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It feels like EA is grooming Bioware to become Westwood 2.0 by dumping a huge MASS (pun 1.0) of talent, IP's and inflated dreams into it's lap, which in my opinion will result in a very adverse EFFECT(pun 2.0) on the studio, its talent pool, the industry and of course on EA itself.
Bioware was already spread thin enough prior to the EA equation especially by forming its Austin branch and taking allot of new blood in order to make SWTOR.
After EA bought BW it basically "cut off its head" by placing its key leads as VP's of "insert bland generic job title here" and by placing 2 or even more studios in its lap.
Bioware now has to deal and direct 2 additional studios which were EA Mythic and "Danger Close"/Victory Games, EA also dumped the C&C IP into BW's lap and asked them to make C&C: Generals 2 together with DICE(mainly as tech support for the frostbite engine) and what was left of EA Westwood.
Gaming studios just like other studios of just about any other type of art form have a unique style which is basically derived trough the guidance of its lead directors and core assets of each field(tech, art, story, sound design etc.')
So now Bioware leads not only have to oversee multiple projects with in BW and the entire EA empire but also tons of new blood was poured into what used to be a fairly small Canadian studio which means that a ton of foreign execution methods, ideas, and philosophies was injected into the core of what used to be BW.
No studio can survive such "harsh" treatment and remain intact, add to that the fact that BW is now also in charge of projects they never have dealt with before such as FPS (the Medal of Honor series) and RTS(C&C: Gen's 2), to me this seems like a disaster is just waiting to happen like a patient that receives a blood transfusion of the wrong blood group.
Yes studios and acquire other studios and produce same and even higher quality games but that usually involves a lengthy transition and adjustment period - even a new dev inserted into an existing development team is something that can take months to adjust to completely.
And yes studios have switches, or entered into new genres before but even then they have usually needed to focus all their attention to that single project, Blizzard had to put on hold its entire RTS and ARPG departments to make WoW not only due to the tremendous amount of effort it would take to make that game but also because you can't be distracted when you are doing something you've never have done before.
This of course also means that you can no longer expect the same quality of games from BW, we've knew that but i don't think that even the hardest of BW's fans understand how drastic and devastating the changes to "Bioware" were and will still be.
I'm not basing this on things like "OMG SWTOR SUX" I've actually like it quite a bit, and although I'm not playing it as much as I've used to play WoW, EQ, or PS at first I'm still quite excited and hoping it can unleash it's true potential.
I'm also am not basing this on the fact that i thought ME3 was a total mess, it was a good game overall but a complete mess in terms of a Mass Effect game / Cinematic Space Opera experience and no not because of the ending - the game itself is just too schizophrenic and anticlimactic as if almost every aspect of the game seems to be the anti-particle of a different aspect of its self or of what makes Mass Effect / the genre great.
I also don't believe the EA is evil excluding their "treatment" of Bio ware for the past 3-4 ears EA seemed to be "getting" it has published very controversial games and green lighted sequels of games that never would've seen the light in many other studios like Dead Space 2 and Mirror's Edge 2. It also was the first large company that understood micro-transactions with games like BattleForge.
I don't understand people who say "EA IS PURE EVIL" or "EA WANTS TO RUIN BIOWARE!!!", EA is a company it answers to its shareholders - it needs to justify its actions to them and it needs to keep its value in order for additional money to keep pouring in. EA paid close to 900 Million, yes 900 Million for BW and Pandemic - amounts is higher than the GDP (as in the entire country makes in a year) of half the African countries (respectively)
If you believe the latest PC Alliance figures for 2011 which was the best year(in gross profits) of PC gaming industry that's about 5% of the total revenue of the entire PC gaming market.
NO company not ever and ever justify turning a purchase which pretty much cost them an eye and a kidney into a steam pile of shit.
Also i don't believe that a company the size of EA doesn't know how to manage its own business, unlike many others i don't believe that EA is either run by monkeys or devils (or according to some people by baby eating zio-fascists which want to make every one angry to start ww3 by destroying the game industry - yes I've read that comment several times on YouTube). I just think that both EA and Bioware got star struck and decided (respectively) to dump much more on one's plate and to bite much more than one can chew.
