CD-i member Josh Martin shared some insight about the relation between Electronic Arta and Philips CD-i: "Trip Hawkins was convinced very early on that CD was the future and EA set up an entire division for CD-i development. They shut it down in 1989 after Philips repeatedly delayed the system's launch. If the CD-i had launched with EA as a major developer, it would've had instant credibility as a gaming machine. Instead EA shifted its focus to the Genesis while Hawkins worked on the 3DO. But then for Philips to retain EA's support they would've had to release the system a year or more before they finally did, most likely at an even higher price point and possibly with lower technical specs. So it would've been a tradeoff that may not have worked out anyway."
EA embraced CD-I with the same enthusiasm they had recently shown for the Amiga, placing Greg Riker in personal charge of creating tools and techniques for programming it, working more as partners in CD-I’s development with Philips than as a mere third-party publisher. Once again, however, it all came to nought. CD-I turned into one of the most notorious slow-motion fiascos in the history of the games industry, missing its originally planned release date in the fall of 1987 and then remaining vaporware for years on end. In early 1989, EA finally ran out of patience, mothballing all work on the platform unless and until it became a viable product; Greg Riker left the company to go work for Microsoft on their own CD-ROM research. CD-I had cost EA a lot of money to no tangible result whatsoever, but it does reveal that the idea of gaming on something other than a conventional computer was no longer anathema to them. In fact, the year in which EA gave up on CD-I would prove the most pivotal of their entire history.
- Editor:Ralph
- Credits: Josh Martin
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