150°

Pachter: “BioWare without the doctors is like a Godfather movie without Coppola”

Industry analyst Michael Pachter believes the departure of founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk will have a profound effect on the quality of BioWare’s output, saying “you’re not getting anything like those games again.”

Read Full Story >>
beefjack.com
NYC_Gamer4237d ago

The studio lost its identity along time ago while the doctors were in charge

shammgod4237d ago

Agreed. It was EAs meddling that caused the downfall

NYC_Gamer4237d ago

EA is known for ruining studios and franchises

doogiebear4236d ago

And likely caused them to want to leave

GrahamGolden4237d ago

the docs maybe was there but they were still EA bitches so nope they didnt lost identity before EA but after EA.

Bercilak4237d ago

Thank you!

Of course, people will point to sales figures in support of their contention that more recent games sold better but quantity doesn't equate to quality. Britney Spears sold a lot of albums, too.

Jason_Tanner4237d ago

Well really at the end of the day that statement is just a reflection on how brainless the consumer masses are as a whole.

greenpowerz4237d ago (Edited 4237d ago )

They were fine until PS3 was equally thrown in the mix after EA. Hell Even ME3 Box art was geared to PS3 fans.

Look at how Japanese this looks. http://garybaileywriting.fi... When you see Shepard in ads when this energy blade is turned on it ejects like a mineral based blade and makes a cling/sling noise.

Carl_Shocker4237d ago

"Hell Even ME3 Box art was geared to PS3 fans."

...I don't even......whaaaa

The Box art was fine, better then having a horrible purple line at the top "Better with Kinect".

lodossrage4237d ago (Edited 4237d ago )

I know people like the throw ridiculous, fanboyish notions out there on this site, but somehow blaming the PS3 for the fall of Bioware is just.....well...anyone with common sense can fill in the rest for me lol. I'll just say only a fanboy would believe/agree with that dribble greenpowerz lol

Anyway, truth be told, Even though it's true EA has a habit of messing up developer units they buy, Bioware's games were slowly on the decline anyway.

Case in point, remember KOTOR? Remember how hardcore orientated it was?

Then their next game, Jade Empire, while it was still hardcore, Bioware made it more accessible to the mainstream (compared to KOTOR).

Then came Mass Effect, which was while still hardcore, it was made even more mass audience friendly than KOTOR or Jade Empire. And the rest of the games, you all know the story.

Point is yes, EA made them that much worse off true, but they were slowly going down the path of decline anyway. EA just made it come that much faster.

GrahamGolden4237d ago

hate more master zero....hey guess what ME1 coming to ps3 u mad brah?

best version confirmed also..another exclusive lost for ya..but oO wait it was also on pc's u mad ?

wait for your halo 1482937927384 and shut it kkthxbb

majiebeast4237d ago (Edited 4237d ago )

I think my brain just went dead for a second when i read that. WHAT!!!

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4237d ago
ChunkyLover534237d ago

People leave developers, that doesn't mean the games and franchises wont be fine. When Bungie left people thought Halo would suck, but 343i looks to be putting their own touch on Halo and Master Chief and it looks like the best one ever.

Remedy sold off Max Payne and Rockstar did a great job with MP3.

A different company made Little Big Planet for the Vita and people are saying that is the definitive version.

Peter M left Lionhead and I expect that to be a positive for the Fable series. Cliff B left Epic and I expect Gears and those games to be fine.

People leave companies all the time, there are a million quality developers ready to step up.

Chuk54237d ago

The difference with halo, is that bungie didn't have their hearts in it anymore. You could even see with reach that was the case. that's the case where new blood was needed. I see the doctors leaving much like Mikami leaving capcom

ChunkyLover534237d ago (Edited 4237d ago )

I have to disagree, I thought Halo Reach was the best Halo to date, certainly the single player, which was heartfelt and amazing. I thought they took too many risks with the multiplayer, but it was still a solid effort.

@MikeMyers
343i is strictly a Halo developer, that is why so many talented developers joined them in the first place. If you look at some of the people who are on that team, they are an all star dev team.

Even there name is a Halo reference, I wouldn't expect them to do anything but quality Halo games.

MikeMyers4237d ago (Edited 4237d ago )

EA has a history of running franchises into the ground by buying out the developers and changing their identity. Just look at what has happened to Command & Conquer for example. Bioware will never be like the old Bioware because EA restructured them with Mythic Entertainment. Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk were the last two remaining co-founders at Bioware.

