New Command and Conquer Dead

UPDATE [10-31-13]: It turns out we were being a bit overly optimistic with our presumptions that they would continue producing the game in some fashion as it turns out EA has completely shut down and laid off all Victory Games employees! :-(

EA_CIRE, the Community Manager for the past 3 years decied to post his farewell here which goes into a little more detail as to why the game was cancelled.

Well,

where to start - I am actually very sad to see my favorite franchise being put to rest, especially that sudden and a game close to launching. Did we do everything right - Hell no! But we were a talented team that made a lot out of what we had. But with your help and those die-hard gamers within the studio, we were trying to influence and challenge more and more of those "given" mechanics - the status quo - to make a game that could wear the C&C badge with pride. The game wasn't there yet and it would have taken a few more month to get the basics to where they needed to be. Our future roadmap looked also much more promising - Crushing would have been added with the patch this monday together with the first part of our movement/pathfinding overhaul and we had announced Campaign Missions at GamesCom :(

But well, EA decided that they don't want to continue the project and there are many sides to the story of why exactly they decided to do so. I will not go into the details because i don't know all the pieces and the ones i know are not necessarily meant to be discussed on a public forum.

As most of you know, the whole team has been let go, including long-term C&C Veterans. Unfortunately i don't know what will happen to Command & Conquer. While i hope that the franchise will finally get a worthy new installment to positively overshadow C&C4 and the cancellation of this attempt, i don't think that it will happen any time soon.

I would like to thank our voluntary Moderator team, aka "Apoc's Army", as they busted their butts days and nights to keep this place a happy place. Even though they were a little bit hard on me sometimes when it came down to feedback - I will always remember the day when i told them that Generals 2 has been canceled and we are going to move to F2P - but they always showed the passion i so much love about this community. We have seen so many negatives in the last 10 years, but fans around the world came together and made fantastic maps, mods, videos, contests, art, tournaments and fansites. There is so much potential in this community and it makes me even more sad to think about what we could have been able to achieve if a new and good Command & Conquer game would have made it to the release line. Bottom line is THANK YOU for being a great Community (outside of the typical trolls you find everywhere in modern days).

You are dismissed, Commander/General!

Sincerly,

Eric

Further evidence shows that EA must have really been seeing the dollar signs in wanting to charge users for both XP and CP to help one gain experience and units faster, hello pay 2 win! Judging by this screen shot, they not only gave the player the option for that but also the ability to pay to select your map and even select your faction color!!!!



Breaking news has just come out from EA that the new Command & Conquer game (aka, Generals 2) has ceased production and will not debut. At least the current version of the game that is. Here's what the press release:
 

Generals,

Thank you for your participation over the last few months in the Command & Conquer closed alpha test. It's been much appreciated, and you've been instrumental in helping define what a new Command & Conquer experience should and shouldnt be.

Part of being in a creative team is the understanding that not all of your choices are going to work out. In this case, we shifted the game away from campaign mode and built an economy-based, multiplayer experience. Your feedback from the alpha trial is clear: We are not making the game you want to play. That is why, after much difficult deliberation, we have decided to cease production of this version of the game. Although we deeply respect the great work done by our talented team, ultimately its about getting you the game you expect and deserve.

Over the next 10 days we will be refunding any and all money spent in the alpha. If you have a question about your refund, please contact help.ea.com.

We believe that Command & Conquer is a powerful franchise with huge potential and a great history, and we are determined to get the best game made as soon as possible. To that end, we have already begun looking at a number of alternatives to get the game back on track. We look forward to sharing more news about the franchise as it develops. Thank you again for your participation and support.

- Victory Studios

This is sad news indeed! Word had spread around that the C&C Alpha was not very good at all with things like a badly built economy, frustrating game mechanics and even an Ion cannon that can't be moved! The game was also taking a very bad turn in becoming more Pay 2 Win than F2P. :-(

But from what we can tell, there is still hope that the game will continue but from the ground up. What does this mean? It could be anything from reworking the game mechanics, factions and even graphics to hopefully and actually the most likely outcome of removing the Play 4 Free component and returning it to a retail copy you can buy for a set price.

The significant down side here is that if they reboot the game then they're throwing away at least a year or more of work which adds more wait time to the calendar in when it will debut. So if we're lucky, we might see a 2016 launch?