In my eyes only thing now left is hope, not hope that Bioware will pull through because that’s pretty much impossible to achieve. No company, group, or a society can do that and we've all seen what happens when foreign values are forcibly injected into a group of individuals on all scales and trough history.
I really hope is that both Bioware and EA will realize that they've overestimated what the once tight group of brilliant and creative people is capable off, and start backing out of what many people call "The Franchising of Bioware", EA needs to understand that they've acquired a company which its main asset lies in its talent and "way of doing things" not in its brand, or IP's.
And Bioware especially the people who got those fat cheques and VP titles needs to understand that you can't duplicated a success by diluting your core, and in many cases the whole is usually greater than the sum of its part.
P.S./OP's note:
This is my own Mass Effect 3 rant and personal catharsis, I'm not a part of the gaming industry, nor am I a journalist, reviewer, or related to any media outlet. I wanted for several weeks not to write a Mass Effect 3 break down in order to satisfy my own personal needs for venting and closure but if it has already been done, and will be don’t more and more until it will be done to death by many people who many of them are much more observant and talented than me.
So instead I've chosen to try and figure out to the best of my ability the core problem that seems to be looming over Bioware's and I belive to some extent over the entire industry's heads.
This article has many opinions and little fact mostly because facts in this matter are impossible to gather and I refuse to base any of my opinions of "rumors" and "gossip" like "EX" employ blog posts, tweets, and other things that are more slander than content.
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Ceridith
 Novice Member
Joined: 11/24/09
The more you hype an upcoming game in your mind, the more it will fail to meet your expectations. |
3/23/12 10:30:37 AM#2
Yes. EA has a habit of taking good studies and lobotomizing them into souless cogs in the EA corporate machine, abusing the good names of said studios to sell poorly made games. It's happened to both Westwood and Maxis... two of my alltime favorite developers... and Bioware is now up on the chopping block. |
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3/23/12 10:38:19 AM#3
BW's strength USED to be single player games. EA has not only destroyed that for them, they now have them making MMOs, RTS and FPS games. I am about as interested in playing a BW RTS as I was their "MMO." no thanks. In fact I wrote BW off after DA:O. I didnt think it was very good and the DLC was the end of the line for me buying BW games. |
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3/23/12 10:43:03 AM#4
Originally posted by Ceridith It was Bullfrog and Maxis for me, but Maxis was the hardest one to watch. It's what finally motivated me from angry and frustrated to full on EA hate monkey. I wonder how many EA apologists today have even heard of Bullfrog... |
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Zekiah
 Advanced Member
Joined: 1/06/07
Hype (noun) |
3/23/12 10:45:27 AM#5
Bullfrog. /sigh EA is a bunch of jackwagons. "Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky |
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Ceridith
Novice Member
Joined: 11/24/09
The more you hype an upcoming game in your mind, the more it will fail to meet your expectations. |
3/23/12 10:47:09 AM#6
Originally posted by Unlight I completely forgot about Bullfrog being under EA. So many hours lost playing Themepark... |
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Zekiah
Advanced Member
Joined: 1/06/07
Hype (noun) |
3/23/12 10:49:51 AM#7
Originally posted by Ceridith Populous for me. Good stuff. Bullfrog Productions
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bullfrog Productions was a UK computer game developer that was founded in 1987 by Les Edgar and Peter Molyneux. The company achieved recognition in 1989 for their third release, Populous. At the time of the company's founding, Edgar and Molyneux were already involved in an enterprise called Taurus Impex Ltd. Bullfrog's name was derived from "Taurus" (the Latin word for bull) and Edgar's daughter's love of frogs.[citation needed] Electronic Arts, Bullfrog's publisher, acquired the studio in January 1995.[1] Molyneux had become an Electronic Arts vice-president and consultant in 1994, after EA purchased a significant share of Bullfrog. Molyneux left Bullfrog in August 1997 to found Lionhead Studios while other members of the original team founded Mucky Foot Productions. The last titles to bear the Bullfrog logo were published in 2001. 2004 met the final end of Bullfrog when Electronic Arts combined their side studios into EA UK. In August 2009, Electronics Arts was considering revising some of Bullfrog's games for modern-day systems,[2] and in 2011 they signed a deal with Good Old Games in order to do this. [edit]Notable titles
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky |
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3/23/12 10:51:29 AM#8
Well said, OP. What EA does to formerly good studios is probably bad for gamers, but good for shareholders. Or is it? It seems Activision has pretty much left Blizzard alone and let them do whatever they want. Not only are they still (arguably) the finest developer in the world, but they've been able to rake in an unbelievable amount of cash. It seems Activision has taken a more hands off approach and it has paid off. If EA had bought Blizzard, there's no doubt there would be several more "Blizzard" games than there are currently, probably of Dragon Age 2 or C&C 4 quality. Diablo 3 has been in development for about 11 years. EA would've rushed that shit out the door in 2008. |
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3/23/12 10:55:18 AM#9
This is EA vision of the future for games.
