Report: Westwood Founder Castle Leaves EA To Head InstantAction

Media reports have suggested that Westwood founder and former Electronic Arts Los Angeles exec Lou Castle has left EALA to head up revamped free-to-play gaming portal InstantAction. InstantAction offers a number of both first and third-party created, complex 3D web browser games on its website, intended to be monetized via advertisements and microtransactions. The company also has stakes in both IP ownership and original game development, with the acquisition of the Starsiege IP, which includes the classic multiplayer game Starsiege: Tribes, from Activision. The site was acquired by media mogul Barry Diller's IAC in 2007, and game business site IndustryGamers is reporting that Castle is now head of the firm, which encompasses parent game engine firm and developer GarageGames. Castle was in charge of the EA Blueprint division at EALA until its closure late last year, taking the role from Neil Young upon his departure to found iPhone developer and publisher ngmoco. Castle was in an unspecified creative role at the studio, which produces the Command & Conquer series originally created at his Westwood studio. The IndustryGamers report also suggests that big changes are coming to the company, with the closure of its Eugene, Oregon headquarters and a move to new offices in Las Vegas, Nevada and Portland, Oregon in the future. InstantAction representatives, when contacted, could not formally comment about the report.