Seems like a self correcting problem to me. To put it simply if a game (other than an MMO) can't stand as a single player experience, I'm not going to have any interest or buy it. To me this announcement is simply that I won't be spending much money on EA products, or even want to, and really that's no big deal as I've never prided myself on any paticular brand loyalty.
That said given that their big money makers ARE multi-player titles, where they can make a bundle on microtransactions for maps, new weapons, etc... it really doesn't surprise me terribly that a company as greedy as EA would be thinking like this.
That said, I don't care if they include multi-player components, as long as they aren't mandatory and it's a complete product that I'm not going to feel shorted on without them. If they pretty much sell their products based entirely around multi player development though, then they simply won't be having me as a customer.
That said we can pretty much say RIP to Bioware at this point. If this annoucement is to be believed, I imagine Bioware isn't long for this world. The reason is simply that Bioware's big selling point, and area of talent, was brilliant single player storytelling via cut scenes and character development of a sort that doesn't work well in a multi-player setting. As many people have said, part of the big failure of "The Old Republic" was that it pretty much unfolded like a single player game with an MMO tacked on, which kind of demonstrates why Bioware has no real future with this kind of development, they are good writers and coders, but this isn't to their strengths. We can pretty much assume Bioware is slated for execution right now, and is walking down the aisle, no matter what EA might be telling them, how long does everyone think they have before someone flips the switch and has 'ol sparky put them out of their post-EA misery? I'm guessing about a year. I imagine that with the work already done they will be kept around until DA3 is finished, and then no matter how it does... zzzzap, following by some of their key personell being transferred to other EA run studios while others are given their walking papers. They just do not fit in with what EA says it's current plans are.
