BioWare co-founder: “EA gives you enough rope to hang yourself”

BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk spoke to Games Industry International regarding EA’s acquisition of the studio.
“The best analogy I use, in a positive way, is EA gives you enough rope to hang yourself,” he said.
“It was really interesting because we really made all the choices we wanted to make ourselves; these are all things we wanted to try. And that’s something to remember – while we were independent we didn’t have quite the resources we had as part of EA, and then we got to EA and it was like ‘wow we can do all this stuff.’ We had to be really thoughtful about what we wanted to focus on.”

[NewMonday]

that they did indeed.

[showtimefolks]

People just hate on EA. for all the bad EA also make some great games and take risks with a lot of new IP's

They partners program lets the developer keep the IP pole shadow of damned and incoming Fuse

So while yes they do make some crappy decisions along the way lets also give them credit for getting sme this right, they never forced anyone to buy anything n dead space 3, you could play the game like normal

Also the DRM with simcity has been done by other big publishes

Activision to me are bigger evil than EA

[HebrewHammer]

Brutal Legend anyone?

[pompombrum]

The problem is, EA's bad decisions far outweigh the positives. Also can you refresh my memory please, I really can't think of any recent risk taking new IPs have invested in.

Activision are in no way anywhere near EA in terms of being a bad company. Activision knows what it's fans want and gives it to them and have had a lot of success from that. EA on the other hand are more concerned about what the people who aren't buying their games want than they are about making great games for their current fanbase, not to mention their obsession with DLC and nickel and diming people to death is hardly subtle.

[showtimefolks]

aiBreeze

by that you mean over priced DLC?

mirror's edge
shadow of damned
kingdoms of amular
brutal legend
army of 2 new IP this gen
Dead Space new IP this gen
brought back SSX
took Fifa series and made it great
skate a new IP this gen

go ahead name me some quality games by Acitvision? they didn't even want to take the risk of a quality open world game like sleeping dogs

they have invested a lot of money into studios which haven't paid off like the Mercenary studios which they paid a lot for and that team didn't do shit

i hate EA as much as the next guy, but let's also give some credit where credit is due. THQ just went out of business do we want EA to go out of business too?

EA publishes quality games but yet people still hate on them

[ALLWRONG]

I'm sorry but EA truly does deserve the "worst company in America" award. Activision may be a close 2nd and could have 1st. The past couple years have pushed EA over the top in terms of evil company.

[Mithan]

The reason people dislike EA is because they have killed a lot of awesome franshises.

What happened to Ultima? Wing Commander? Magic Carpet? etc, etc, etc.

[Dee_91]

I think EA is worse than Activision because of all of the games EA has.Activision dont have many games so they dont affect as many people as EA does nor do they have as much leverage.
EA are one of those " big evil companies" that holds that thing you want so bad up in the air with a contract in your face.
It doesnt matter how many great games they publish or develop its the fact that they are bringing all the bad money hungry ideology from other industries to the gaming industry.
And thinking like showtimefolks is the reason why these big corps have so much " power " over its consumers.Or atleast treat us this way.Like "eh walmart buy out all these small businesses and manufacture what ever in a sweatshop in china but atleast I get %10 off".

[TheXonySbox]

BF3 bugs and lack of refunds, same with sim city.
Orgin is crap.

EA has TERRIBLE customer service, thats why they suck in my book.

[Anon1974]

This completely jives with what I've heard from the few I've talked to from Bioware. People always say "Oh! EA ruined Bioware" but when you talk to Bioware, it sounds like EA was very hands off when it came to development (don't know if this is still the case). I remember talking to one Bioware guy who said Bioware was pushing EA to adopt DLC back when EA was still convinced all expansion packs should be physical releases only.

As for EA being the worst company in America, it's so ridiculous it's insulting. There's American corporations that kill people, poison environments, exploit foreign labour, employ children in sweat shops, banks and investment firms that destabilize world markets and here we've got a bunch of nerds voting EA the worst company because they don't like day one DLC, micro-transactions or DRM.

Grow up.

