I think that at the time Abe wasn't very popular at all (still isn't, Oddworld isn't ranked with the major names in top 10 lists anywhere). The genre of 2D puzzle games with a story about some weird guy's fantasy universe as a whole was quite daring really. The games were good enough to make an impression and get good ratings but couldn't compete with the rise of 3D shooters and good race games. So to go with the time OWH made Munch's Oddysee, which was a HUGE flop, both for the game industry and the fans. So in order to both expand the universe and put Oddworld Inhabitants on the map as a decent modern day developer, they decided to make a shooter like game that was likely to appeal to many gamers, even if they never heard of Oddworld. And by teaming up with EA at the time they got a decent amount of PR for the game and the company.
Above anything else I think the decision came from Lorne wanting to draw attention to OWH in order to show off to investors they were up to the task of making modern games. In basic terms they just needed a really good addition to their portfolio.
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When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion.
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