7 Deadly Video Game Sins - Gluttony
3. Bigger Publishers Absorbing Smaller Teams
When it comes to being absolute gluttons, you need only look above your head to the giant salivating jaws of companies like EA and Activision, which constantly rake the globe looking not only for your cash at every given turn, but any new source of originality to swallow whole and absorb into the greater mass of the company.
EA especially loved this practice back in the day, buying out smaller dev teams, which acted as a twofold win for them. Firstly they squashed any competition by literally adding it to their ranks, and secondly they could then strip out the parts, and then close the studios in question down while keeping all their IPs.
Origin Studios, Maxis, Bullfrog Productions, Westwood Studios, Black Box Games, PlayFish and Visceral Games: all were gobbled up and spat out by EA once they had got their fill. It's a clear case of digesting and regurgitating other developers' work with the EA logo slapped all about the place, and in their move to consolidate the market, it's hard not to feel sick to your stomach when you see once proud developers putting out titles with the hallmarks of microtransactions and surprise mechanics that EA is now so infamous for.