Carmack explains switch from Activision to EA

John Carmack told ShackNews at QuakeCon why Rage will be published by EA instead of Activision. Carmack explains that after a process of elimination Activision and EA were the two heavy weights they considered, he adds that Valve thinks very highly of their relationship with EA and notes that EA CEO John Riccitiello seemed to really care about the game:

Just recently we did the third round.. and said okay, everybody make your final offer. In addition to Activision and EA, we talked to THQ and Sega. There were pros and cons to every publisher.. In the end it came down to the heavy weights, Activision and EA.

Valve speaks very highly of their relationship with EA Partners, and that was very important to us.

We have Riccitiello in from EA, and he was making cogent game comments about the game, comparing it to other things, design level things, and that was kind of interesting to see, a CEO at that level really does care about the specifics of the game. But again, there's every chance in the world we'll end up with Activision for Doom.