EA cancels Command & Conquer, closes development studio

Electronic Arts has canceled its in-development free-to-play Command & Conquer game, according to a statement posted to the game's official website today, and disbanded the development team at Los Angeles-based Victory Games.

"The team at Victory Games will be disbanded," an Electronic Arts spokesperson confirmed to Polygon. "Wherever possible, we are working to help these talented people find other opportunities within EA."

The full statement on the game's cancellation, titled "A new future for Command & Conquer" and attributed to the studio, is as follows.

Generals,

Thank you for your participation over the last few months in the Command & Conquer closed alpha test. It's been much appreciated, and you've been instrumental in helping define what a new Command & Conquer experience should and shouldn't be.

Part of being in a creative team is the understanding that not all of your choices are going to work out. In this case, we shifted the game away from campaign mode and built an economy-based, multiplayer experience. Your feedback from the alpha trial is clear: We are not making the game you want to play. That is why, after much difficult deliberation, we have decided to cease production of this version of the game. Although we deeply respect the great work done by our talented team, ultimately it's about getting you the game you expect and deserve.

Over the next 10 days we will be refunding any and all money spent in the alpha. If you have a question about your refund, please contact help.ea.com.

We believe that Command & Conquer is a powerful franchise with huge potential and a great history, and we are determined to get the best game made as soon as possible. To that end, we have already begun looking at a number of alternatives to get the game back on track. We look forward to sharing more news about the franchise as it develops. Thank you again for your participation and support.

- Victory Studios

The game, simply titled Command & Conquer, was originally announced at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards as Command & Conquer Generals 2. It was later rebranded as a free-to-play, multiplayer-focused real-time strategy game and positioned as a service that would add episodic content, new factions and a single-player campaign.

Command & Conquer was powered by DICE's Frostbite engine and built around an economy model that relied on in-game credits and real-money purchases. We played the game earlier this year, which later went into alpha test and recently made an appearance at Gamescom. It was slated for release in 2014.