10 Video Game Studios Killed By Electronic Arts
9. Westwood Studios (1985 - 2003)
Westwood Studios, founded 1985, was at one point in time the big daddy of PC gaming. Known for establishing and popularising the Command and Conquer series, when Westwood was purchased by EA in 1998 they supposedly had a "five to six percent" share of the PC gaming market as a whole.
Not even that could spare them the hangman's noose however, as in 2003 the studio was liquidated and it's hundred-strong staff members were either relocated or let go. So how did a studio go from controlling 1/20th of the entire PC gaming market to being shut down five years later?
Following the lukewarm reception, both critically and financially, of Command and Conquer: Renegade - the first and last Command and Conquer FPS - Westwood finally released Earth & Beyond in 2002.
Released just after the awful performance of several EA-produced MMOs, such as Sims Online and Motor City Online, the title barely managed to sell over 50,000 units in its first year.
This eventually caused Westwood's demise in 2003, but led to the formation of Petroglyph Games the same year - the same studio that developed Star Wars: Empire at War.