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Ceridith
Novice Member
Joined: 11/24/09
The more you hype an upcoming game in your mind, the more it will fail to meet your expectations. |
3/23/12 10:55:24 AM#10
Originally posted by infofront Uh, as a former avid Warcraft/Diablo fan and former 6+ year WoW vet, I disagree with the highlighted statement. Also, Blizzard wasn't bought by Activision. Blizzard is a subsidiary of Vivendi, and Blizzard actually merged with Activision. |
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3/23/12 10:55:56 AM#11
Originally posted by Zekiah
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3/23/12 10:59:18 AM#12
Originally posted by infofront And yet, Blizzard games have not only fallen drastically in quality, they're now rushing out Diablo 3 with missing features instead of 'when it's done'. Also, if you think Activision had nothing to do with Blizzard's decision to 'monetize' Starcraft 2 by splitting it into 3 parts, then you're incredibly naive. All the real talent left Blizzard a long, long time ago. Saying anything otherwise is just completely laughable. |
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3/23/12 10:59:31 AM#13
Originally posted by Unlight Who hasn't heard of Bullfrog? Anyone familiar with P.M would know of them, especially due to the titles they released. For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson If you can't argue the point don't say anything at all. |
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3/23/12 11:01:31 AM#14
Originally posted by Bunks That's Diabolical and impressive ... kind of like how the devestation left behind after a hurricane is impressive. |
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Zekiah
Advanced Member
Joined: 1/06/07
Hype (noun) |
3/23/12 11:01:56 AM#15
Originally posted by Rednecksith What they've done to D3 is an absolute travesty, but I expect nothing less from EA. "Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky |
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3/23/12 11:03:31 AM#16
Originally posted by Zekiah Wait what? :P For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson If you can't argue the point don't say anything at all. |
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3/23/12 11:06:37 AM#17
Originally posted by Distopia There are gamers today who weren't even born when I was playing Dungeon Keeper, let alone Syndicate. And when the studio was finally closed down, those same gamers were starting kindergarten. I imagine there are many people who haven't heard of Bullfrog. |
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Zekiah
Advanced Member
Joined: 1/06/07
Hype (noun) |
3/23/12 11:08:21 AM#18
Originally posted by Distopia • It's incomplete (missing PvP and who knows what else) • The graphics look and feel like WoW/Torchlight • It was desinged for consoles and kids • They stripped ALL character customization out of Diablo except for gear • Pretty much everything is handed to the player now at level-up • The only drops left are gear and gems It will play well with the WoW crowd though, no doubt about that. For me, a Diablo fan since the beginning, it's absolutely pathetic. PoE is more of a successor than D3 is. Simply put, it's now WoWablo. "Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky |
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3/23/12 11:36:55 AM#19
Originally posted by Zekiah EA does not own Blizzard. |
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Zekiah
Advanced Member
Joined: 1/06/07
Hype (noun) |
3/23/12 11:39:11 AM#20
Originally posted by Anubisan You're right, was thinking Activision. Same difference, same end result...crap. "Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky |
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