Now we can put more blame on Respawn!

@apostolateofDOOM it's actually funny to read that, because since day 1 Respawn has stated that EA has pretty much left the entirety of Apex alone and allows Respawn to do whatever it is they want. They've said it time and time again, "Hey! We're in charge of everything! EA hasn't done anything!" Whether or not this is true is beyond me but then you'll still get Respawn fanboys who are like, "Yeah! Anything bad about Apex is EA's fault! Servers? EA. Pricing? EA. SBMM? EA! Respawn has done nothing wrong!" 

It's kind of like someone pleading guilty in a murder case but the judge is like, "Nah fam you're innocent. Go home."

@apostolateofDOOMUmmm the overall directive of all companies still comes from the top so 🤷‍♂️

If anything this is a copout from their management basically telling customers to attack the people actually working on the product that care.

I've been in that position before and it sucks. You know what is needed but the company will not do what they need to do but give lip service to customers.

@hayhor Well you know how it is with people at the top. It's the Titanic all over again, they get the boats, everybody else swims. Give you five dollars it's just a PR stunt cause they've been in hot water for a while for killing off studios, so they're just trying to scrub their hands free and pretend like they didn't do anything at all. 

My heart goes out to the Anthem fans, that game looked like it had a lot of potential, and now it seems like a guttered project. 

@hayhor I think Respawn gets a lot of deserved hate, but I have no doubt that EA is controlling certain aspects from the shadows. Slow development and poor direction? Totally Respawn. Crappy servers and predatory pricing? Could be Respawn, could be EA. But it especially doesn't make sense to me that something as financially successful as Apex would just be left to dry in the sun and stifled by the people at the top. 

Then again, the Atlantis Disney movie was an extremely well received piece of art (though I don't believe it was as financially successful) and the higher ups at Disney kicked the production team in the junk any moment they could. 

@pastaclown I remember around launch or not long after there was some event i watched how Apex had all these positives, like you said creative freedom, clear first year roadmap, building with their community, not pulling staff for other projects and all kinds of things that would be good for the future and long term.

Then IC happened.

My daughter loves Atlantis.. I've seen it like 9855999959587995 times now. xD

@hayhor I fully expect it's in name only and not much will change. I also think when it comes to some of the bigger glaring issues, Respawns hands aren't exactly clean.

@DoYaSeeMe That's the other thread. Genuinely. Pitchforks are out here though! 

👿

@apostolateofDOOM Treasure Planet and Atlantis are my two most favorite Disney films. Genuinely, I can't recall watching any other Disney films. 

@pastaclownI don't think we should make anything out of the mentioned statements until they are way more transparent, claims they put the "future of its games in the studios hands" are simply vague.

To what extend?
On what budgets?
Who are the ones at EA deciding the limits of their freedom?

For all i know this could simply be EA scapegoating their own studios or the studios trying to help the image of EA.

At the end of the day i can tell you this, EA won't let Respawn take any risks that may impact their bottom line regardless how much they say the future of their franchises is in their hands. Some good semi regular examples are their botched season launches where you need to hope you are among the few who can even get past the title screen just to see some buggy messes and advertised exploits being used everywhere because dead lines are to tight and they got shareholders to please.