EA wants ideas for Command & Conquer 5

By Fred Dutton Published 17 May, 2011

Canvasses fans for suggestions.

EA wants to hear your ideas for future games in its Command & Conquer RTS franchise.

A Community Developer Area has just been set up on the game's official site where users can post their suggestions.

"The most discussed and loved ideas will be passed on to the developer team, so be sure to bring your idea onto our community table. Maybe it will be your idea, which changes everything!" read an introductory post from a community manager.

Earlier this year, EA announced a new Command & Conquer game is currently in the works at its new Victory Games outfit, though no details of what's in store have yet been confirmed.

The last entry in the long-running series, Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight, marched onto PC back in March last year to middling reviews.

"That it is such a giant step away from the mechanics C&C has clung onto for so long is bold and exciting in concept," wrote Eurogamer's Alec Meer in his 6/10 write-up, "but so absolute in practice that it's an insult to the faithful."

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (65) Latest comment 5 months ago

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  • GunzManiac #1 1 year ago

    I would say, don't make a bad game but i know I'm going to get down voted!
    They should just remake red alert 2 and everyone will be happy.

  • berelain #2 1 year ago

    My suggestion: Don't bugger about with what made the series so popular. C&C Generals was just wrong, and 4 was a disaster. There's a reason the fans liked C&C 3 and Red Alert 3 so much - they were solid updates of the classic series that didn't try to reinvent themselves.

  • Ingram85 #3 1 year ago

    'we want to continue to milk it dry but we need you to tell us how as weve finally broke through the barrells bottom'

  • patchbox360 #4 1 year ago

    command and conquer vs supreme commander

  • BuddyChrist #5 1 year ago

    TOTAL ANNIHILATION.

    Nuf' said.

  • Orihalcon19 #6 1 year ago

    Just one suggestion from my side. FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THE CELESTIAL DEITIES, go back to RTS roots! Dune 2, CnC 1-3, RA1+2 etc. There is a reason why there is a saying - if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

    Screwed the pooch with the horrible CnC 4 mechanics - nothing wrong with innovating at all, but try it on a new IP and not a long running one where you screw the loyal supporters over.

  • Timbercottage #7 1 year ago

    Just do what you did for Tiberian Sun.

  • Eraysor #8 1 year ago

    I'd rather they made something new...not that C&C wasn't amazing, I just wish they would have some more originality!

  • Plewt #9 1 year ago

    Reform Westwood, there.

  • dsmx #10 1 year ago

    Here's a suggestion, don't put it on consoles. Here's another suggestion bring back the people that made C&C in the first place, you know before you bought westwood and gutted the studio.

  • Sunyavadin #11 1 year ago

    Okay EA, want to know how to make C&C5 good?

    You know everything you did with C&C4?


    DO THE EXACT OPPOSITE.

  • TexMurphy01 #12 1 year ago

    Well, let's start with 'don't make it shit'. What miracles will come if only that is achieved.

    By the by, I really enjoyed Generals, but RA3 was absolutely dire. Someone should be put through pain for that.

  • Nanakai #13 1 year ago

    Red Alert 4, not PC exclusive, and co-op over Live (or equivalent) again

  • martmart #14 1 year ago

    Story-wise, make Kane come back to life, come up with another devious plan to kill GDI leadership, with the latest highest ranking commander being played by some actor who was at the height of their fame several years ago, maybe Christopher Walken, pitted against Nod's latest comander, who after the latest double cross got them killed by Kane, played by some "tough guy" perhaps Sean Bean.

    Then fight away with the Mammoth Tank Mk MXVII and the latest version of the Obelisk of Light until Kane is "blown up".

  • martmart #15 1 year ago

    Or perhaps get Kane creates a clone to help him in his work, and out steps Ross Kemp

  • Ryuken #16 1 year ago

    Zoom out a bit more than in that awul Sage engine, see what other games have been doing (especially the big warfare games like Supreme Commander). C&C and RA have evolved to a microfest like StarCraft and that's not what C&C is, period. More macro, bigger battles please.

