EA Still Confident in BioWare
- Thread starter Fanghawk
- Start date
WHAT?Fanghawk said:
Ok. So, first of all, Moore just said, 'Our games being mediocre at best is not the problem that keeps them from being accepted by gamers.', which is obviously incredibly untrue, and second of all, how does he differentiate between "the products themselves" and "certain game elements"? Aren't the "game elements" what make up the game, i.e., the "product"?
Yea, it came out and its acceptable as a ending, but its the kind of effort they needed to put into the game in the first place rather then as an apology for playing minecraft during work hours.Tiamat666 said:
The whole statement is a joke and sounds more like a self delusion then anything else. i mean they're saying their games aren't bad because we sold a bunch of them before people played them and said they didn't like them.
So, by that assertion, every outlet covering this story is on EA's payroll as well, correct?animehermit said:they didn't "announce" anything it was comments made to a magazine at a convention. It's not like they called a fucking press conference to say that Bioware is doing fine.Daystar Clarion said:Who announces that everything is okay?
Nobody does that
I see what you did there and I love itDVS BSTrD said:
OT: again this isn't news Escapist. Then again I can't really argue with this being reported because the escapist likes money as much as everyone else does.
Tiamat666 said:
Opinion is still divided on that. You say it is acceptable, I say it turned a pile of shit into a polished pile of shit but to each their own.snekadid said:
OT: You have faith in Bioware EA? Good for you. Here is the problem. Many people, myself included, don't have faith anymore so what you going to do about that?
On the other hand, if Bioware had been owned by Activision instead, there wouldn't be a Bioware anymore. This news post would have been Bioware being closed.
Gotta agree. Nothing ratchets up the page views and gets the comments section flowing like a story here that involves EA, Bioware or both.animehermit said:they didn't "announce" anything it was comments made to a magazine at a convention. It's not like they called a fucking press conference to say that Bioware is doing fine.Daystar Clarion said:Who announces that everything is okay?
Nobody does that
I see what you did there and I love itDVS BSTrD said:
OT: again this isn't news Escapist. Then again I can't really argue with this being reported because the escapist likes money as much as everyone else does.
I know it's not a popular opinion, but in terms of characters, plot and gameplay (minus the setting), I actually think DAII is an excellent product. Could it have used more development time? Good LORD, yes, but I think its pros often get overlooked. Then again, I thought ME3 was a fitting end, so what do I know?
What they're doing is rebranding almost all of their studios "Bioware." The core team isn't going anywhere NEAR C&C, music factory or otherwise.Toilet said:
this is like one person in a two headed team says that the other one is doing great, when he himself is not helping at all.
we are all confident in Bioware, even when they are not on the standard they were. it is still a great studio, but nobody is confident on EA's part on the collaboration.
we are all confident in Bioware, even when they are not on the standard they were. it is still a great studio, but nobody is confident on EA's part on the collaboration.
Is that song of Cheer Up? I've got that album but it ain't got that song on it.FalloutJack said:
Well, the thing to consider here is that Bioware was running off of it's reputation and the "success" of the games mentioned above came about because of that reputation, people were willing to give them a chance despite what they were hearing, or just generally jumped at them due to the reputation. Someone who buys a copy of DA2 or ME3 for example has already spent their money and has that money in EA's "pros" corner, what they actually think of the product is another thing entirely. If companies like EA were forced to take returns on games I think they would have an entirely differant perspective on what's going on. I think this applies to Bioware also to an extent, when they look at the sales figures it has little to do with their actual reception. What's more within the gaming industry there is a trend for them to listen more to fanboys singing their praises, than to the people saying bad things about their products who are usually dismissed.
To put things into perspective, the reason why "Dragon Age 2" got the reception it did, is because people wanted another game like "Origins" and what's more wanted to see that story picked up. That isn't what they got (I won't break it down again) so they weren't happy. Bioware looks at the sales, and the fanboys singing their praises, and has pretty much decided that "DA3" is largely going to be an enhancement of "DA2" without going back to what made "Origins" what it was (ie a modernized Baldur's Gate, which it was promoted as a spiritual successor to).
