EA Lays Off Creator of Plants VS Zombies the DAY AFTER Announcing PvZ:2 - Polidicks

[quote]You may not know George Fan by name, but I guarantee you know his work. His is the brain behind Plants vs. Zombies, one of the most wildly successful "casual" games of all time, a tower defense title that began life in 2009 as a fairly typical PopCap PC release and is now available on pretty much every platform known to man. Sunflowers and zombies have become PopCap's most instantly recognizable flagship characters, and after releasing no less than three separate retail collector's editions, the studio finally announced on Monday that a sequel is in development. Sadly, and kind of amazingly, the man who got the ball rolling won't be around to help with the follow-up. PopCap confirmed yesterday that it was in the process of laying off approximately 50 employees, and while it didn't name names at the time, included among them is Senior Game Designer and Plants vs. Zombies creator George Fan. Any layoffs are regrettable, but cutting Fan from the lineup is particularly inexplicable. As Susan Arendt noted in a 2009 interview, Plants vs. Zombies was his baby from start to finish. And he was hardly a one-hit wonder, having also designed the 2002 PopCap hit Insaniquarium, which actually helped inspire Plants vs. Zombies. The timing is ugly, coming on the heels of the Plants vs. Zombies 2 announcement as it does, and the specter of EA, which acquired PopCap a little over a year ago for $750 million, also looms large. PopCap claimed that EA had nothing to do with the layoffs and that without its financial support the cuts may have been even deeper, but that still leaves a couple of pretty big questions unanswered. Why George? And why now? Business is business, but this just does not look good.[/quote] [url]http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119212-PopCap-Lays-Off-Plants-vs-Zombies-Creator[/url] I hope your stocks keep falling faster than a lead anvil, EA.

Stay classy EA

EA and ubisoft will hopefully be down in the next 5 years, both companies are fucking ridiculous.

Slowly but surely, EA destroying what they consume as usual. Poor PopCap.

EA being EA as usual.

"Popcap claimed EA had nothing to do with this"

[QUOTE=ROFLBURGER;37362059]"Popcap claimed EA had nothing to do with this"[/QUOTE] Said EA.

Fuck you EA, such a shitty publisher.

Just in: Plants vs zombies 2 will be a gimmick game overshaded by the first and ridden with game breaking dlcs.

Plants vs zombies was fucking awesome. Seriously EA keep on doing this so you finally die.

[QUOTE=lapsus_;37362082]Just in: Plants vs zombies 2 will be a gimmick game overshaded by the first and ridden with game breaking dlcs.[/QUOTE] "Nuke plant, For only 9.99! [B]BUY! BUY! BUY![/B]"

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T_LT8-uuX4[/media] Keep going EA.

Ho ho will those bumbling ninnies ever do anything right

The article says EA had nothing to do with it and it was PopCap's decision. Misleading title and even the source says PopCap not EA in the title.

I see plants vs zombies 2 including guns, bonus powerups for stuff, and more random stuff.

Now Hoodoo looks even MORE stupid from what he posted about this in the news node: [url]http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1206938[/url]

I honestly love how the EA hate bandwagon in this thread is being driven by a blind driver. [editline]as[/editline] Don't get me wrong, I dislike EA's recent business decisions, but when something bad happens and EA is involved you people automatically assume EA did it.

[QUOTE=Morgen;37362165]The article says EA had nothing to do with it and it was PopCap's decision. Misleading title and even the source says PopCap not EA in the title.[/QUOTE] Look, we are talking about EA. You know in the end is EA and not PopCap.

Total asshats

[QUOTE=MitchvW;37362011]EA and ubisoft will hopefully be down in the next 5 years, both companies are fucking ridiculous.[/QUOTE] with Ubisoft it's the publishers not the devs

I'm sad.. I loved Plants vs Zombies so much and I wanted a sequel badly. Surely it'll be worked on still?

[QUOTE=ROFLBURGER;37362212]I honestly love how the EA hate bandwagon in this thread is being driven by a blind driver. [editline]as[/editline] Don't get me wrong, I dislike EA's recent business decisions, but when something bad happens and EA is involved you people automatically assume EA did it.[/QUOTE] All fingers point to EA, why would Popcap layoff someone who had brought in so much money for them? The Dev would be working his ass off and wished to keep the game original, he obviously voiced his opinion on the game being changed into a multiplayer shootem-up what Plants vs Zombies 2 has been going towards. Popcap would wish to keep someone, EA has shown that it's brutal and does massive layoffs to people.

I want those cunts out of business.

[QUOTE=ROFLBURGER;37362212]I honestly love how the EA hate bandwagon in this thread is being driven by a blind driver. [editline]as[/editline] Don't get me wrong, I dislike EA's recent business decisions, but when something bad happens and EA is involved you people automatically assume EA did it.[/QUOTE] Except EA owns PopCap and can tell them to do whatever they want, wether it be forcing DRM or DLC, hiring and firing employees, or making comments to the press.

I seriously wonder what happened to EA. Time was that seeing a game published by them made you think "Oh boy, this is gonna be good".

[QUOTE=Hatley;37362697]I seriously wonder what happened to EA. Time was that seeing a game published by them made you think "Oh boy, this is gonna be good".[/QUOTE] I guess some idiot got somewhere high on the business food chain and ran shit into the ground.

[video=youtube;e-LE0ycgkBQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-LE0ycgkBQ[/video] I'll just leave this here

[QUOTE=Ryukrawr?;37362765] I'll just leave this here[/QUOTE] Hey, thanks- I haven't seen that in minutes!

Well that's pretty bullshit. This guy is directly responsible for two of my favorite three PopCap titles. (Those two being the biggest reason I actually know PopCap's name too.)

NEED MORE SPORTS SIMS! tried to think of 4 words to form a reason for em, sadly i COULD come up with something. 50$ says all 50 of the guys fired had NOTHING to do with any of EA's sports game productions and were involved with BETTER games.