  • CaptainKid #17 1 year ago

    @GunzManiac Jep, Red alert 2 is still my favorite RTS.
    They should remake it (skirmish and online only, no need for singleplayer) with better 2D (not 3D!!) grpahics, much smarter AI and even more game modes and other options.

  • RedSparrows #18 1 year ago

    'Or perhaps get Kane creates a clone to help him in his work, and out steps Ross Kemp '

    This'd be the most perfect gaming moment ever.

    In other news, whilst I really like all the old C&Cs, I can't help but feel more of the same wouldn't cut it for me.

  • Nevflinn #19 1 year ago

    I felt that the approach they had with C&C3, in gameplay, campaign structure and plot was just right, but could have done with more spark and some nicer tricks. EALA seemed more interested in raising Command & Conquer to a competitive multiplayer level which, while not bad in and of itself, didn't leave the best impact on the game as a whole. Tiberian Sun had a very creative campaign, but TW often held itself back - tiberium wasn't as dangerous as it should have been, some missions were straightforward even though some others were very unique, etc.

    If they have that same directive behind them again, I'd rather they be prepared to 'segregate' the two - have things for Singleplayer that aren't in Multiplayer. Let Tiberium do more damage in campaign mode, or create special units that don't appear in multiplayer. Past RTS games (and recent ones) have tried this same principle, and it's been strongly justified. One of Command & Conquer's strengths is that, even so long after its release, it's still unique. It'd be wise of the developers to highlight this.

  • KDR_11k #20 1 year ago

    Considering what fans tend to say the result will be "prettied up C&C1". I liked Generals better but I doubt they're asking me.

  • Spekingur #21 1 year ago

    C&C in operation flashpoint/arma style.

  • coldfoot #22 1 year ago

    Make it like battlezone where you both command units and pilot them at the same time!

  • Bleedingplums #23 1 year ago

    "Harkonnen vee-hee-cle repaired"

  • jonfon #24 1 year ago

    I liked Generals too. Yes it changed lots of things mechanically, but it was fun.

    C&C 3 just seemed soulless, the Scrin were complete dull. No spark at all. Didn't even bother with 4.

  • Ged42 #25 1 year ago

    Have another go at renegade, but set it in the Red Alert universe.

  • menage #26 1 year ago

    Loose all the gimmicks. And bring back the setting to something less generic.

  • SpaceMonkey77 #27 1 year ago

    I think that the last C&C was alright, but it lost something as the years have passed.

    Well EA need to have it consoles, cause believe it or not, that's where there's the most money to be made. The likes of Starcraft is an exception to the rule. EA should take a lot of what Starcraft does, but move it off of Earth, which could allow them more creativity.

    Drop the live action cheese movies too, and start using CG characters. Write a better story too.

  • SeesThroughAll #28 1 year ago

    When I first heard of C&C4, I thought it would be a scalable RTS, where one can swap between Earth based and space battles. I thought that the story would be exciting, encompassing the promised full scale Scrin invasion we heard about in the end of C&C3. Most importantly, I never thought it would feature such an awful game-breaking DRM.

    And what did we get instead?

    If EA is serious about making C&C5 not suck, they better take a long hard look at the first game, at C&C3, and use their brains for a bit. Some change is always good, but change for the sake of change is extremely destructive.

  • Anciegher #29 1 year ago

    Skip the cartoony graphics, focus on base building and turtling, add a sprinkle of massive battles and great cinematics. WIN!

  • cwk27 #30 1 year ago

    Redo Renegade! But hire some people who've actually worked on some successful FPS shooters this time! (Seriously loved the multiplayer on that game, but it was buggy as hell!)

  • GiarcYekrub #31 1 year ago

    I want C &C on android

  • tinners #32 1 year ago

    Remake generals please with a new engine!!

  • kinth #33 1 year ago

    Didn't they say C&C 4 was the last game?

