EA Pacific

Moby ID: 3300

AKA +
  • Westwood Pacific (from 1998 to 2002)
  • Burst (from 1996 to 1998)

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Burst was a development division of Virgin Interactive Entertainment based in Irvine, California and managed by Neil Young, Vice President of internal product development at VIE, and Christopher Yates, Vice President of technology and operations at VIE.

On 17 August 1998, Electronic Arts bought the studio alongside Westwood Studios for $122.5 million, after Virgin Interactive struggled with financial difficulties. It was subsequently renamed to Westwood Pacific.

After developing Nox, Westwood co-founder Brett Sperry approached the studio to develop Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, himself supervising design. Following successful sales and reception, and after developing the Yuri's Revenge expansion pack, Westwood Pacific focused on Command & Conquer: Generals, which would bring the RTS series to a 3D engine.

By mid-2002, the company was rebranded as Electronic Arts Pacific. Shortly after releasing Generals, the company merged with Electronic Arts Los Angeles alongside remaining Westwood assets and willing staff after the latter's closure, in order to consolidate resources. Within the company, this team was occasionally referred to as the "RTS team" to differentiate from existing EALA staff who worked on titles like the Medal of Honor series.

Credited on 9 Games from 1996 to 2003

Command & Conquer: Generals (2003 on Windows, Macintosh)
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (2000 on Windows)
Nox (2000 on Windows, Macintosh)
Sports Car GT (1999 on Windows, PlayStation)
Golden Nugget 64 (1998 on Nintendo 64)
Grand Slam (1997 on Windows, PlayStation, SEGA Saturn)
SubSpace (1997 on Windows)
Toonstruck (1996 on Linux, DOS, Windows...)
Spot Goes to Hollywood (1996 on PlayStation, SEGA Saturn)

History +

March 2003

The division is merged into Electronic Arts Los Angeles.

August 17, 1998

Bought by Electronic Arts from Virgin Interactive for $122,5 million alongside Westwood Studios. Immediately renamed to Westwood Pacific, with Mark Skaggs as its vice-president.

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