of the PC game market.[1][5] In response to EA's buyout, many long-time Westwood employees quit and left Westwood Studios. Because of this and EA's newly imposed demands, games being developed by Westwood Studios at the time were rushed and left unfinished upon their release, namely Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun.[6] All the subsequent games developed by Westwood were also heavily subjected to increased control by Electronic Arts, with some of them being canceled.[7]

Along with Westwood, EA had also acquired Virgin Interactive's development studio based in Irvine, California.[1] It was managed by Westwood and became known as Westwood Pacific, and later EA Pacific. Westwood Pacific developed or co-developed games like Nox and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, which takes place in an alternate universe to that of the original title Command & Conquer. One of the last games released by Westwood, Command & Conquer: Renegade (an action game, which mixed elements from first-person shooters and real-time strategy games) failed to meet consumer expectations and commercial goals Electronic Arts had set for it. In March 2003, Westwood Studios (along with EA Pacific) was liquidated by EA, and all willing staff were assimilated into EA Los Angeles. Their last video game was Earth & Beyond, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). The last Westwood employee quit after the release of Command & Conquer: Renegade.[8]

At the time of its liquidation, Westwood employed a third of the original Westwood Studios personnel, some of whom formed Petroglyph Games in April 2003. Another three (Brett Sperry, Adam Isgreen and Rade Stojsavljevic) formed a development studio called Jet Set Games in 2008, both based in Las Vegas, Nevada.[9]

Games

The following is a list of games produced by Westwood:[10][11]

Software formats

Vector Quantized Animation, known by its acronym .VQA, is a file format originally developed by Westwood for video encoding in their games, The Legend of Kyrandia and Monopoly. The VQA format was used in every Westwood game released between 1995 and 2000. All data are in little endian. Audio in VQA files are in the .AUD file format.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Electronic Arts buys Westwood Studios". CNNMoney.com. 1998-08-17.
  2. ↑ A brief history of Westwood Studios at MobyGames
  3. 1 2 "Westwood Studios Partnership Hits Jackpot". Computer Gaming World. 1 August 1993. p. 32. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  4. ↑ "Former Westwood Developer Talks About Electronic Arts, EA’s Acquisition & Westwood’s Unnamed Project". DSOG Gaming. 27 July 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  5. ↑ Parker, James, EA consolidates studios, closes Westwood, GameSpot, January 29, 2003
  6. ↑ Adam Isgreen (2007-03-19). "Ask Petroglyph!". Petroglyph.
  7. ↑ Robinson, Andy, EA: 'We blew it with Bullfrog, Westwood', January 29, 2003, Computer and Video Games
  8. ↑ "How are the former Westwood Studios employees doing?". C&C Revealed. Wordpress. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  9. ↑ "Westwood Games co-founder launches Jet Set Games". Big Download. 2 February 2009. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  10. ↑ "Westwood Studios Games List". G4TV. Westwood. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  11. ↑ "Westwood Studios Games". IGN. IGN. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  12. ↑ "A Nightmare on Elm Street". MobyGames. Blue Flame Labs. Retrieved 12 June 2015.

External links

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