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Slightly Mad Studios is the company behind some truly amazing racing titles in the video game industry, including Need For Speed: Shift. The CEO of the studio Ian Bell recently had a candid conversation with YouTuber SpotTheOzzie. To say that Bell expressed himself freely during the live stream interview would be a massive understatement as he basically accused Electronic Arts of trying to destroy his studio.
For some context, Slightly Mad Studios previously worked under EA while developing the Shift series and this resulted in two well-received racing games. Shortly before the development of the third game, however, it would seem that the controversial publisher decided to cancel the project. On top of putting the studio in dire financial situation, Bell also revealed that EA tried to poach his team and steal their technology. He even called EA “corporate monsters.”
“They sent emails to three, four, five of our key people. And two of which actually left, because we were in trouble. We had nothing left. We were done. They literally destroyed our company, they tried to kill us, they tried to steal our technology as well," Bell said.
The developer spoke further about EA’s supposed antics, recalling that the publisher had tried to claim his technology as their own, Kotaku Australia reports. Apparently, Bell was crafty enough to pull off some maneuvers, which resulted in him keeping his tech.
Eventually, the studio managed to pull itself together and as the upcoming Project Cars 2 suggests, it is doing just fine. On the other hand, this revelation will serve to confirm the opinion that many in the video game industry already have of EA.
The publisher is considered, by and large, to be one of the most predatory entities in the market, with the habit of buying out small, promising developers and destroying them. The most recent victim includes BioWare, which gamers previously considered a champion. Now, many see the studio as a shell of its former self.
