EA Gave BioWare "Complete Creative Control"
- Thread starter StewShearerOld
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Why do people doubt this? Do you honestly think EA said "LETS MAKE THE ENDING OF MASS EFFECT 3 BAD FOR NOOOOO REASON!!!"
EA probably had 3 conditions for ME3
1: The deadline
2: multiplayer
3: that the multiplayer supported microtransactions
Are they inadvertently responsible for the ending? Maybe. But it's because they cut into development time with multiplayer and then forced a "one year after the last game" deadline. I highly doubt they had their fingers in anything creative.
EA probably had 3 conditions for ME3
1: The deadline
2: multiplayer
3: that the multiplayer supported microtransactions
Are they inadvertently responsible for the ending? Maybe. But it's because they cut into development time with multiplayer and then forced a "one year after the last game" deadline. I highly doubt they had their fingers in anything creative.
A tad dramatic in choice of words I'll admit.NinjaDeathSlap said:
Just because he thinks they were good ideas doesn't make them good. But its possible. I don't live in that guys mind. Doesn't make it any less bullshitty though.NinjaDeathSlap said:
Mind = Blown.NinjaDeathSlap said:
Don't lie on the internet. God will strike you down.NinjaDeathSlap said:
As you can see from my responses, You can never have too much sarcasmNinjaDeathSlap said:
And I'm not an enormous EA hating conspiracy theorist either TBO. It just struck me as a bit random. Maybe he believes it; sure, Wont stop me from thinking its bullshitNinjaDeathSlap said:
And I am sure that he (and EA) will be devastated that I, a Random Guy On The Internet, think this way.
Seeing as how he doesn't work for them, I bet he got nothing...or if these forums are to be believed he had to pay them...Amaror said:
Also as for it's timing it does make sense, he sees a company he use to work for get an award for something they probably don't deserve and he felt the need to speak up.
Honestly this kind of fucks me off that no matter who says what it's always EA's fault in some peoples eyes. Can people not just wake up and realise that a bad game is not the end of the fucking world and that just cause they're a big company does not make them the devil.
Probably the catch is that DLC, microtransactions and such are not considered to fall under the umbrella of "creative control" in EA's viewpoint.
Nope. They own Bioware, the set them a deadline and say work. That is a legitimate and fair way of doing business. As for the timeline issue that only happened for Dragon Age 2, and to be honest it's a perfectly adequate functioning game. Could be better, but I find it still can be entertaining and takes anywhere from 10 - 20 hours to finish.Revelo said:
I'm sorry but, what?
You don't have complete creative control over a lot of it. You either have complete creative control or you don't, that's kinda what complete means.
"EA gave us complete creative crontrol"
You do realize that's not a point in your favor, right? It just means that the end of Mass Effect 3 is even more your fault.
You do realize that's not a point in your favor, right? It just means that the end of Mass Effect 3 is even more your fault.
Define, "Complete Control" for me, please.
I take that to mean.. EA is the Master and their studios are the slaves. The slaves are given the illusion of "complete control" by being given a safe word.. which allows them to "stop it at any time".. right? Right.
I take that to mean.. EA is the Master and their studios are the slaves. The slaves are given the illusion of "complete control" by being given a safe word.. which allows them to "stop it at any time".. right? Right.
People still think ME3 had anything significant to do with EA's previous win? The timing was coincidental yes but EA had already been nominated and moved up the ladder before ME3 was even released.
Them spinning this into a backlash exclusively as a result of the ME3 fiasco is probably the greatest PR move they could make, totally insulates their shockingly poor employee treatment, crazy salaries for executives and torpedoing of competition.
Them spinning this into a backlash exclusively as a result of the ME3 fiasco is probably the greatest PR move they could make, totally insulates their shockingly poor employee treatment, crazy salaries for executives and torpedoing of competition.
Precisely...FoolKiller said:
"Creative freedom" means didly squat because lets face it... kept for mass effect 3s ending the stories that Bioware has been telling where excellent or atleast above average.
Even DA2 had a somewhat above standard story.
But thats it... the freedom to write the story as you want means nothing if EA dictates every other aspect of the game and sets unrealistic deadlines.
Pretty much my thoughts. Not to mention you notice that the third entry in the EA/Bioware triumverate of suck wasn't even mentioned... that being "Old Republic Online". Of course that involves a lot of touchy issues, but ones that prove EA meddling. A good example of this would be the whole LGBT issue with the game where Bioware, who has created such characters in the past when they felt it worked, said they had no plans to include them in TOR, EA pretty much stepped in and forced the issue to avoid the complaints they were getting, forcing Bioware to include them in it's first expansion under creative duress, and leading to a lot of the constant "where are our space gays?" whining that plagued the game. It's a direct example of EA meddling with Bioware's creative process, whatever your position on the issue itself. Then you have the whole situation where EA apparently didn't like what Bioware some of what Bioware was doing with TOR, and whether the problems were as deep as implied by "EA Louse" or not, the bottom line is they pretty much crammed Mythic into Bioware's design process, a company which despite some early success with "Dark Age Of Camelot" pretty much ruined EA's last big MMO project... WAR (Warhammer Age Of Reckoning).Amaror said:
As a result this is definatly a PR move, especially given it's timing, and I doubt the endorsement was free.
One also can look at information from the "behind the scenes" app released about ME3 to see some of what happened there and the thoughts/influance on the design process. Ditto for the way how Bioware pretty much went from developing largely stat based RPGs into more of an action game producers who include cinematics and conversation branches under EA's management, their development style just happening to change radically when they are picked up by a company largely known for it's action games in today's market, and trying to shoehorn everything into that demographic. "Dragon Age 2" kind of failed because people loved the first one, and wanted more of the same, just with more depth and stuff added, "Dragon Age 2" represented an entirely differant style of game with the name "Dragon Age 2" splayed on it.
Then there are also side issues like how under EA's control, we saw Bioware caught trying to shill their products to boost metacritic ratings (in response to Dragon Age 2), we had the entire "Hawke" incident where Bioware asked people if it was okay to remove most of the character generation options people would expect, like racial selection, in exchange for having him fully voice acting, to which the community said pretty firmly "no, we don't want that" followed by Bioware not only doing it anyway, but claiming it's what the community wanted by way of marketing promotion. Oh and on top of this a very EA-like attitude towards the fans where a big gesture was made about ignoring what people who complained wanted to aay "OMG, the forums turned toxic based on what we've been doing, I just avoid that". That's a very EA-like attitude when it comes to consumer relations and customer service when you get down to it.
The point here being that I'm not buying this statement, and on top of it there is a lot that isn't addressed.
The problem with the combat in DA2 wasn't really that the combat was more flashy, or even that it was more fast-paced, it was that there just wasn't all that much options, spells and attacks.Milk said:
Which obviously is a result from the short development-time. The decisions made in DA2 that a lot of people hated (the simplified combat, repetitive environments) were made because they had to cut corners.
I do blame EA for rushing out stuff and possibly demanding higher sales, but honestly it's not that hard to see how this goes. They make their big-name MMO, stick their vets on it, and put some new guys in charge of DA and ME. The new guys think they're all that cause they're Bioware and they're the best in the business, they try to use their budget to sell it to the more casual marker, and they don't pull it off because they're not ready for prime time, they're rushed, and they're trying to mix stuff that doesn't go well together without serious skill. Meanwhile TOR goes way overbudget and releases at a time where everyone's just sick of Star Wars and MMO's.
I think there's a way to meet in the middle here.faefrost said:
What if technically this guy is right and EA didn't influence the creative process at all, but what they did do to affect development was their notoriously fast paced schedules that forced devs to cut corners and be a bit sloppier than they otherwise would have been?
A few points to make here.
First, do they really want us to know that? All they're doing now is trying to shift blame onto themselves.
Also, companies acquired by EA often say this, or something close to it, but there is always a shift in how the company works, usually for the better. EA must be doing something...
First, do they really want us to know that? All they're doing now is trying to shift blame onto themselves.
Also, companies acquired by EA often say this, or something close to it, but there is always a shift in how the company works, usually for the better. EA must be doing something...
i will accept that the ending was Bioware's fault, entirely... but there is no way it wasnt EA's idea to include on-disc DLC. and it was probably thanks to them that the game shipped probably a year before it should have. ME3 was not finished, in my opinion.
im willing to bet that it was also EA that wanted Jessica Chobot in the game.
im willing to bet that it was also EA that wanted Jessica Chobot in the game.
Headline should read "Developer throws self under bus to protect EA moneybags," with the tagline "Gesture largely counterproductive."Da Orky Man said:
Also, if EA's losing money in this racket so badly, why are devs rushing to defend them? By definition if they've got no money, they can't fund games, right?