EA Cancels Tiberium, Cites Quality Issues

Citing ongoing quality problems, Electronic Arts has terminated its in-progress FPS set in the Command & Conquer universe, Tiberium, which had been in development at EA Los Angeles. "The game was not on track to meet the high quality standards set by the team and by the EA Games Label," says EA spokesperson Mariam Sughayer in an official statement to Gamasutra, commenting that "...there were fundamental problems with the design of the game that the team struggled to correct." She added: "A lower quality game is not in the best interest of the consumers and would not succeed in this market." When EA Games boss Frank Gibeau recently spoke to Gamasutra about EALA, he told us a strategy was in place to address the studio's past quality issues, and specifically mentioned "evaluating" Tiberium, along with the Medal of Honor brand. EALA is also developing Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 and the titles resulting from the publisher's deal with Steven Spielberg, and has just signed a deal with 300 director Zack Snyder. The company says that further delaying Tiberium to resolve its issues was not an option, as it had already delayed the title out to fiscal year 2010. The company also declined to specify the financial investment in the game and says it has no plans to do so.