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Is BioWare on its death bed?

For me, Bioware is in its Star Wars phase:

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Dead from a certain point of view. They'll continue to make bank for years to come.
 
All the warning signs are here. After such development hell as the game is getting we will get either something briliant or total crap. But with EA I'm 99% sure it will be second option.
 
I honestly hope not. I've loved Bioware games since forever and have always pre-ordered. DA:I is a game you either love or hate and I love it to death. Andromeda had so much potential and while I still enjoyed the game, it was nowhere near top tier quality. I play their games for story, characters and top flight voice acting. For the most part, they failed in all three areas and with Bioware, that's a bad sign.

I don't want Anthem, I would much rather it failed. But if it does fail, Bioware is probably dead. On the flip of that, if it does gangbusters, then it'll be Anthem all the time. And I don't want that either.

I just want my DA4.
 
I don't know, but I honestly hope so. The passion they had for game design, Ray and Greg, I just don't think it's there. I remember hearing them do a Dragon Age interview in 2006 and I couldn't conjure words harsh enough to describe their level of phoned-in-ness there was in the air about them. They've been snake oil salesman imo since then and there hasn't been much good to speak of unless you really enjoyed DA.
 
If Anthem flops yeah, it'll be Game Over for Bioware, but the question is whether it will flop, it seems like a lot of people are hoping it will out of a grudge against Bioware.

Personally I think the game looks fine, yeah it's generic "Destiny but with an Iron Man suit" but sometimes a "video game" video game is what you're in the mood for, it almost reminds me of something like a modern day version of the Xbox title Brute Force.

But let's face it, it's only a matter of time until yes, Bioware does die, it seems like every developer who signs on with EA dies eventually, it's the ultimate gaming faustian bargain.
 
I think they are on the path of doom, if this last project doesnt work out, EA won't spare them the axe.
 
I personally consider Andromeda to not be a Bioware game as it was made in a different studio. It was a studio that had Bioware slapped on it similar to what 2K did with irrational. Montreal studio should be closed based on that game or at a minimum kept as a back up studio like Raven( who never deserved that fate).

Having read a couple of Drew Karpyshyn novels I feel people vastly overate his writing chops. He is not a hack but he is not a great writer eIther IMO. I don't think Anthem will succeed or fail based on his input, I suspect it will have little to no effect.
 
EA is largely to blame because of how badly they've managed their studios but it will really be an Anthem for BioWare if they manage to pull this game off.

Sadly I have no idea what's to come after since pretty much most of its talented people have left the studio.

Here's to you Casey Hudson!
 
Anthem didn't look anything special when i saw it for the first time. Gameplay looks fucking generic.

Sorry but i have no faith in this title.
 
I get the gut feeling that EA themselves could be in trouble in the near future. I completely concede that there is very little rational behind this theory, just a feeling.

They have the FIFA and Madden juggernauts. That is not debatable. How is Battlefield doing? How much did they pay for the Star Wars licence? How much money does it take to run a business with almost nine thousand employees? Looking at their list of acquired IP, there's a lot dormant or deceased there. They're not exactly cranking out the hits as of late.

I just have this funny feeling.
 
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Scopa said:
I get the gut feeling that EA themselves could be in trouble in the near future. I completely concede that there is very little rational behind this theory, just a feeling.

They have the FIFA and Madden juggernauts. That is not debatable. How is Battlefield doing? How much did they pay for the Star Wars licence? How much money does it take to run a business with almost nine thousand employees? Looking at their list of acquired IP, there's a lot dormant or deceased there. They're not exactly cranking out the hits as of late.

I just have this funny feeling.
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Well, there's a reason that EA keeps coming up as one of the most likely acquisition targets by Microsoft when they repatriate their money...and I've bought stock hedging my bets that this will happen this summer.

As for BioWare...IIRC, the original founders responsible for its direction and who helmed its past achievements have all left the company, and it's little more than a name that EA acquired at this point. (I may be wrong/have overlooked someone though, so please correct me if one of the original founders is still around). I don't think people rooting for BioWare to fail are really rooting against BioWare, per se, but EA's practice of gobbling up companies, sucking the marrow out of them, and throwing their bones on the ever-increasing heap behind its HQ.

