BioWare and EA

Spliff Krieger · Mon, 20th Jul '09, 5:05pm

It surprises me that there isn't a topic about this yet. Well, for those who don't know it yet, EA paid $860 million for VG Holdings which consists of BioWare and Pandemic. Obviously this is good news for EA and it will no doubt put them back on track.

But I fear a bit for BioWare though. They have provided me with awesome games for years and years, and the financial injection will do them good no doubt. But I hope they get the opportunity to continue on the way they have been for so long. Seen how it went with Mythic Entertainment, I seriously doubt that.

How do you guys feel about that? With the loads of D&D players here, some must have built up some affinity with BioWare. How do you feel this will evolve, and how many of you are planning on playing SW:TOR?

Ziad · Mon, 20th Jul '09, 6:17pm

http://www.sorcerers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=45248

You're a bit late to the party

There were a few other threads here and there where we discussed this, though not in the Bioware forum (they're probably all in the News forum; searching for Bioware & EA or Electronic Arts should give you most of them).

That said, people may have changed their mind about the deal in the 18 months since.

Merlanni · Wed, 5th Aug '09, 7:52pm

No. They have become more business like. Just an other developer.

NOG (No Other Gods) · Wed, 5th Aug '09, 8:06pm

I've been very active in the DA:O message boards since well before this was announced, so I feel like I've gotten a bit of an inside glance at the transformation. From my perspective, EA has probably taken over and re-worked the business end of BioWare (example: marketing), but seems satisfied to let BioWare develop the games they want to. They had the chance to make some serious changes in DA:O, including, it seems, a LOT of political correctness, and there's no indication that they have (though I do question Morrigan's attire in one particular scene, it seems far too conservative).

All in all, while I don't really know for sure at all, I'm quite hopeful that BioWare will be largely uneffected by this. Yes, I have developed a particular affinity for BW, but not because of D&D (I severely dislike the D&D universes and rules sets), but rather simply because they're about the only ones that do good story-driven games these days (I haven't been impressed with Obsidian yet).

Merlanni · Thu, 6th Aug '09, 8:29pm

Dragon age was already in the system when EA took over so they decided not to mess with it. The games that comes next make me fear.

I am not a regular at those boards and pop in oche and a while. To protect myself I did not read any of the millions of treads that keep on blabbering about things nobody knows. What I do notice is the change in attitude.

example1: Hey boys and girls we are going to release a patch for Mass Effect soon. 6 months later nothing, nothing absolutely nothing.

example2: The system requirement for Dragon age. were commented by some members since they made no sense. Some information was dead wrong. After 30-ish pages of posting a developer shod some light on it. it still is not perfect.

example3: pre-order Dragon Age announced. However beyond the USA there is a fog preventing anybody to find the fabled Collectors-Edition, or even the royal Bioware edition. No response what so ever. They state that the details are not conclusive. If that is true, why start pre-ordering?

Erod · Fri, 7th Aug '09, 10:37am

Quote:

Originally Posted by NOG (No Other Gods)

I've been very active in the DA:O message boards since well before this was announced, so I feel like I've gotten a bit of an inside glance at the transformation. From my perspective, EA has probably taken over and re-worked the business end of BioWare (example: marketing), but seems satisfied to let BioWare develop the games they want to. They had the chance to make some serious changes in DA:O, including, it seems, a LOT of political correctness, and there's no indication that they have (though I do question Morrigan's attire in one particular scene, it seems far too conservative).

Now that I think about it that may be what happened. I have been wondering about the sharp turn in marketing that happened with DA:O. I do not think that it was very successfull though. But that is just guessing.

NOG (No Other Gods) · Fri, 7th Aug '09, 4:12pm

Quote: