EA is a hard company to like. During the '90s and '00s, the publisher was without question, at the top of its game. Not just in sports, but in nearly every genre. EA took risks and was successful because of it. Now, well, now they are kind of a joke. They are the poster boy of a company ruled solely by greed.
EA is controversially infamous for acquiring great developers and studios before canceling their games and closing the companies. Then there is the Star Wars loot box scenario and of course Anthem's botched launch this year. It's all pretty bleak. EA could resurrect some of these classic and somewhat more recent franchises below in order to save face.
10 Medal of Honor
Before Call of Duty ruled the first-person shooter realm on consoles, there was Medal of Honor. It was good until it inevitably was run into the ground. After a brief respite, it was rebooted to become something more than a World War II shooter in order to compete with Modern Warfare.
It received two games, with the latest, Warfighter, releasing back in 2012. Now that they have Battlefield under their brand, there is seemingly no need for it to come back though.
9 Def Jam
The franchise last traditional game, Icon, came out in 2007. It didn’t receive very good reviews especially compared to the previous two main titles.
That’s probably why it died off. However, last year the official Def Jam Twitter account created some buzz on a possible sequel. It’s unknown right now if a game is in the works and or if EA is actually involved still, but hopefully, the answer to both of those questions is yes.
8 Syndicate
The first Syndicate game released for too many platforms to count, but this was back in 1993. It had quite a few sequels and expansions before losing steam. In 2012, the license was completely reborn, changing from an open RPG in the vein of Deus Ex to more of a shooter.
EA worked with Starbreeze Studios in order to bring this reboot to life. It received middling to good reviews and did not sell particularly well. A sequel was never made, but now is the time for a second reboot, right? In a world of Cyberpunk 2077, the world has never been more ready.
7 Haunting Starring Polterguy
Haunting Starring Polterguy, or just plain Haunting, was a game ahead of its time. Developed and published internally by EA, it starred a mischievous poltergeist, duh. The only goal was to scare the family being haunted by possessing various objects.
Games have since gone on to do mechanics similar to this, but this game was one of the firsts. In a YouTube world obsessed with streaming horror games, a new entry would be killer right now. It’s been over two decades since Haunting launched in 1993, with only a PSP port being produced after that point.
6 Dead Space
Another horror franchise that needs to return is Dead Space. The third main title released in 2013 and was admittedly not great. Not bad either, but it paled in comparison to the previous two.
Then Visceral Games went on to make other EA properties like Battlefield Hardline. The coolest project they helped out on post-Dead Space was Amy Hennig’s Star Wars game. Not only was that canceled in 2017, but the studio was also shut down. That stuff in the intro was not a joke.
5 Bulletstorm
Technically EA does not hold the rights to Bulletstorm. When it launched for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in 2011, EA published that version. However, in 2017, Bulletstorm was re-released with Gearbox as the publisher, suggesting EA lost the rights.
Since it flipped once, who is to say EA can’t try and plea with Epic Games or People Can Fly to get the rights back? If they fork over the money then certainly they would agree to a sequel under EA, right?
4 Crysis
When Crysis appeared on PCs back in 2007, it became synonymous with testing PC builds. Can it run Crysis? That was the question frequently asked. It was a showcase for a time for sure in terms of pushing the limits of graphics cards back then.
As the series went on it became less so, but still pretty high quality. That said the focus for the franchise sort of flipped and flopped as the series progressed. There really wasn’t a clear-cut vision. After the third entry in 2013, it was ultimately abandoned and probably for good. Crytek has better stuff to do now.
3 DeathSpank
DeathSpank was a trilogy of downloadable top-down hack and slash RPGs developed by Hothead Games. They were only available through PC, PSN, and Xbox Live. The last game, The Baconing, released in 2011 and the series hasn’t been seen since.
Since EA published all three, they probably still have the rights in some regard. Hothead Games is still around too, but ever since The Baconing the studio has pretty much focused solely on mobile games. These were fun back then, but they might have been of another time. The world isn’t really in need of a fourth title.
2 Michael Jordan: Chaos In The Windy City
This is one of the craziest games that ever released on the SNES. It, along with Michael Jordan’s cult classic Space Jam, is responsible for inspiring the bizarre tribute that is Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden.
Chaos in the Windy City was released in a time where celebrities, even sports stars, could get games made. Let’s go back to the '90s and get that type of experience back. It’s not the best game on the planet, but because of its bizarre legacy, it is still a treasure.
1 Skate Or Die
Speaking of sports, this entry is dedicated to not just Skate or Die and its spinoff Ski or Die, but a time when EA made a lot more experimental sports games. A time when FIFA, NHL, and Madden didn’t rule the play yard.
There was the incredible Mutant League Hockey and its spinoff sequel, Mutant League Football. The latter of which actually did get a sequel, but had nothing to do with EA. Basically, this is a plea for EA to try something crazy with sports again. Either that or please bring back SSX!