[showtimefolks]

Darkride66

Exactly

My thing is did they're force anyone to buy anything in dead space 3? It was an option that every iPad or Facebook game has. Either grind or pay and don't have to grind

Always online is here to stay dead with it, seriously people just like y'all got use to online passes you will get use to always online. People are fine with piracy and co panties should provide servers till the last gamer is playing online.

It's a business and object is to make money.

Every studio EA owns or works with praises them and say they were very hands off when it's come to development.

DRM
Online passes
Soon everything digital so no more buying or selling used

3 things people better get use to within next 6-10 years. Buying a game used isn't giving money back to people who made it and no it's not the same as buying used car since you will be buying car parts so those companies make money even after you buy a used product

And I know I will be hated for writing what I just wrote.

We have companies killing people and poisoning environment but EA is worst because of DRM? Your favorite gabe newell even said get use to DRM

[Prcko]

yep,agree

[MariaHelFutura]

Great quote.

[Wingsfan24]

Lol, just goes to show how much complaining goes on here that is completely uniformed. It's not EA that ruins the games according to Zeschuk, it's the developers who either try things the fans don't like or don't do enough to make their game better. Simple as that.

[admiralvic]

I wouldn't go that far, since this is probably a case by case thing. Obviously some publishers will let some developers do whatever they want or practically anything, such as Kojima with Konami, but I doubt every developer is given the same consideration. I can get into an endless stream of "what ifs", but the simple fact is that this simply proves most / any blame falls on BioWare, since as I mentioned before, we only know this relates to BioWare and is not a universal policy.

[ifritAlkhemyst]

Except Konami pretty much made Kojima their Metal Gear bitch. If he could do whatever he wanted I imagine that series would have died long ago.

[Wingsfan24]

Yea, obviously not every publisher is the same. But everyone goes attacking EA for "changing" their game, when they have no idea what's going on behind the scenes. Just this mob mentality that if somebody says something's true, people just follow along and start a hate train. I see it just about everyday here with people coming off with baseless claims that this publisher is doing this or that etc.

[pompombrum]

Yeah I'm sure the Mass Effect 3 developers couldn't wait to get to work on a DLC inspired multiplayer /s

[Wingsfan24]

They wanted to have multiplayer in Mass Effect since the first game. Google it up, quotes directly from Bioware.

[Rainstorm81]

Not to mention majority if not all the multiplayer DLC is FREE

[Root]

Yeah ok then. Yet they've said this about their new IP

http://n4g.com/news/1228890...

I don't think so...

COUGH LIARS COUGH COUGH

EA has secret cameras added in the studios...say one thing bad about EA and it turns into a semi automatic and guns you down

[cleft5]

Dude he is rich beyond our wildest dreams and he no longer works for EA. He doesn't have to lie about stuff like this at all. You don't believe him because you, like most gamers, probably hate EA and what Bioware became. I get that, but it doesn't make him a liar.

Also, it's no surprise that an Employer monitors there employees.

[oof46]

Secret cameras? I thought that was Activision's MO?

But he has no reason to lie. He's out of gaming development and he has no desire to get back into it.

[admiralvic]

Both articles basically say the same thing. Heck the quote in the title is used in this article too...

[palaeomerus]

"semi automatic "

As opposed to a pump action or bolt action? WTF?

[RememberThe357]

He says it's EAs fault because BioWare tried stupid things? He just explained why it's not EAs fault. WTF is this?

[cleft5]

No, he is saying that it isn't EA fault at all. The quote means that EA gives developers a bunch of room to go wild and try new things. Because they have a great deal more money and resources they can try new stuff. But that can backfire on them because people became fans of their products because they delivered a certain type of experience.

With the added money and resources the developers now can try more things. Some developers do this to an extreme and some are too afraid to progress forward at all. Those few try to play it safe and just end up getting left behind.

His point is that the added freedom comes with the increased pressure of having to be profitable. So they can try new stuff, but the new stuff they try needs to pay off to justify the gamble.

[Saryk]

BINGO!

[RememberThe357]

"He just explained why it's not EAs fault."

