Almost basking in the essence of surprise of the deepest depths of utter horror, EA has “kindly,” announced their plans to usher in a Free to Play model onto the upcoming Command and Conquer: Generals sequel. Command and Conquer Generals 2, not the first in the franchise to be Free to Play, will soon meet a rather undesirable fate; unfitting for a game met with much anticipation after the wide success held by its father.

To those unaware of the reprecussions soon to hit the franchise, take a gander at the arsenal. A Free to Play Command and Conquer Generals 2 will require players to have a internet connection in order to play the game. Essentially this means when your parents flip the switch to the modem you can call it a night for a once promising sequel. Or to those that relish in honing their strategic prowess in offline single player modes, you may as well toss that in the wind. Additionally comes a hefty download and, most likely, no other method of game delivery for Command and Conquer Generals 2. Couple that with an engine that prohibits map making, modding, and other modifications and you have a game tremendously far from being aptly named Command and Conquer, or at least to those who have enjoyed the franchise before EA intervened.

This comes as a massive disappointment to me as I greatly enjoy the franchise in both its older Westwood games and its slightly old EA games such as Command and Conquer Generals. Albeit lacking Westwood touch, Command and Conquer Generals is still adrift in a sea of many frequent players who still enjoy the vanilla version of the game or those that enjoy playing massive modifications to the game. EA, a company that I personally boycott (I own no games from them aside from Command and Conquer Generals and Zero Hour,) is a true tyrant. One can easily peer into the annals of gaming history and see magnificent game developers devoured by EA. Westwood, Maxis, Bullfrog, Dice, and many others fell victim to EA’s horrendous and ill fated investors.

Regardless, will you still be purchasing Command and Conquer Generals 2?