Watch Dogs lead leaves Ubisoft, joins EA

Watch Dogs' lead game designer Jamie Keen has left Ubisoft and joined EA, his online CV has revealed.

[Root]

Urgh...it's like Anakin Skywalker abandoning Obi Wan and joining the Sith Lord

[adorie]

The guy just lost his soul. I hope EA isn't poaching.

[BanBrother]

@Root

Don't be silly. Anakin would never do that. Obi would own him :-) :-) :-)

[Double_O_Revan]

You do not know the power of the dark side.....or how deep their wallets can really go.

[SilentNegotiator]

Anakin went on to complete his destiny, destroying the Sith Lord.

EA was a "hero" for a short stint in 2008 when they actually released new IPs, and they won't always be the bad guy. Things switch hands a lot in the video game world.

[rpd123]

Eh, I've never gone for that. Luke is definitely the hero.

[pompombrum]

Money talks, or at least I'm hoping that's the case otherwise it will reflect extremely poorly on Watch Dogs.

[Myx23]

ea is where the big money is. it is just a logical step for people to want to be where microtransactions will be in every game they will publish. do the math.

if you're thinking, developpers are there to provide a cool hobby for you - think again.

[first1NFANTRY]

Hmm...don't know what to make of this news.

It's never a good sign for a Lead Designer to leave during game development.

Still i hope Watch Dogs delivers. The industry needs more open world games.

[yaz288]

the game have been in development for 4 years now. it would be different if he had gone in that first year. I think the game maybe finished and its in a polishing phase right now.. also maybe they are working on the ps4 version.

[Grap]

i still don't get how people can just abandoned their hard work just for few money. cause i am 100% UBI are not greedy like EA.

[JonahNL]

Not greedy? The yearly releases of Assassin's Creed say otherwise.

[OpieWinston]

Assassin's Creed 4 began development in 2011.
AC3 & AC4 are being made by 2 different teams who worked on different AC games.

[fsfsxii]

@opiewinston
lol, people still believe publishers, AC3 was supposed to be in development for 3 years and yet its the glitchiest of the series, we'll see how AC4 goes, but i'm not expecting something huge after the 3X disappointment in all the AC games after AC2

[GamerElite]

See Splinter cell blacklisted. Add a bunch of shooting to attract COD audience

[REALgamer]

Grap - really? Have you attended their board meetings and worked in their studios? Do you have any idea what their day-to-day job is like, or are you just making your own assumptions?

I know people in both companies. I know someone who is worked to the bone in Ubisoft, and someone who loves their job at EA (at Maxis specifically).

Developers switch between studios very frequently. There are people at Bungie who worked at Naughty Dog and vice versa. There are people at Microsoft who worked at Sony and vice versa.

Labelling a company made up of thousands of individuals as being 'greedy' while being '100%' sure that another company made up of thousands of individuals is not is just childish and ignorant. You have no idea of the working conditions or management.

[falcon79]

WiiU day 1 for Watchdogs. it's the proper Nextgen version ie £10 more on Game.co.uk csnt wait,looking forward to LegoCity just as much.

[shivvy24]

day 1 PS4

[BlaqMagiq24]

It was probably a bigger paycheck calling him to come to EA but I think he should have waited till Watch Dogs released

[Kurt Russell]

Tbh, as a 3D artist (not game design based) if a rival company offered me to do my job for more money than where I am... I'd take it. Why be loyal to a company in todays world? They don't give a rats arse about you.

[rainslacker]

Particularly true since nowadays job security is non existent, especially in the computer industry. Many companies will drop employees just to get cheaper ones fresh out of college, as it's cheaper, even if they aren't as good.

[BlaqMagiq24]

You do have a point. In this economy you need the best paying job you can possibly get and despite's EA's err... "business decisions", if they got the bigger check then anyone would go there. I don't blame him.