What you just said, explains what I just said. But saying that EA gives them a enough rope to hang themselves with seems to imply guilt on their part.

These guys f*cked up and EA gets blamed for it. I'm not EA's biggest fan but I'm no longer going to blame them for the fall of BioWare. Ambition is supposed to lead to innovation not retardation. Thanks BioWare for the missed opportunities and disappointment, here's to hoping Dragon Age 3 is not a complete disaster.

[porkChop]

"saying that EA gives them a enough rope to hang themselves with seems to imply guilt on their part."

Are you blind? It says "enough rope to hang YOURSELF". Meaning that EA isn't doing the hanging, it's the developers hanging themselves with their own screw-ups. That doesn't imply any guilt on EA.

[jaklink]

This is actually a really interesting article and there's great insight as to how Bioware coped with the EA acquisition. The point that the article is ultimately making here is that Bioware should have stayed an independent entity, making fewer games but at higher quality standard.

[Wingsfan24]

Uh, what?

"And that’s something to remember – while we were independent we didn’t have quite the resources we had as part of EA, and then we got to EA and it was like ‘wow we can do all this stuff.’ We had to be really thoughtful about what we wanted to focus on.”"

[sjaakiejj]

That's not the point the article is making. Staying independent and making fewer games would not have been profitable for the company - that's the entire reason they were bought by EA in the first place.

[WUTCHUGUNNADO]

At least they're kind enough to give out free rope... people don't have to shuffle around the building looking for a water hose. They obviously know enough to not give out knifes due to how messy it would become... also saves them from buying the safety nets so apple won't sure them. Good job EA... great way to support assisted suicide.

[kupomogli]

People need to just get off the EA hate train and start making their own opinions that aren't just baseless uninformed opinions that they've heard from others.

Most of you probably haven't ever played an Ultima game, Wing Commander, Syndicate, etc, and by some chance you've played them on GOG, most of you never grew up with these franchises and your only hate towards EA closing these companies are because you've "it's happened." No matter how much good they do, some people can't let it go even when it didn't affect them.

Many of the developers who were closed down would have been closed down long before if it wasn't for EA's acquisition. These same developers would also still be here today if it wasn't for constantly releasing titles that sold poorly.

The Saboteur is an amazing open world GTA clone but unfortunately the game just didn't sell. That's after Mercenaries 2 also failed to sell well. Pandemic Studios received another chance after one game bombed only for the next title, although a much better game and in my opinion, one of the best games this gen. Unfortunately, as good as a game as it may have been and as much as I may have enjoyed it, I'm not going to bash on EA because it didn't sell. Why should blame of a great game not selling be pinned on them, especially when they did ample advertising.

Blame of games not selling lie solely on the fanbase. Those of us who say we're gamers, but apparently don't buy games based solely on who the developer is. I've even heard people say that if it's a game that they really want to buy from EA, they refuse to buy it new because of that reason. If a development studio shuts down for not making sales because you decided to support Gamestop and their overpriced used games or not buy a game because a company logo, then don't bitch about it, because you're part of the problem.

On further note, interviews of developers both owned and who created a game under EA but have no ties to the developer have praised them allowing them a near endless amount of creative freedom and a near endless budget on their projects. Something you rarely hear about other publishers.

When you listen to gaming lists about what are the top 10 games of this gen, etc, you usually see more than a few EA titles in there. Mirror's Edge, Army of Two 40th Day, The Saboteur, Dante's Inferno, Dead Space series, Hot Pursuit, Most Wanted, Battlefield 3, Dragon Age Origins, Mass Effect series, Sims 3, etc. There are very few third party publishers that you can say the same about. There are a lot of very high quality titles that come from EA.

>>>>>

[kupomogli]

<<<<<

Most of you are on the EA hate train and never planned to purchase Sim City. When it launched and didn't work probably brought glee to your eyes as it added fuel to the fire so you can just spend your time riding on the hate train. Guess how long it took for the issues to be resolved. One week. And on top of that, people got a free game out of it with two of them being fairly new releases. EA didn't have to do that and I can tell you for sure that almost no other developer would have. For just a week of issues. Let me tell you about issues other games have had and how long they took to be resolved, if they even got resolved.