  • dmt2 #34 1 year ago

    I thought candc generals was brilliant and a complete time sink, especially the zero hour expansion... But i reckon a complete remake of red alert would be just the ticket.

  • Lemming81 #35 1 year ago

    Go back to basics, reboot it. Ion cannon and Orcas being the pinnacle of the technology again. Keep the cut-scenes cheesy for the single player, but make them in-game (a la Dawn of War), and design the units around competitive multiplayer from launch.

    Finally, have full Steam integration. Suck Gabe's dick if you have to, but keep it steam achievements/match ups. Don't reinvent the wheel and make your own steam/battle.net. You just won't compete.

  • floppylobster #36 1 year ago

    6/10? Did Alec play it or just give it an few extra points because it was C&C? C&C 4 deserved nothing more than a 4/10.

    They're completely lost with this series, hence they've now resorted asking players for suggestions. You won't see many other developers (who have an ounce of self-respect and confidence in their abilities) asking how to make games. Clueless.

  • number3son #37 1 year ago

    How about no more ridiculous, pain-in-the-ass, always-on DRM, for fucking starters?

  • jimr9999us #38 1 year ago

    Reboot Westwood and become relevant again, there's a start. but...

    Asking fans how to make a great game? Yeah, I'll tell you how to fix c&c after I come up with pvp w/no diminishing returns and tell Lucas how to make a good Star Wars movie again.

    Learn how to do your job EA. I don't call you up and ask for advice on how to stack oranges.

  • markyHD #39 1 year ago

    What made the first two and red alert so good all those years ago is that they were roughly grounded in reality, in terms of the units etc. Yes you had a few teslar towers and ion cannons, but not too far out of reach of reality.

    The new ones suck imo because they are so detached from that military aspect, more like sci-fi.

    Bring it back to it's roots and you will sell millions :)
    Edited by markyHD at 18/05/11 @ 08:39

  • Gumersindo #40 1 year ago

    I'm a big fan of C&C saga.
    I've tried C&C4 and I think it's the worst RTS in the history of RTS.
    Even more, I watched the 2 endings on youtube, and they were a complete nonsense. Anybody care to explain the crappy endings?.

    As Sunyavadin said: get C&C 4 and do exactly the opposite

  • Hermiod #41 1 year ago

    1) As others have said, ditch the stupid always on DRM and the moronic RPG-lite elements from C&C4.

    2) Go back to having a base, with a resource that you have to collect rather than the mobile bases nonsense from C&C4. Battles in C&C4 were just a matter of who could kill the enemy crawler fastest.

    3) No unit caps and stop worrying about stopping tank spam. Let's have huge battles.

    4) Actually try to differentiate between the sides and try to reduce the Paper/Scissors/Stone approach. Player one builds a unit, player two builds a unit specifically designed to kill player one's unit, so player one builds a unit specifically designed to kill player two's unit and on and on and on forever.

    5) Where units had an additional ability in RA3, they should be able to use that ability independently if set to the right stance. For instance, Natasha shouldn't stand there getting shot at by a tank until you manually tell her to use her pilot snipe ability.

    6) Similarly, it should be possible to take groups of units, send them in to an enemy base using the attack move order with an aggressive stance and then give them priority targets, so they'll attack a specific building unless they're defending themselves.

    7) Bring back Global Conquest from Kane's Wrath.

  • schnide #42 1 year ago

    If you have to ask your fans for what to do next, you're going wrong already. Hire some developers you have confidence in, and let them rip.

  • CamberGreber #43 1 year ago

    STOP MAKING OVERSIZED VEICHLES AND CHARACTERS.

  • cnlfailure #44 1 year ago

    I loved Generals, loved it. Almost as much as RA2, my favourite RTS of all time.

    Yes I know, I'm a simple boy who likes simple things.

  • kingdumpalot #45 1 year ago

    If you they don't have any ideas, perhaps they shouldn't make the game?