[StrawberryDiesel420]

Kurt Russell speaks the truth

[sdozzo]

Too much hype for this game. How's it suppose to live up to expectations.

[t3gamenews]

noo i refuse to sign up for orgin just to play a game online on wii u. :(
should stay with ubisoft.

[Tyre]

I can't believe it! What is he doing? Watch Dogs was finished already or what? Plz don't kill this game.

[PR_FROM_OHIO]

He will regret that decision just like Insomniac just watch!

[shivvy24]

insomniac broke off their partnership with EA on Outernauts , im guessing they will completely break off after FUSE

[stuna1]

I thought they had a 10 year contract with EA?

[Intentions]

WHHHAAAT WHHHHHHY!?

[SAE]

What's wrong with him ! I love far cry 3 ! Watch dog looks amazing ! Why leave a company that create great games and go to a company to make need for speed game that only few care about it!!

I hope he doesnt effect the games development :(

[josephayal]

Smart Decision , Electronic Arts is still growing

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Not a good sign.

[cleverusername]

So EA are using a current gen engine on next gen consoles!

[Psychotica]

I work as a software developer(not games) and any company that wants to pay me significantly more will get my attention. I couldn't care less what I am currently working on.

[linkenski]

Ugh... anybody who've played either Crysis or Mass Effect would know what EA does to such franchises. Good games, but insultingly commercialised.

[falcon79]

Your right EA dont advertise,Ubisoft have already advertised AC4 on UK tv last night i seen it.

It says out Nov 1st.

[zoks310]

Heeee won't be employed long.

[headblackman]

ea games is going for global video game dominance. I can see it happening. I can also see something much greater happening also. all I'm gonna say is keep your eyes on Microsoft and don't blink ;-)

[stuna1]

I think people should hear him out! Microsoft have known to try to corner the market in certain instances, just look up all the lawsuits against them when they tried to corner the OS market! Sure they didn't completely corner the market, but it served it's purpose, because in the time it took the courts to rule against them they had already gained massive market shares.

Even now look at how they make up their contracts with developers, with clauses like: Games coming to their system have to be simultaneously released if their on other systems

Or games have to be on par with other systems, even if another system has the ability to have the better version! I'm not saying the cell didn't play a role in some earlier ports, but come on we're talking 7 years later, and for the most part all multiplatform are pretty much equal.

But compare exclusive titles and you'll notice how huge the differences are! Yet you'll have those who say it's a coincident, but wouldn't that mean that the Xbox should able to churn out titles on par with the PS3? After all who knows their systems better than the one made the systems?

This secret meeting that they are having IMO doesn't bode well for gamers in general! And although we'd like life to be a bed full of roses, in actuality the truth in the business world is more like a bed full of thorns.

I have a bad feeling about the relationship between EA & Microsoft! What if EA has found a way to intergrate their new found freedom for microtransactions into Microsoft Live and it becomes viable!? Gamer scores, Gamer tags all that made people what was Live now becomes intergrated into EA.

This is also a good clue to the Nextbox being backwards compatible, but also to the fact it will require a always on connection. Sure I could be wrong! God knows I hope I am, but I don't think I am.

[headblackman]

let's be 100% clear here. as for what the ps3 can do as apposed to the xnbox360? it can do anything the ps3 can do. its just that the ps3 in house game developers take a little more time with games design. but the xbox360 is more than capable of duplicating any graphical leap or standard that the ps3 can. alien wake, gears of war and halo 4 is the result of developers taking their time with the xbox360. now if they can do those type of games with the dvd9 disc limit, just imagine what's gonna happen with a much greater disc capacity. that's the only area the ps3 excelled in. not the CPU ram or GPU. the cell processor was a cunt hair stronger than the xenon ps3 had 7 cores.the xbox360 had 6 cores. no huge leap. plus the ps3's cell processor had to over compensate for its low memory which in turn made the xbox360 equal with the ps3 in that aspect. but the huge game changer and advantage for the Xbox came with its larger ram and better gpu. oh, and I forgot to mention its development ease of use, due to its simple development tools ;-) so there you have it. blue ray is what allowed bigger games. but most definitely not better :-/

[stuna1]

Just one question! If that is so why hasn't Microsoft the time to do so!? Is its fanbase not worth the extra commitment? Ok that's two questions!