And yes, I realize the irony in hedging my bets that EA will be acquired by Microsoft, a company that, until the past year or so, has done just this. However, I think a lot of that (including the Lionhead closure) stems from how piss-poor Mattrick managed the Xbox business for Microsoft and provided zero direction, innovation, or leadership. But I also think Mattrick is a breathing example of the Peter Principle in action, so I may be biased.
 
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There really are different Biowares at EA. The original Bioware at Edmonton will be fine.

Bioware Austin is just keeping it minimal to support SWTOR and produce some content, while Bioware Montreal will probably die off.
 
qirex said:
Poor dev team is probably being forced to add a battle royale mode now.
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LOL...we'll know we've hit peak Battle Royale when Dragon Age adds this mode to the game.

I would like to see a Battlefield 3 Battle Royale mode though. That would be cool.
 
bati said:
Stop looking at the setting (space suits) and instead observe the moment to moment gameplay, or how the game flow is structured (encounter, mission design, hubs, etc). .
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For that we have to wait for reviews or play the game. Can't judge quests structure nd all from a early pre release video.
 
Man. knights of the old republic could use a good remaster. I keep trying to go back to it but the dated graphics make it difficult.
 
Recent articles online are saying that prior to EA's acquisition of Bioware the developers themselves were in financial crisis, so it took EA to keep them afloat from 2007, if they didn't come in, would we have gotten the Mass Effect sequels that we did? Or would Mass Effect been a one-hit-wonder, like Full Throttle became? Granted they are probably a shadow of their former selves, but EA is pretty much giving them life-support for the past-decade....that being said why did we not get a HD remaster of Jade Empire? (Never played that game must get around to playing it somepoint this year!!)
 
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I think Microsoft should step in the second EA puts the nail in the coffin and resurrect Bioware. Better publisher, better games.
 
Jigsaah said:
I think Microsoft should step in the second EA puts the nail in the coffin and resurrect Bioware. Better publisher, better games.
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Even if Microsoft does gets Bioware, I'm pretty sure they gonna make them develope MP focused RPG like Anthem rather than Single Player RPG.
 
Microsoft buying EA is the best thing that can happen to Bioware and the rest of the devs under EA. The publisher and it's awful decisions has already done more than enough damage to numerous franchises, not to mention that I'm not sure that any studio can fulfill their unreal sales expectations.
 
I feel like they are on life support. They made my favorite game series of all time, Mass Effect. For that, I thank them. But Andromeda was terrible, Inquisition wasn't very good and Anthem looks like the most generic space marine trash I've ever seen, worse even than Destiny. The studio is finished.
 
Danjin44 said:
Even if Microsoft does gets Bioware, I'm pretty sure they gonna make them develope MP focused RPG like Anthem rather than Single Player RPG.
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Honestly, if the strategy is similar to Undead Games and State of Decay 2, there's a chance Microsoft would take the shackles off and let Bioware do their thing. Minimal oversight is what's best for the studio right now.

Edit: I should add that it may be likely. Mass Effect 1 was Xbox exclusive...I wanna say Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire was too. So they definitely have a history that's worth revisiting.
 
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EA cutting Bioware out is like walking up to a 3 ft brick wall and getting mad at your arm when it can't punch through it. To resolve the problem, you just cut off your whole arm and look for a new one.

Like....the arm is still good man...it can do plenty of cool stuff and is really useful. Your expectations are just unrealistic and hurts the arm in the first damn place. Don't cut off your arm idiot EA...
 
I'm playing Andromeda atm and i think it has the best gameplay of all ME games, storywise, not so much. Bland and non memorable characters, awful dialogue and even with a good story premise they managed to screw up.

EA kills everything it touches tbh. I'm looking at you Dead Space 3! And you, Visceral Games.
 
SvRomanov87 said:
Microsoft buying EA is the best thing that can happen to Bioware and the rest of the devs under EA. The publisher and it's awful decisions has already done more than enough damage to numerous franchises, not to mention that I'm not sure that any studio can fulfill their unreal sales expectations.
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Worked out for Access software (which at the time was famous for Tex Murphy and the Links golf games)

I realize EA is a lot better than Access was, but still, MS killed them after a few years of mismanagement.
 