    C&C4 was terrible. The fans wanted it to be called Tiberian Twilight for a reason. Put tiberium to bed and lets do something else!

  • FELICE #46 1 year ago

    Merger of mechanism from c&c3 and c&c4, building base and crawlers assistens. For coop game its brilliant! If you want remember for last c&c game look for these mods:

    [link url=http://www.moddb.com/members/felice/addons/half-life-1-red-alert
    ]http://www.moddb.com/members/felice/addo...[/link]
    [link url=http://www.moddb.com/mods/half-life-cc-tiberian-dawn
    ]http://www.moddb.com/mods/half-life-cc-t...[/link]
    enyoj!!!

  • TeeHee #47 1 year ago

    Make Renegade 2.

  • GruttyFuttock #48 1 year ago

    Yes, EA design by comittee, (especially asking the chittering gaming masses) works sooo well doesn't it? How about you hire some designers with a half a clue, as it's their job. Easy really........... Fucktards.

  • rudedudejude #49 1 year ago

    Bring back Stalin and that hot bird

  • FortysixterUK #50 1 year ago

    Look at the original CnC and Red Alert 1,2,3 for inspiration. All excellent games, however, their add on packs were of questionable quality ( except the one for RA 2).
    Also look to Starcraft 2 , Tiberium Sun & Act of War-Direct Action.

    Drop everything thats been done in Generals, and the last 3 regular CnC games ( Kanes Wrath etc).

    Important factors :-

    Base building ( huge bases)
    Vast Maps with lots of secrets and fun things to uncover.
    Ocean going combat.( see RA series )
    Bottle necks all over the map
    Stop the enemy constantly rushing you ( Like Generals, last 3 regular CnC games, poor idea. ).
    Let the game play at the players pace, if you want to hang back and build a base, let the player hang back and build as base.
    Resource gathering is hugely important.
    A decent rocking soundtrack ( Frank Kelpacki please ), lots of metal and rock guitars, with occasional throbbing techno bits.
    STORY, STORY, STORY...lots of cut scenes with famous actors over acting and having fun.

  • brod #51 1 year ago

    Threads on their forum need to be approved by a moderator, and they didn't approve my thread about ditching the permanent online requirement.

    What a load of wank.

  • BlackIce64 #52 11 months ago

    Well, I loved CNC Generals (Z:H), Red Alert 2 and Renegade. I would love to see another RTS-Shooter like Renegade, but with a little more freedom and possibly a larger scale.

    For the RTS, I think the scale should be increased: Instead of having 20 vs 20 tanks, have fights of 50 vs 50. Another good arguement was to remove the rock-paper-scissor strategy, and instead have freedom. Build wherever you want, make forward bases, without being locked down by a Command Center. Add in units and buldings like artillery again. Take good ideas from older games (preferably way older, rather than CNC3 and RA3). Preferably, I'd love to see CnC Generals 2. And keep the unit cap off, or only as an option.

  • Aicero #53 10 months ago

    I've played C&C since the first game, I find it's the financial/construction style that attracts me the most about it. Players want a reason to have to defend their bases, and many structures/units to do so. I suggest bringing back walls and introducing some new structures, for example how about trenches? (just thought of this as I was typing this up) Allowing infanry to move around the perimeter of the base with better defense capabilities, this wouldn't ruin the high tech feel, since no matter how advanced a unit is, a unit in cover is safer.

    The high tech style of the newer games is fun, but I always enjoyed more basic units, even the infantry were mechanised, that ruins the feel of it.

    How to make the series based on lower tech? Why some sort of apocalyptic event! A doomsday obsessed Kane is a fun Kane. Why not start with him already being successful?

    More in depth economy! Wouldn't it be great to have several means of aquiring credits? or perhaps just a more complicated tiberium processing line.

    One of the newer features of C&C I enjoy is rank structure, of both units and the commander. Allow units a couple more ranks! Also make it harder to increase each unit's veterancy.

