Third-party video game giant EA - known for blockbuster AAA series such as Battlefield, Need for Speed and the Mass Effect series - has bolstered its sports line-up, with the acquisition of the Canada-based developer Metalhead Software.
This is the same studio behind the Super Mega Baseball series - including the third entry which arrived on the Nintendo Switch last May. EA Sports and Metalhead will be teaming up to grow the series as well as develop brand new gaming and sports experiences for players worldwide.
Here's what Metalhead Software co-founder, Scott Drader, had to say about the acquisition:
“Our team has worked hard over the years to refine a formula that uniquely mixes an arcade style with deep on-field gameplay and innovative co-operative and competitive multiplayer experiences. In this next chapter, we’re excited to leverage EA’s power and reach to bring our titles to a broader audience and to take some ambitious next steps in the development of our future titles.”
EA Sports' EVP and GM, Cam Weber, provided the following statement:
“We’re all players of Super Mega Baseball, and we’ve long admired the work of the Metalhead team. It’s a unique and beloved franchise among sports gamers - the balance and depth of gameplay, and the unique style of the content, makes it super fun to play with friends. We look forward to supporting and investing in the team so they can continue to build out more amazing games that delight sports fans around the world, EA SPORTS continues to expand, and we’re deeply excited to create more unique and interactive experiences that blur the lines between sports and entertainment.”
This latest acquisition follows on from EA's purchase of Codemasters (the creator of titles such as Formula 1, DIRT, Project CARS and GRID) in February.
Are you a fan of the Super Mega Baseball series? Looking forward to Metalhead's future with EA? Leave a comment below.
[source news.ea.com]
Comments 37
(Sigh) I'll get the shovel...
I don't like sounding bad, or being a party popper, but from so many experiences we've seen about EA buying other developers, it only remains to say:
How long to live do you give Metalhead software?
Aaaaand there's another company on death watch, and I don't mean MadWorld.
...
Oh, there's an idea, Sega, port MadWorld to Switch!
Awful, awful, awful. I've played a ton of Super Mega Baseball 2 and 3 on my Nintendo Switch. They're great. Now we can expect Super Mega Baseball 4 to be a grindy microtransaction fest that won't come to Switch, ahead of the inevitable closure of Metalhead in about three years.
I at least understand why this studio that will now inevitably be closed within the next decade or so because they chose to go with EA. It's not like Respawn where they would've obviously done fine on their own or Ninja Theory that spent an entire year bragging about the importance of higher budget independent games before being bought by Microsoft. In the short term, this probably seems like the best idea.
This is my "acknowledging how low the bar is" of the day.
This is super disappointing. These big companies keep buying up developers. And the games worse than ever before.
I'm happy Metalhead will get some financial compensation but creative freedom is likely gone.
Oh, for the love of...
Why?
Goodbye my lover... goodbye my friend.
Rip Metalhead
Not a fan of this transaction... Love SMB. I just don't see how EA doesn't ***** it up.
Here comes another sports casino.
I think we might already be too late. But I think we need governments to start passing stricter anti-monoploy laws and to start breaking up major tech companies. Companies like EA, Disney, Fox, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and so on.
Some of them I like and some I dislike but that's beside the point. It's really bad for us regular people when corporations keep getting bigger and bigger. These monstrously huge companies get so big that, baring some major historic screw up, they can do whatever they want. And they can do it because they have so much wealth and so many resources that it doesn't matter even if they piss off thousands or even tens of thousands of customers because they still have hundreds of thousands or millions who are okay with it or at least apathetic.
And don't even get me started on the way they can gobble up smaller competition, changing them. Or the way they use their wealth and resources to corrupt and influence government officials through legal bribery.
And another game that will never come to switch after the current one
Sad to see. RIP.
Time to remove Super Mega Baseball 3 from my Switch wish list like I did with GRID I guess.
I give them four and a half years.
Well i guess metalhead employees should get their resumes ready....
@Heavyarms55 : I'm not sure why the United States government has done almost nothing with these big companies. Under the Trump administration, little was done. Under Biden, same thing. Congress, with all Republicans and Democrats are totally useless. It's a situation like the railroads in the early 20th century. I don't need these companies telling me what I can like or dislike. It's become a situation of these companies controlling what the populace thinks. This EA thing is just an additional brick being laid.
This and Codemasters. Buying up the good games and turning them into crap.
@Heavyarms55 More post like this. If people don't realize that politics plays a role in the video game industry, they aren't getting the full picture. That fact that Apple, Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft each charge 30% show that competition doesn't matter. (Why isn't one of them charging 24% of 19% to lure developers?) Gamers are getting ripped off from all the greed thru higher prices, micro-transactions, and casino-fication.
There goes my beloved Super Mega Baseball series. Screw EA
@Cyberbotv2 It's no great mystery why. Almost every single major US Politician takes legalized bribe money from major corporate interests. That bribe money also known as "campaign contributions" and they get it in such large amounts that almost no established politician in both parties would dare to seriously oppose them. Not for fear of losing the money they need to run in the next elections. I think most people aren't aware of just how bad it is. Truth be told the entire US government is dominated by big corporate interests.
There's a small minority of leaders who refuse that bribery. But then it's always funny how suddenly both parties hate them.
Anyway I am rambling. The short version is Most US politicians do nothing on this issue because it's in their own personal financial interest to NOT do this.
@PBandSmelly LMAO you ain’t lyin. This diamond in the rough quality indie sports title is about to get buried.
Well, it was fun while it lasted. RIP.
R.I.P. MetalHead studios.
How dare you, EA?
"EA bought him" Me telling my kids the dog died.
So we had one sport, were EA weren't doing a bland version of, and we had actually a quirky developer being in the lead in 2 of 3 platforms... and then in a short time MLB21 goes to game pass and this.. pfff
This is terrible news - the Super Mega Baseball games are fantastic. Built with so much love and fun! Its just a great baseball game that you pay once for and then you can play again and again.
There is a less than 0% chance that EA will make this game series any better - it's like it has been killed stone dead.
Uh oh! Looks like the scumbags over at EA are about to ruin another franchise!
I can see the eShop page now:
Would you like to buy this game?
Yes-$50
No-$55
As a game dev, I share my sincerest condolences with the team members at Metalhead. While the boss(es) will be overjoyed with a fat wad of cash and thoughts of early retirement... giving speeches to the team about how this acquisition is "to the benefit of all"... the developers will know that this marks the beginning of the end, and that now is the time they must begin sprucing up their portfolios for re-entry to the jobs market. Metalhead was a great studio.
Oh no another studio falls into EA's trap.
I do feel bad for the employees, having to work under EA, and sooner than later find a new job. I hope they last alright.
Oh there goes another one. I've posted this before but it perfectly puts it all in the best perspective. A little outdated but the point is still the same
EA Executes Order 66
http://youtu.be/Qi6yCJklTvo
This is terrible news. EA sucks, we all know it. Super mega baseball is the best baseball game I’ve played in a long time. Has its own charm. EA will find a way to ruin it……
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