The panel, consisting of former
Mass Effect lead writer Patrick Weekes, lead editor Karin Weekes, and former
Dragon Age writer David Gaider,
talked about how Electronic Arts' acquisition of BioWare prevented the studio from going bankrupt. The panel admitted that
Dragon Age 2 was "very rushed" because EA had just recently acquired the studio. However, the game still became critically-acclaimed, scoring high marks from critics.
The game's rushed nature was apparently a byproduct of BioWare's need to show EA a finished product. But without the acquisition, BioWare would not have lasted much longer, as the studio had "essentially run out of money."
While on the topic of money, the panelists mentioned how Electronic Arts' "chief concern is money," but they quickly elaborated that EA"rarely push[es] for anything specific or [tells] BioWare what to do." The BioWare devs clearly wanted to squash any presuppositions that EA forces specific features or decisions onto studios.