    TIME! On older versions I could play the same skirmish for hours, just building and collecting resources, making several bases and building many many many units. This all took place within a day, an unchanging day. How about some night?

    ALSO if you're a crazy freak like me who'd go onto a skirmish map and build 10 bases, why not make it a little harder? Credit distribution? If I want to build in some remote location.. then I should need to bring resources (at least credits) to the location. I'm all for growing metalic structures out of the ground, but at least make it so I need to plan the seeds.

    I could go on for hours.. but in the end I'd be making a completely new game.

  • Daniels_2011 #54 9 months ago

    i wouldnt say 4 was a bad game tbh, not as good as 3 or red alert.. disliked the fact you could only have a certain number of units, and no buildings apart from ur mcv
    endless possibilitys for another game.... new planets, new species, new weapons and units... just keep the same gameplay as C&C 3.

  • turboman94 #55 9 months ago

    I no this is a pc game but i defo think it should be on xbox360 aswell because really Enjoyed C&C 3, red alert was different but OK.

  • Adversary #56 9 months ago

    I want a new Generals followup. I loved it, and Zero:Hour made it even better!
    As for C&C 5, I hope you never do what you did with C&C 4, it was terrible, waste of time and money, and a great disappointment compared to the other C&C games.
    You should create a new super villain. Perhaps one from the past, a good guy turned evil? Play with our minds in the story line.

  • DannyRibbler #57 8 months ago

    It would be cool to see a human army with the weapons of today at war with some weird alien army,like jeff wayne's war of the worlds...oh and more unit detail.

  • verminn #58 8 months ago

    why dont you just redo number 4 with the c&c3 and kanes rath platform. oh and make shur that its for xbox again the trick was to keeping it from lagging was to download it to the hard drive on your xbox then it would play so smooth. and im not sure but me and my brother could beat brutal computers on the x box some one was saying its impossible with out the command keys that you get on the pc version and one other thing whose dumb idea was it to make the only buildings in number 4 be mcvs that's so raping the game that makes it so there's only unit strategy it so much entertaining and strategic to have to think about defenses and building formation and super weapons you know i also noticed that 4 took almost the same direction as red alert 3 because they made the buildings in red alert 3 really weak and the units strong as hell thats some in balance there so just be very considerate of the fans in this next one
    Edited by verminn at 28/09/11 @ 01:10

  • Thehellknight4316 #59 7 months ago

    Fire the development team you have now and bring back the guys from westwood stuideos. also take out that cawler and bring back base building and recuseorce gathering and take out that cyborg commando you put in command and conquer 4 and redo its look and it should be like the old one can solo and no amount of infantry should be able to kill it and the only vehicle that should be able to stand a chance at soloing the cyborg commando is the Mammoth Mk. II just like old times and make sure the scrin are playable.

    Also bring back the tiberium chemical missile from tiberium sun and also leave the nuclear missile in the game still and bring back the tiberium wild life and plants and the meteor storms and ion storms and all that other stuff that you for some reason took out of the game. also make more cyborgs than ever before for NOD.

  • left4biscuit #60 5 months ago

    i dont want you to bugger up c&c again im a huge fan of trberum dawn it was the best out of all the c&c games by far stick to the main picture of a rts game plz c&c 4 was terra bad i wanted to play it just for the story but i didnt cause the game just wasnt fun >_> if you re did trberium dawn id defently buy it i loved that game

  • floppylobster #61 5 months ago

    Don't do it.

  • Fetalgnat #62 5 months ago

    C&C 5? Ok...Make sure this one Doesn't suck! And actually has Base Building, no Population cap!

  • jngu1720 #63 5 months ago

    Just make sure Yuriko Omega plz for the love of god

  • jngu1720 #64 5 months ago

    "In it" oopsie fail typo

  • demon2518 #65 5 months ago

    I think everyone hit the nail on the head, command and conquer red alert is your best series, it just needs a bit of a overhall.

    The graphics should be redone and give the units a bloom look have, i was thinking dawn of war 2 graphics added into the game.