While everything else was fixed within a week, Twisted Metal(2012)online, while fixed now, was practically unplayable for the first six months. Not that it lagged, but you couldn't get in a game. Playstation All Stars Battle Royale has so many bugs and glitches its ridiculous, and top that off with the worst netcode I've seen in a fighting game. It's nearing six months and there are more issues with Playstation All Stars now than when it launched. Tekken 6, Soul Calibur, and Mortal Kombat all have poor netcode, and there were minimal patches to the game, nothing to fix the netcode. Black Ops on the PS3 and PC was near unplayable online for the first few months, and an even bigger slap to those console owners when the 360 version had the patches being worked on first.

But nope. We don't end there. How about we talk about other publishers who close down studios. Activision just recently closed down Prototype developer Radical Entertainment. Sony has recently closed down Wipeout developer Studio Liverpool, Socom developer Zipper Interactive, and Pursuit Force developer BigBig Studios. Nintendo moved some people over and hired more people to open the studio to create Kid Icarus Uprising, shutting the studio down after completion, yet before release of the game.

As much complaining about Dead Space 3 received as being a shooter, even though it was a shooter in Dead Space 1 and 2, a bit more in Dead Space 3 though. You all had no trouble helping Capcom sell four million copies of Resident Evil 6, something a lot of people can easily argue as being one of the worst third person shooters in this gen. I would rather play Kane and Lynch 2 than Resident Evil 6. It was that bad. Even Operation Raccoon City sold well.

Lots of hypocrites who call themselves gamers, that's all everyone is. Rather than enjoying the games, they rant over which console is better, they rant over which company sucks. I have my favorite companies, sure, but when all is said and done, I care about the games. I'll even purchase a game from my least favorite company, and I have, if it's a game I'm interested in.

Finally. EA earned the worst company in American by those of you I'm calling out on the EA hate train. People who probably have been actually angered by tactics other companies imposed more than EA, but feel you have to bash on EA to keep your position in the in crowd. I heard you guys have a secret handshake and everything. It involves getting on your knees and... you get the idea.

[IK IR Y IP T]

Gamers make me sick these days how is a gaming company even on a list of bad companies when u a have bp and the oil spill the shit companies put in food these days comcast kids these days ..

[LAWSON72]

I honestly hate bioware because imo they made my fav rpg a tps with hardly any content and rpg elements. They didhave a littlegood better with 3 but that ending made me not want to play any of them. I hate ea for different reasons like exclusive preorder dlc, all overpriced dlc, and now exclusive preorder dlc that becomes unavailable if you do not preorder 6 months before launch

[ShiftyLookingCow]

I am feeling sort of stoned(silly circumstances). Hmm so...

EA has priorities about making the most money for their shareholders. Usually the money makers are action packed games, micro-transactions, etc.
Every time EA buys a once independent studio, the studio feels flush with lots of money.
The studio feels like they have total freedom but they know deep down they need to make a lot more money as an EA subsidy.
The studio takes risks...mostly for the sake EA's profit margins(more action, less rpg, less horror, subs etc) and ends up making games that are not of the same caliber as before acquisition and fail the lofty sales predictions. ie. hang themselves.
At some point, too many game sales targets(or a few big ones) are missed and the studio is no more worth keeping open.
EA takes the studio to the backyard and then shoots it in the head.

Its crazy one of Bioware's former bosses is talking about hanging. Bioware was like Valve but for RPGs. Anyone remember how appealing Sonic RPG was in the age of sh!t Sonic games just because it was made by Bioware?

We so badly need more studios that are in between the indie ones and the mega blockbuster ones. Ones that could make a pretty decent game with some really interesting element(story, multiplayer etc) for a few million dollars and then sell around half a million copies and still be relatively profitable. Thus live another day to make another good game. In the meanwhile, their basic tech or engine or framework continues to keep getting more and more capable.

[aLiEnViSiToR]

Wrong !!! EA does this...

https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW50...