Westwood Studios was an American video game developer, based in Las Vegas,
Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in 1985 as Westwood
Associates and was renamed Westwood Studios when it merged with Virgin
Interactive in 1992. The company was bought from Virgin Interactive by
Electronic Arts in 1998, and closed by EA in 2003.
Westwood is best known for developing real-time strategy, adventure and
role-playing genres. It was listed in Guinness World Records for selling more
than 10 million copies of Command & Conquer worldwide. The last former
Westwood employee quit working for Electronic Arts after the release of
Command & Conquer: Generals in 2003. Early history
Brett Sperry and Louis Castle founded Westwood Studios in 1985.
The company's first projects consisted of contract work for companies like Epyx
and Strategic Simulations, Inc., 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.
They laid the foundations for the real-time strategy genre with the
release of real-time tactics game BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge,
one of the more literal translations of the classic tabletop game BattleTech.
Later success and acquisition by Virgin Interactive
One of the company's first great successes was Eye of the Beholder, a
real-time role-playing video game based on the Dungeons & Dragons license,
developed for SSI. Other publishers of early Westwood games included Infocom
and Disney. Their company was eventually acquired by Virgin Interactive in 1992.
The company in the late 1980s was known for shipping products late, but by 1993
it had so improved that, Computer Gaming World reported, "many publishers would
assure [us] that a project was going to be completed on time because Westwood
was doing it". The magazine added that it "not only has a solid reputation for
getting product out on time, but a reputation for good product", citing Eye
of the Beholder, The Legend of Kyrandia, and Dune II as examples. By then
Westwood had about 50 employees, including up to 20 artists. Other
well-known Westwood titles from the early 1990s include Lands of Lore and
Westwood's greatest commercial success, the 1995 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, an
alternative pop/rock soundtrack with techno elements streamed from disk, and
modem play. Command & Conquer, Kyrandia, and Lands of Lore all spawned multiple
sequels. Acquisition by EA and liquidation
In August 1998, Westwood was acquired by Electronic Arts for $122.5 million in
cash. At the time, Westwood had 5% to 6% of the PC game market. In response to
EA's buyout, many long-time Westwood employees quit and left Westwood
Studios. Because of this and EA's newly imposed demands, games being developed
by Westwood Studios at the time were rushed and left unfinished upon their
release, namely Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun. All the subsequent games
developed by Westwood were also heavily subjected to increased control by
Electronic Arts, with some of them being canceled.
Along with Westwood, EA had also acquired Virgin Interactive's
development studio based in Irvine, California. It was managed by Westwood
and became known as Westwood Pacific, and later EA Pacific. Westwood Pacific
developed or co-developed games like Nox and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2,
which takes place in an alternate universe to that of the original title
Command & Conquer. One of the last games released by Westwood, Command & Conquer:
Renegade failed to meet consumer expectations and commercial goals
Electronic Arts had set for it. In March 2003, Westwood Studios was liquidated by
EA, and all willing staff were assimilated into EA Los Angeles. Their
last video game was Earth & Beyond, a massively multiplayer online
role-playing game. The last Westwood employee quit after the release of
Command & Conquer: Renegade. At the time of its liquidation, Westwood
employed a third of the original Westwood Studios personnel, some of whom
formed Petroglyph Games in April 2003. Another three formed a development
studio called Jet Set Games in 2008, both based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Games The following is a list of games
produced by Westwood: Roadwar 2000
Mars Saga Questron II
BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception
Mines of Titan Hillsfar
A Nightmare on Elm Street BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge
Circuit's Edge DragonStrike
Eye of the Beholder Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of
Darkmoon Order of the Griffon
Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun
Dune II The Legend of Kyrandia - Book One
Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos The Legend of Kyrandia - Book Two: The
Hand of Fate The Legend of Kyrandia - Book Three:
Malcolm's Revenge The Lion King
Young Merlin Command & Conquer
Monopoly Command & Conquer – The Covert
Operations Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Resident Evil, Microsoft Windows port, uncredited
Command & Conquer: Red Alert – Counterstrike
Command & Conquer: Red Alert – The Aftermath
Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny Blade Runner
Command & Conquer: Sole Survivor Command & Conquer: Red Alert –
Retaliation Dune 2000
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun Lands of Lore III
Recoil Nox
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun – Firestorm
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 Emperor: Battle for Dune
Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat
Command & Conquer: Renegade Earth & Beyond
Software formats Vector Quantized Animation, known by its
acronym .VQA, is a file format originally developed by Westwood for
video encoding in their games, The Legend of Kyrandia and Monopoly. The VQA
format was used in every Westwood game released between 1995 and 2000. All data
are in little endian. Audio in VQA files are in the .AUD file format.
References External links
Westwood FTP site Westwood Studios, Inc. at MobyGames