developer
Westwood Studios
ウエストウッド・スタジオ
About
Westwood Studios was an American game developer founded in 1985 by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in Las Vegas, Nevada. After early work on role-playing games such as Eye of the Beholder, the studio released Dune II in 1992 — a game widely credited with establishing the template for the modern real-time strategy genre: resource gathering, base building, and unit command in real time. Westwood built on that foundation with Command & Conquer (1995) and Command & Conquer: Red Alert (1996), which became one of the best-selling strategy franchises of the decade. Electronic Arts acquired Westwood in 1998, and the studio was closed in March 2003.
History
Westwood was founded in 1985 by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle, who started by taking contract conversion work before building their own titles. Through the late 1980s and early 1990s the studio earned a reputation in role-playing games, developing Eye of the Beholder for SSI. But the project that defined Westwood arrived in 1992: Dune II: The Battle for Arrakis. Rather than the turn-based strategy norm of the era, Dune II let the player gather resources, construct a base, and command units while the world kept moving. It is widely regarded as the blueprint from which the entire real-time strategy genre grew.
Westwood turned that blueprint into a franchise with Command & Conquer (1995), which added full-motion-video cinematics, a streamed rock and techno soundtrack, and online multiplayer, becoming a commercial phenomenon. Command & Conquer: Red Alert followed in 1996. Electronic Arts purchased Westwood in 1998 as part of its acquisition of Virgin Interactive's North American operations. In January 2003 EA announced that Westwood would be merged into EA Los Angeles, and the original Las Vegas studio closed that March — but the genre it had codified a decade earlier had by then become one of the largest in PC gaming.
Timeline & Works
Corporate milestones and all 3 games in the museum this studio developed — in the order they happened.
- 1985
Westwood founded in Las Vegas
Brett Sperry and Louis Castle found the studio, beginning with contract conversion work before developing original games.
founding - 1992
Dune II — the RTS blueprint
Dune II: The Battle for Arrakis introduces real-time resource gathering, base building, and unit command — widely credited as the template for the real-time strategy genre.
product - 1992
- 1995
Command & Conquer
Command & Conquer builds on Dune II with FMV cinematics, a streamed soundtrack, and online multiplayer, becoming a commercial phenomenon.
product - 1995
- 1996
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Red Alert extends the franchise with an alternate-history setting and becomes one of the best-selling strategy games of the decade.
product - 1997
- 1998
Acquired by Electronic Arts
EA acquires Westwood as part of its purchase of Virgin Interactive's North American operations.
corporate - 2003
Studio closed
EA merges Westwood into EA Los Angeles; the original Las Vegas studio closes in March 2003.
corporate
Also connected to
- ea 親子会社関係 (1998–2003)（逆方向）