| Formerly | Mastertronic International Inc. (1986–1989) Virgin Mastertronic International (1989–1991) Virgin Games, Inc. (1991–1993) Virgin Interactive Entertainment, Inc. (1993–1995) Burst Studios (1995–1998) Westwood Pacific (1998–2003) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Defunct | 2003 |
| Fate | Dissolved, operation merged into EA Los Angeles |
| Successor | Danger Close Games |
| Headquarters | Irvine, California |
| Parent | Mastertronic (1986–1988) Virgin Mastertronic (1989–1991 Virgin Interactive North America (1991–1998) Westwood Studios (1998–2003) |
EA Pacific (formerly known as first the internal American development divisions of Mastertronic and Virgin Games, then Burst Studios and Westwood Pacific) was a developer formally owned by Virgin Interactive's North American operations, and was based in Irvine, California.
The company was initially founded in 1986 as a subsidiary of Mastertronic, and Randall Masteller was the first programmer hired at the studio.[1] Masteller was later hired by Graeme Devine, who was a close friend of Masteller.[2] Over time, the company hired more employers like Darren Bartlett, David Perry and John Botti, all of these Virgin development executives had left to form their own studios.[3][4] The development division then adopted the Burst name in 1995 as recommended by producer Neil Young.[5]
Burst Studios was beset by production problems during its early years; Virgin Interactive's president of worldwide publishing, Brett W. Sperry, commented in 1997, "The way the Burst studio was structured made a lot of sense on paper, but for a variety of reasons, it wasn't delivering product at the end of the day."[6] Burst Studios was acquired by Electronic Arts together with Westwood Studios and Virgin's North American publishing operations in August 1998.[7] The company was later renamed to Westwood Pacific, under that name, the company developed or co-developed games like Nox and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2.
It was later renamed to EA Pacific. Some actual Westwood Studios employees were still working with the studio. One of the senior modelers, who worked on Command & Conquer (1995), was part of the Command & Conquer: Generals (2003) team.[8]
EA Pacific was absorbed into EA Los Angeles in 2003. Some employees then went to Petroglyph Games.
- ^ Guter, Anthony (2024-10-04). "Mastertronic Style - Part 3, New labels - MAD, Bulldog, Entertainment USA". Mastertronic Collectors Archive. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
- ^ Campbell, Colin (2013-12-04). "The 7th Guest and the Solitaire trap". Polygon. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
- ^ "Interview: Dr. Stephen Clarke-Willson (Virgin Int. VP of Product Dev.) – Sega-16". 2006-03-28. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
- ^ arcadeattack (2016-01-10). "David Perry (Virgin Games) - Interview". Arcade Attack. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
- ^ "Best Of GDC: Paul Steed On 'The Trip' From Artist to Entrepreneur". www.gamedeveloper.com. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
- ^ "Cleaning Time: Corporations Slim Down". Next Generation. No. 31. Imagine Media. July 1997. p. 23.
- ^ Morris, Chris (August 17, 1998). "Electronic Arts buys Westwood Studios". CNNMoney. CNN. Archived from the original on May 29, 2016. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
- ^ Chris Remo: Interview: Inside The Heritage Of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, Gamasutra, October 24, 2008