This whole thing reminds me of what has happened to Rare and when Microsoft bought them. The main people left and only the name has carried on trying to retain the glory days. Same thing is happening now with Bioware, the heart and soul of the company is now gone.

343i still has Frank O' Connor (formerly from Bungie) at the helm and he's in charge of continuing the Halo franchise. How the company moves forward on other future franchises is the question and that is only if Microsoft allows the team to do anything besides Halo. On the flip-side, Bioware has created a lot of ip's and were not a one-hit wonder. Now will the development team be able to create new and refreshing franchises while working at EA?

zerocrossing4237d ago

Itagaki left Team Ninja and now look at Ninja gaiden, number 3 was awful

Shinji Mikami left Capcom and look at the state of RE 5 and 6 they almost represent nothing of their origins.

Toyama left Konami and Silent hill hasn't been very good or scary since.

These are prime examples of creators leaving a company and their games declining because of it.
Also I'm not trying to correct you just showing the argument has weight on both sides.

m234237d ago

343i will only make Halo games, hence the name 343i.

MikeMyers4237d ago

ChunkyLover53, then perhaps 343i isn't the best example of new people carrying on the torch since all they will be doing is Halo. Bioware is known for many franchises, not just Mass Effect. I do hope Bungie well in the future as they probably wanted to move forward and do something else besides Halo.

I think when Bioware was bought by EA it was downhill from there and now nobody is left from the old team. I also expect some people from 343i to jump ship in the future once they have experience under their belts. Not too many people only want to work on just one franchise forever.

Jason_Tanner4237d ago

The name of a developer means nothing without a talented group of people behind it.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4237d ago
Belking4237d ago

I knew once EA stepped in it wouldn't be long before those guys took off. No studio wants want to be owned and those that are owned and say otherwise is total BS. All my opinion of course.

Knight_Crawler4237d ago

I hate MS for not buying Bioware when they had the opportunity.

Blah blah blah...Rare was already dead when Nintendo sold them to MS so do not give me that BS about MS killed Rare.

Belking4237d ago

"Blah blah blah...Rare was already dead when Nintendo sold them to MS so do not give me that BS about MS killed Rare."

I know Rare wasn't the same when MS bought them. As a matter of fact, MS actually brought them back to profitability. In this case there was no need for EA to step in with that deal because Bioware was doing well with their publishing deals. They really didn't benefit from the EA take over. When they had to defend their ending to ME3 I knew a change was gonna come. These guys will start another studio and won't that mistake again.

Show all comments (25)
300°

Report: Sexual Misconduct Investigation Conducted at EA, Suspects Named and What They Did Revealed

EA senior staff has been investigated for sexual misconduct involving female coworkers, and these said people have been named publicly.

isarai2d ago

Aye just call Phil, i mean he somehow made Bobby Kotick's scandal disappear and gave him a few million dollar high five on the way out.

Cacabunga2d ago

I wonder if it will be censored with some in game ads.

InUrFoxHole1d 1h ago

You think Phil did that? 🤣

MrBaskerville1h ago(Edited 1h ago)

Microsoft did, Phil Spencer played a minor part. He instigated the buyout that led to Kotick escaping all his controversies while getting a golden handshake.

Someone on Twitter calculated that the people hired in Tango and Arkane Austin could get a decent salary for roughly 17 years for the money Kotick was paid.

XiNatsuDragnel2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

EA about to go down like Activision and then Phil saves the day saying.this is good for the industry and consolidation will help create competition. /s.

MrBaskerville1h ago

Then they shutdown Codemasters and studio behind Jedi Survivor.

Atleast they could hardly do much damage that EA hadn't allready done. EA has shut down most of their studios by now.

ravens522d ago

What's up with all these horny creeps. You gon be horny, fine. Just not at work take care of that shit before you go in. Rub one out if you have to. Don't be a creep at all. ESPECIALLY at work. But don't be one AT ALL.

Extermin8or3_2d ago

I mean part of the issue is that things transpired outside of work....

MrBaskerville1h ago

That's the thing he mentioned about not being a creep at all.

KwietStorm_BLM2d ago

You think deviants care where they are? Work sometimes makes it an even better situation for them because they can abuse their power.

mudakoshaka1d 12h ago

Nerds think they are Gods when they are making video games.

