Westwood Studios
Westwood Studios (1985-2003) was a computer and video games developer, founded in 1985 as Westwood Associates by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle and based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was most notable for being the original creator of the real-time strategy genre of computer games.
The company's first projects consisted of contract work for companies like Epyx and Strategic Simulations (SSI), porting 8-bit titles to 16-bit systems like Commodore Amiga and Atari ST. Proceeds from contract work allowed the company to expand into designing its own games in-house. Their first original title was Mars Saga, a game developed for Electronic Arts and released in 1988. One of the company's first greater successes was Eye of the Beholder (1990), a real-time computer role-playing game based on the Dungeons & Dragons license, developed for SSI. Other publishers of early Westwood games included Infocom and Disney.
In 1992, the company was renamed Westwood Studios and sold to Virgin Interactive. Well-known Westwood titles from this period include Dune II, the adventure game The Legend of Kyrandia and the role-playing game Lands of Lore. Westwood's greatest commercial success came in 1995, with the release of real-time strategy game Command & Conquer. Building on the gameplay and interface ideas of Dune II, it added pre-rendered 3D graphics for gameplay sprites and video cinematics, a techno soundtrack streamed from disk, and modem play. Command & Conquer, Kyrandia, and Lands of Lore all spawned multiple sequels.
In 1998, Westwood was acquired by Electronic Arts (EA). In response to what was perceived as an unwillingness to maintain the Westwood brand and independence from EA, many long-time employees quit over the next few years.
Along with Westwood, EA had also acquired a development studio in Irvine, California. It was managed by Westwood and became known as Westwood Pacific (later EA Pacific). Westwood Pacific developed or co-developed games like Nox and the Command & Conquer sequel Red Alert 2.
One of the last games released by Westwood, Command & Conquer: Renegade (an action game which mixed elements from first-person shooters and real-time strategy games) failed to meet consumer expectations and commercial goals Westwood and EA had set for it. In March of 2003, Westwood Studios (along with EA Pacific) was closed by EA and all willing staff were absorbed into EA Los Angeles. At the time of its closure, Westwood employed more than 100 people. Their last games were the MMORPG Earth & Beyond and the RTS Command & Conquer: Generals (from Westwood Pacific).
Some time after the closing of Westwood Studios, a new game studio, Petroglyph, was formed consisting mainly of former Westwood employees.
External links
- Official homepage of Electronic Arts
- Westwood's FTP which still are active Game updates and such are available here
- Offical Westwood Website now renamed to Cnc: The First Decade
- Moby Games Rap Sheet on Westwood Studios
- A brief history of Westwood Studios from MobyGames
- story of closing
- EALA
- louis castle, VP EALA
- FED2k (Since WW's site was closed, the onus for support of the Dune series passed to this fan community)
- Petroglyph's Website
- Petroglyph Fansite Containg information on both Petroglyph and its upcoming first release
- Petroglyph Fansite Another new Petroglyph fansite