I think EA/Bioware knows they are in trouble, but doesn't want to actually backpedal to where they should be. In part because they fear being seen as catering to the fans who might push even harder if they think they won something, but also because in their arrogance they don't want to admit the problems they are facing really exist.
Right now Bioware has basically had THREE strikes right in a row, to be honest I'm not rearing at the bit to go running out to buy any of their products, especially if they aren't specifically what I want (I'm done with their "experimentation" at this point). I think a lot of people are in the same boat. It's going to take a lot to convince me to buy a game without waiting for it to be on the market for a couple of months and see what it's reception is like now (and these companies need initial sales), at the same time given that I don't trust either their advertising or statements by people working for the company (given the lies involved in ME3's release), they kind of have their work cut out for them there, really to get me hyped about anything they do is going to require a sort of unprecedented full disclosure of a type game companies just don't do.
To be honest I'm kind of amazed at how they managed to blow all of this. The various "Infinity Engine" games (Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment) still being popular and played probably lead to the develpment of "Dragon Age: Origins" which was similar in how it played, and went over pretty well by tapping into that crowd. The desician to turn it into a brawler with cinematics still boggles my brain, ditto for the desician to basically overlook the story they were telling, everyone wanted to know what happened with Morrigan and such, so instead they decided to go off on a totally unrelated story tangent. Thet game sold well due to the first one, but almost smacks of intentional suicide. People were screaming from the rooftops about the "Mass Effect 3" ending, and honestly ending a campy space opera isn't all that hard to do, yet they managed to not only blow it, but pretty much irritate 99% of their fan base, honestly at this point I refuse to touch the franchise anymore, and I'm hardly alone despite how it might seem. Winning back a lot of ME fans like me is going to take a LOT of work on their part. "Old Republic" is perhaps the most surprising of their failures, since really they had "Star Wars Galaxies" to use as an example, a game which lasted *8* years and survives beyond death to an extent as an EMU. They also had all of the countless other games that failed due to lack of endgame content, and horribly designed mechanics. "Old Republic" seems almost like a suicide attempt, it launched with minimal endgame compared to the other established games out there it wanted to take players from
and keep, the game balance was a complete mess, and what's more it seemed like it was designed in places by a chimp on sedatives. A good example of "chimp design" would be how for some missions they decide to make you run back and forth between planets, except you can't just hop in your ship and fly there, in many cases you have to run to your ship, through the ship's hanger, through the ship itself, then launch and dock with a space station where you run through the ship again, another instance of a hanger, through the station itself, and then take another shuttle down to the planet, then when you find the relevent NPC and watch the cinematic you have to run all the way back to whatever zone you were (through orbital stations, hangers, etc...). Something that can make grouping a real joy at times when someone's next quest might require them to spend 20 minutes running around just to activate... and really that's the tip of the iceberg.
I don't know, to some extent EA seems like a corrupt cattle baron trying to cover up that his stock is afflicted with mad cow due to him not taking care of it properly (ie feeding cattle food involving parts of other cattle, which I believe is a contributing factor). EA might be the central cause, but at this point I think Bioware might just be hopelessly infected, and even if EA is stopped or reforms it doesn't change the fact that Bioware, and a lot of the other companies that have fallen under EA's recent ministrations, probably need to be put down. Bioware's previous pedigree of producing award winning grade-A+ meat (well games) is kind of irrelvent when it's crawling around on the ground, making pathetic noises, and foaming at the mouth....
To put things into perspective, the reason why "Dragon Age 2" got the reception it did, is because people wanted another game like "Origins" and what's more wanted to see that story picked up. That isn't what they got (I won't break it down again) so they weren't happy. Bioware looks at the sales, and the fanboys singing their praises, and has pretty much decided that "DA3" is largely going to be an enhancement of "DA2" without going back to what made "Origins" what it was (ie a modernized Baldur's Gate, which it was promoted as a spiritual successor to).
I think EA/Bioware knows they are in trouble, but doesn't want to actually backpedal to where they should be. In part because they fear being seen as catering to the fans who might push even harder if they think they won something, but also because in their arrogance they don't want to admit the problems they are facing really exist.