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DiscoJer said:
Worked out for Access software (which at the time was famous for Tex Murphy and the Links golf games)

I realize EA is a lot better than Access was, but still, MS killed them after a few years of mismanagement.
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Geez oldie but goodie. Forgot all about them, I actually didn't know Microsoft owned them though.
 
Jigsaah said:
I think Microsoft should step in the second EA puts the nail in the coffin and resurrect Bioware. Better publisher, better games.
Click to expand...

I can't see how Microsoft is any better. Look what they did to Rare, Ensemble Studios, Lionhead Studios, FASA.
 
Bioware is dead to me for sure. If this company wants to get back on track it needs to to go back to it's roots of more complicated single player RPGs. They keep dumbing everything down to the point where even the target audience of lower comprehension skills thinks their games are stupid. That's a serious issue. They need to make a real hardcore, mature and complex game and makes no apologies to the people who cry about it being too complex. Toughen up Bioware, or fade into obscurity.
 
MayauMiao said:
I can't see how Microsoft is any better. Look what they did to Rare, Ensemble Studios, Lionhead Studios, FASA.
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Ensemble was a shame i think. Halo Wars was one of my favorite games last generation. Lionhead....man...Peter Molyneux is what killed Lionhead. Microsoft was right to rid themselves of that cancer. What did they do to Rare exactly...other than pinned them to doing Kinect games. At the time they had good reason. The first kinect sold extremely well and it was very popular. It needed games support and rare did what they could. I don't see why you're saying Microsoft did something to Rare.

I look to the present, the post Phil Spencer era to gauge how Microsoft might treat a newly acquired development studio. The best example I've seen is what they've done with Undead Games, makers of State of Decay. They let them do their thing. IGN First and unlocked mentions this. I'd have to dig to find the link as it was mentioned in passing but it definitely rung a bell in my mind as we've seen EA destroy developer after developer and forcing microtransactions/lootboxes into the gameplay and progression systems. I just don't see Microsoft doing that. If you listen to Phil Spencer DICE keynote speech, he explains where Microsoft was at the times you are mentioning, how they had to take a step back and rebuild their workplace culture.

I think if you look into it, you'll find that Microsoft isn't just being the most consumer friendly console seller, but also the most developer friendly console seller. Xbox one X is testament to that by itself and developers are responding. Watch any medley of digital foundry videos and you can't deny it. I could go on, but this post is getting long. Let me know if you have any questions.
 
paolo11 said:
Agree. I prefer Anthem to be single player to be honest
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ya not going to happen. difficult to monetize single player games for a long time. As we've seen with all bioware releases post EA, there will be a MP component that has microtransactions attached to it.
 
No. Andromeda is a very good game, combat is god tier and the multiplayer is great. Campaign wasn't as strong as previous games, but it's far from basura. Anthem is probably the most interesting game on the horizon for me. At least they go big.
 
ickythingz said:
Bioware is dead to me for sure. If this company wants to get back on track it needs to to go back to it's roots of more complicated single player RPGs. They keep dumbing everything down to the point where even the target audience of lower comprehension skills thinks their games are stupid. That's a serious issue. They need to make a real hardcore, mature and complex game and makes no apologies to the people who cry about it being too complex. Toughen up Bioware, or fade into obscurity.
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I agree, it will never happen with them being attached to EA though.

Mass Effect 2 was the start of the decline, while ME2 wasn't bad - it started the eventual dumbing down of all systems from previous titles to what we have today

This thread reminds me how I need to replay ME1 and DA:O for the umpteenth time
 
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I guess it's too early to make any conclusions. But Bioware's faith will depend on the Anthem successes for sure. We'll see if it's worthy of the efforts. I wasn't impressed by the trailer though.
 
Don't we have enough current Anthem threads to not bump one that's a year old? :goog_rolleyes:
 
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JayZ said:
I guess it's too early to make any conclusions. But Bioware's faith will depend on the Anthem successes for sure. We'll see if it's worthy of the efforts. I wasn't impressed by the trailer though.
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Why did you bump two old Bioware threads within a few minutes of each other?
 
Sage-like, the OP was.
EDIT: Mind, I think anyone signing up with EA is playing the Devil at cards and trying to bluff with a 2 and an 8.
 
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