Whatever Happened to Chris Roberts?

W

Warghost

Spaceman
I have never posted on this forum before. I got Wing Commander way back in 91 and have been a huge fan of the series since, although I never played Prophecy because I was too wrapped up in Freespace at the time.

Anyway, I was just browsing through the CIC and I remembered that Chris Roberts went on to start Digital Anvil back in 96. Whatever happened to him? I know DA was bought by the MS, the scourge of good gaming. But, he was a talented guy...so where did he go? I kinda feel bad for him since he sold out to EA then became just a puppet that they didn't care about unless he was making them tons of money. On the other hand, if he'd just went independent and kept the rights to WC, then it's very possible that he wouldn't have made the movie and we'd be playing an new official Wing Commander game right now. If only he could have seen the future and known that the greatest franchise in PC gaming history would be slain like this, maybe he would've thought about how much money EA paid him, and thought about how much life the WC franchise had left in it. Sad.

But hey, this post is just some rambling because I'm bored and thinking about how much I miss WC (before the FMV raped it), so don't think I'm trolling, and don't flame me. I'm on your side, just thinking about how Roberts' mistakes cost us (and him) a lot in the long run.
 
Chris Left DA about halfway throug the production of Freelancer and formed a multimedia compant Point of No Return Entertainment which eventualy turned into Ascendant Pictures (a movie compant of which, if they ever do any interactive stuf most likely it would be under the PNR name). There he is a CEO and is producing and executive producing movies. Some of the films he has been producer on (since WC) are The Punisher, The Jacket, and Lord of War. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0730932/

Chris never really had the Rights to the games (and still doesnt). During his time at DA he got the rights to produce movies and television versions of anything in WC 1 -4 ... (I think it does, but am not sure if this includes privateer). He took these with him when he left DA and worked on a concept for a WC TV series for a while but the company looking to option the show lost interest (the same way there was a general perception that Enterprise degraded over the course of its run whereas the reality was that it held its own better than voyager ever did.)

As well The Idea that "Chris" sold out to EA is stupid. Origin was bought by EA shortly after wc2 came out.
 
He is "executve producing" movies and stuff.

Man, he should go back to design games. If not for any other reason, but because he seems to be able to make people invest money on space combat games.
 
Delance said:
Man, he should go back to design games. If not for any other reason, but because he seems to be able to make people invest money on space combat games.
Click to expand...

Except he already managed to make the two richest game publishers angry for doing so.
 
ChrisReid said:
Except he already managed to make the two richest game publishers angry for doing so.
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That's called experience. This is the guy that somehow was able to make expensive space shooters games. He convinced EA pour millions to make a WC extravaganza. Surely there were problems, but he's likely the one and only famous game designer connected with this genre.
 
It would take Chris Roberts to get another WC game out...I'm pretty sure of that. Someway or another his name would have to be attached...even if its only a figurehead.
 
And he has the proven skill to persuade wealthy inverstors to pour huge amounts of money on fancy space combat sim epic game projects. That's something WC lacks.
 
Delance said:
That's called experience. This is the guy that somehow was able to make expensive space shooters games. He convinced EA pour millions to make a WC extravaganza. Surely there were problems...
Click to expand...

Like when Roberts took everyone's holiday bonus to make a shuttlecraft for WCIV?
 
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