Right now Bioware has basically had THREE strikes right in a row, to be honest I'm not rearing at the bit to go running out to buy any of their products, especially if they aren't specifically what I want (I'm done with their "experimentation" at this point). I think a lot of people are in the same boat. It's going to take a lot to convince me to buy a game without waiting for it to be on the market for a couple of months and see what it's reception is like now (and these companies need initial sales), at the same time given that I don't trust either their advertising or statements by people working for the company (given the lies involved in ME3's release), they kind of have their work cut out for them there, really to get me hyped about anything they do is going to require a sort of unprecedented full disclosure of a type game companies just don't do.
To be honest I'm kind of amazed at how they managed to blow all of this. The various "Infinity Engine" games (Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment) still being popular and played probably lead to the develpment of "Dragon Age: Origins" which was similar in how it played, and went over pretty well by tapping into that crowd. The desician to turn it into a brawler with cinematics still boggles my brain, ditto for the desician to basically overlook the story they were telling, everyone wanted to know what happened with Morrigan and such, so instead they decided to go off on a totally unrelated story tangent. Thet game sold well due to the first one, but almost smacks of intentional suicide. People were screaming from the rooftops about the "Mass Effect 3" ending, and honestly ending a campy space opera isn't all that hard to do, yet they managed to not only blow it, but pretty much irritate 99% of their fan base, honestly at this point I refuse to touch the franchise anymore, and I'm hardly alone despite how it might seem. Winning back a lot of ME fans like me is going to take a LOT of work on their part. "Old Republic" is perhaps the most surprising of their failures, since really they had "Star Wars Galaxies" to use as an example, a game which lasted *8* years and survives beyond death to an extent as an EMU. They also had all of the countless other games that failed due to lack of endgame content, and horribly designed mechanics. "Old Republic" seems almost like a suicide attempt, it launched with minimal endgame compared to the other established games out there it wanted to take players from
and keep, the game balance was a complete mess, and what's more it seemed like it was designed in places by a chimp on sedatives. A good example of "chimp design" would be how for some missions they decide to make you run back and forth between planets, except you can't just hop in your ship and fly there, in many cases you have to run to your ship, through the ship's hanger, through the ship itself, then launch and dock with a space station where you run through the ship again, another instance of a hanger, through the station itself, and then take another shuttle down to the planet, then when you find the relevent NPC and watch the cinematic you have to run all the way back to whatever zone you were (through orbital stations, hangers, etc...). Something that can make grouping a real joy at times when someone's next quest might require them to spend 20 minutes running around just to activate... and really that's the tip of the iceberg.
I don't know, to some extent EA seems like a corrupt cattle baron trying to cover up that his stock is afflicted with mad cow due to him not taking care of it properly (ie feeding cattle food involving parts of other cattle, which I believe is a contributing factor). EA might be the central cause, but at this point I think Bioware might just be hopelessly infected, and even if EA is stopped or reforms it doesn't change the fact that Bioware, and a lot of the other companies that have fallen under EA's recent ministrations, probably need to be put down. Bioware's previous pedigree of producing award winning grade-A+ meat (well games) is kind of irrelvent when it's crawling around on the ground, making pathetic noises, and foaming at the mouth....
EA still believes in Bioware? Well, good to know that SOMEONE does, because I sure as fuck don't.
Two things, the first is that this statement was made in response to a question, as somebody else said, EA did not hold a press conference just to say "We still like Bioware enough to keep them around". The information was presented by The Escapist because people would care enough about the story to read it, generating page views and comments made, and thus allow them to take in more money from advertising.
The second is that if you think about this, these statements might well be a good thing, not just for Bioware but for EA owned properties in general. Perhaps EA is starting to realize that it is more profitable in the long run to manage studios they way they have, and will allow them to operate more independently. Additionally, they may realize that there is value to free, and that by including more free DLC packs (not making all DLC free, but including lot of free DLC), they may well be earning themselves much more than the cost in both public goodwill and the additional interest in the game and franchise.
The second is that if you think about this, these statements might well be a good thing, not just for Bioware but for EA owned properties in general. Perhaps EA is starting to realize that it is more profitable in the long run to manage studios they way they have, and will allow them to operate more independently. Additionally, they may realize that there is value to free, and that by including more free DLC packs (not making all DLC free, but including lot of free DLC), they may well be earning themselves much more than the cost in both public goodwill and the additional interest in the game and franchise.