October 29th, Victory Games cancelled the new Command & Conquer game in its current form, Free-2-Play, not campaign at start, limited options for those who don't pay for Premium, having to buy new generals with real or in-game currency. Why cancel it? They listened to the alpha feedback really hard. EDIT: Apparently alpha feedback was NOT the big reason it got cancelled, moving on...
In December 2011, we saw the first trailer for Generals 2, and we went nuts, or at least I went. After waiting for a real sequel to Generals and Zero Hour for quite some time, it was of course magnificent to see it happen. Then in Gamescom 2012, it was announced that the Generals 2 was simply referred to as "Command & Conquer", a Free-2-Play multiplayer-only game that would be a live service platform for all future C&C games. Those who had gone nuts for Generals 2 now got angry at the new direction of C&C.
After getting some harsh feedback from the fans of the series, they decided to include skirmish in the game. About a year later, in 2013 VG announced campaign missions for the new Command & Conquer to further make it more traditional C&C game. And only a couple of months after that, I received my alpha key and got into the game. I didn't play multiplayer games, since I highly enjoy playing skirmish and campaigns. AI was quite an idiot now and then, but sometimes I was having a hard time trying to stay alive. After a couple of weeks of skirmish games and trying out 9 different generals, 3 for each faction, I notice that the game has been cancelled. But after spending some time in the alpha feedback forum, I'm not that surprised.The feedback was very rough, complaints about the monetary system, Pay-2-Win, unbalanced generals, etc. I could see from the comments of the developers that they were having a hard time there as well, trying to convince the players that it's only alpha and they were looking for various methods to make the game just as enjoyable and fair for those who want to pay for Premium and for those who prefer not to pay for anything.
But I guess it was all for nothing.
It's sad to see the game get cancelled, it was going to good direction, and many people on the official forums ask the developers to keep making the game. However, the other set of people say it's a good thing that the game was cancelled. Many comments around the Internet say that Free-2-Play doesn't fit a C&C game and would rather pay for a complete boxed product with all ready to go. I'm sort of there in the middle ground: I prefer to pay for the complete product, but I would've been quite happy with the Free-2-Play, live service method.
But now C&C's future is at stake(ish). EA most likely knows that C&C series has a big fan base, over 800k people signed up for the alpha and beta of Generals 2 and others were waiting for their key after buying the Ultimate Collection. But what happens now after it got cancelled? Do we have to wait another 2-3 years to find out what the developers are up to? Maybe we hear something later this year or early next year?
I don't say: "Bring Westwood back!", because not only WW doesn't exist anymore, the ex-Westwood employees are doing other stuff and I have my doubts about them making C&C any better. But the new developers maybe should look at the older games and think what made them so great. One answer is good gameplay and great storyline (Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2) and another answer is massive mapping and modding community (Zero Hour and Tiberium Wars). Frostbite engine doesn't currently (and maybe ever) allow the latter. Having a complex game engine may allow for great visuals and other effects, but it also limits us fans. Take a look at C&C3 or Red Alert 3. The engine is simple enough to allow mappers and modders do their magic while still looking visually stunning. And even the older games stay alive because of their many mods and maps available.
My bottom line in this case is: Cancelling the game opens both new and old doors. The series isn't dead, it just went to coma and needs to be cured. Whatever the developers are up to, I sincerely hope that they give us the very real and actual C&C Generals 2 in the future, as it was originally planned. And maybe they consider using a more simple engine, just so the fans can create their own content and put it up for everyone to see. Fan base can be a bitch sometimes, but they are also the ones playing the game.
In the mean time, I'll be playing Battlefield 4 and older C&C games.
great very