NotoriousWhiz2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

"it seems that according to EA, given the events transpired outside of work between two adults, and the fact that once investigation has started that the alleged perpetrators didn’t do it again, the investigation is considered closed. [...] The victim still has to work with the people that harassed her."

Yep, EA is disgusting.

Extermin8or3_2d ago

I mean the fact stuff happened outside of work puts EA in quite a difficult position legally. These women don't seem to have reported the matter to the police which kinda ties EA's hands on what they can do. If they don't file reports of the crimes then yeah from EA's perspective it is stuff that happened outside of work. The only exception is the guy that apparently referenced things in the slack channel for work, spending on what he said proving it may be very hard and he may well be able to get away with plausible deniability. I don't like EA and I think these people need to be dismissed but without any legal action being taken, EA can't really do much without risk of being sued themselves for unfair dismissal etc.

Show all comments (21)
90°

EA to Spend Billions Boosting Share Prices After Mass Layoffs

EA has announced it will engage in a shareholder-pleasing share buyback program just a couple of months after mass layoffs at the studio.

Read Full Story >>
techraptor.net
Yi-Long5d ago

Well, anything to make those shareholders happy, I guess. They're all that matters in this industry nowadays.

badboyz095d ago (Edited 5d ago )

EA stocks haven't been profitable in over 5yrs. They better hope Take-two don't get the FIFA license lol.

130°

BioWare Could be Working on More than Just Dragon Age Dreadwolf and Mass Effect 4

Earlier this year, BioWare was hit with layoffs as part of a downsizing of parent company Electronic Arts, but fans have been reassured that the next Mass Effect game hasn’t been impacted. Likewise, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf’s development is still churning along, with BioWare putting it at the forefront of its focus and rumors suggesting that it could launch sometime later this year. Fans might be getting another look at the long-in-development Dragon Age: Dreadwolf at the Summer Game Fest in June.

If the recently posted job offering for a temporary development manager is any indication, BioWare could have yet another surprise up its sleeve for when Mass Effect 4 and Dragon Age: Dreadwolf are nearing completion. This mystery BioWare video game could truly be anything, from another spin-off of its two major properties to something entirely new. All there is to go on at the moment is a vague mention in the job posting, and it might still be some time before BioWare is ready to confirm any new games in its pipeline.

Read Full Story >>
gamerant.com
just_looken43d ago

So a studio that spent years on anthem then this dragon age thing is now also working on another ip along with mass effect,

You think they would be worried that there brand has been on 3 major screw ups

Dragon age 3 launched broken with the frostbite engine yes its a good game but you can see in the late game how rough it was

anthem......

Mass effect 4 well that dev team was fired so yeah.....

They should make sure this new dragon age is a goat instead of putting more work on the table

bababooiy42d ago

Bioware today is like 150 poeple i dont see how they are seemingly working on all these projects at the same time.

Michiel198942d ago

Inquisition wasn't broken, it just had some flaws and on the contrary it also had some strengths. If you call inquisition a major screw up then idk what to say.

That said with what happened to the study since then and now, I'm not really confident that their next game will be any good.

just_looken42d ago

If you played it fully to get plat like me back in its novemeber launch window you had that castle with empty area's endgame missions not there or working and a mp that was made around loot box grind like the mass effect mp.

Its hard to explain to those that played it years later after they tossed out the dlc/patch's

Michiel198942d ago

entitled much? I played it at launch too. Why you even platted it if it was a "major screw up"?
It was good enough for you to sink 100 hours in but also a complete fuckup at the same time, make up your mind.
So either you like shitty games or you're just talking out of your ass.

RaidenBlack42d ago

Well just wanna say, Archetype Entertainment is the new BioWare, composed of mainly ex-BioWare vets.
And they're developing Exodus (starring Matthew McConaughey), a new sci-fi RPG (spiritual successor to Mass Effect, dare I say?)

CantThinkOfAUsername42d ago

I hope it's a single player game with Anthem's gameplay mechanics.

Becuzisaid42d ago

They're owned by EA. What makes you think that they wouldn't publish for PS5? Shoot, if your fridge could connect to your bank account EA would try to release it for that if they could!

Double_O_Revan42d ago

How about they focus on those games and not over extend themselves? We don't need another Anthem.

Becuzisaid42d ago

Bioware died after Inquisition (some would even argue after ME3). They are no longer the same company.

Show all comments (14)