Hell I've seen third party titles that have looked better on the 360 than Microsoft first party titles.

The response you gave is like you know Microsoft has been giving you sub par performance and you're ok with it!

The mind control is complete!!!!!

[lilbroRx]

At this point its almost like going to the same place.

[KontryBoy706]

Dead man walking! Should have stayed where u were

[Zgamer7]

Wtf is going on in the game industry today?!? First dead space now this? I hope watch dogs doenst lose its greatness..

[stragomccloud]

What the hell???

[Aztec_MC]

I think EA just wants to know how to actually, literally hack into our lives & jack into our Banks!!!

[lema008]

Not that I'm partial to EA, but a nice coup neverless.
EA must of liked what Jamie was doing with the driving in Fry Cry 3.

[MegaLagann]

One of my most anticipated games this year. Well i'm worried now...

[Glitchysugar]

TRAITOR!!!!

[CouldHaveYelledUiiW]

LOL

"Funny"

[rick4691]

Lol at everyone freaking out..Maybe he just wasn't happy at Ubi. God forbid the guy's doing what he thinks is best for him...The are probably ALOT of details we don't know about.

[MuhammadJA]

It looks like EA promised him micro-transaction elements in his game.

[lema008]

@Glitchysugar
:)It's a case of 'Follow the money"
What a lot of people probably don't know is that Jamie Kleen has worked for EA before.

[DarkBlood]

now wheres darth vader when we need him lol

[Relientk77]

Why would you do that?

Ubisoft is like 10x better than EA

[Kingthrash360]

Oh no EA means micro transactions......wanna hack a phone in the game 1.99 per hack. .....

[cervantes99]

I's sure E3 will reveal more, but what is this game about? It seems all we have been shown is a guy walking around a city. There was a chase and some hacking, but what is the purpose of this.

I guess E3 will explain more - I hope. I'm just not sure why I should be hyped for this.

[zeldafreak404]

bad news for wii u =(

[illustratedDEO]

prepare for a shit storm of micro-transaction's lmao

[1nsomniac]

Aww man, this doesn't look good for the game.

If he's willing to jump ship without reaping the rewards of what's expected to be phenomenal sales figures for Watch Dogs, it doesn't look good, I'm seeing bad preview/review scores.

It's made me question my PS4 £50 pre-order...

[Dead_Cell]

S'just a staff poach from another company, it amazes me how most people here thinks its decided by what one game looks like.

[just-joe]

Talk about a downgrade.

[jay2]

erm....right fine leave the game that might turn onto a series to rival gta you smart cookie....

[urwifeminder]

Game looks like ass to me hacky sack phone shit hope he can come up with something better.

[abdooltk]

guys take a look in this video and will be change your mind

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Recommend strongly view it

[madduey]

Dude wtf has a Tombraider vs Uncharted vid got to do with Watchdogs??

[HalfNerdHalfAmazing]

Is like EA wanna take over the world

[aLiEnViSiToR]

Its very strange for him to leave at this point in time... there is more here them meats the eye.

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

...? The title is VERY inaccurate.

[shroomguy22]

Lol i like how people compare the worst looking ps4 game to a pc... i wanna see a pc pull off deep down.

[FlyingFoxy]

PC can pull off anything a console can do the only difference is PC will always have better performance, where do you think games are made before being put on consoles?

[ufo8mycat]

It's a waste of time comparing. PC is upgradable, of course its going to have better hardware and will look better.

But it isn't the looks that are important, its the gameplay, and this is were the consoles outshine PC tenfold.

[0pie]

ubisoft is a shity company... like EA.