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EA Is Not Pulling BioWare's Strings
firefly2003
Member UncommonPosts: 2,527
If BioWare fans don't like something about one of the company's games, a popular tactic is to blame EA. After all, the mega-publisher bought BioWare, and now must be poisoning the studio's development, right? Wrong!
In an interview with Eurogamer, BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk insist their studio still has "huge autonomy," and that EA isn't some sinister force calling the shots from behind a curtain.
"We're not being forced to do anything or told to do anything. We make the decisions. We take input," says Zeschuk. "It's just funny when people say that, because it's not actually remotely true."
"The key is to never lose sight of the fact that, at the end of the day, we're making entertainment and art," Muzyka adds. "We're tying to make a fun experience for the fans. They're one of our key stake holders and we have to deliver and exceed their expectations."
So, every questionable decision surrounding BioWare games isn't EA's fault…but I'm still pretty sure that heavy metal Dragon Age: Origins trailer was.
(Source: Eurogamer)
Comments
What did you expect BioWare to say?
EA bought BioWare largely for their name, and paid something like 700 million for it. You think EA are just going to sit back after making an investment like that and let them run their own show without any sort of input/leesh?
Not saying BioWare doesn't have some say, but at the end of the day, EA OWNS BioWare, and can make any call they want.
EDIT: Including telling BioWare people what to say in interviews
Aye, it's kind of a difficult pill to swallow, especially when you stop to consider the fact that any 'interview' from a major media source will be difficult to trust, because it's pre-prepared, and unless the co-founder is quitting anytime soon, he'd have no real insentive to go against EA if they wanted him to 'present a certain message' in said interview.
I'm not usually one for conspiracies, but EA has been known to wield it's wallet a bit like a club. Mythic also made the same statement when it came to WAR, along with 'we'll only release when it's ready' and surprise! It didn't release 'ready'. You can really only take these w/ a grain of salt.
Unless the game is made by Bioware Canada it's just an EA game with the Bioware branding for marketing purposes.
My theme song.
You should know by now that everyone on this website hates "the man" and "the man" is what is keeping their ideal kind of MMO (something with a box full of sand) from ever seeing the light of day...
This topic will go over here as well as a turd in church....
I'm pretty sure the decision to ship SWTOR in December was an EA decision, and not something Bioware would have chosen to support if they had a say so.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Being largely autonomous under the umbrella of a big-name company that bought and OWNS your a**? If you believe that, I also have news for you to get excited about: The UN declared earlier today that World Peace finally exists, and that there's no racial bigotry and ethnic hatreds to be found, anymore.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
works in their favor to be honest
Blizzard does bad, fans blame it on Activision
Bioware does bad, fans blame it on EA
EQ2 fan sites
Both the Bioware founders are VP's of EA now.
There is a reason it's not Bioware, Published by EA but instead it's EA/Bioware or Bioware/EA.
They don't "work" for Bioware and get their checks from EA.
They work for and get their checks from EA/Bioware.
See the difference?
As THEY said, they ARE EA.
.....except for the fact that a ton of "Bioware Canada" employees are working in Austin (and relocated to that city). TOR is not mystically being made by a "fake" Bioware.
EA wont step in to fill shoes at Bioware until their games flop, or until they dont meet shareholders demand. 1 we should blame both companies if the game fails, 2. only reason fans blameActivision if blizzard does bad is because Activision does run the show.
Blaming publishers over devs has always appeared to me to be a fanboi tactic used to deflect blame whether it's blaming Lucas Arts for SOE decisions,Activision for Blizzards decisions or Atari for Cryptics decisions. I think even the first responder has it totally wrong why would EA invest that kind of money into a huge development house if they thought they (EA) already had all the answers, with some companies sure that happens but a development house with the reputation of BW's stands on it's own I think it more likely that EA wanted in because they liked what they are capable of doing already and as the developers said allow them to make the kinds of decisions they have already made which I might add have not been bad for them yet.
QFT.
And lets not forget.
Blizzard does good, people comment blizzard.
Bioware does good, people comment Bioware.
Gues its easier to scapegoat.
That's right. Because big companies are infallible and have the consumers' interests at heart.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
In the same way that all big companies are evil money grubbing monsters, I guess.
Fixed for you.
I wouldn't say a "ton." Most of the Bioware Austin employees were EA employees before EA purchased Bioware.....
My theme song.
That's right. Because big companies are infallible and have the consumers' interests at heart.
In the same way that all big companies are evil money grubbing monsters, I guess.
This guy gets it. My point wasn't defending the big companies.But EA and Activision are evil money grubbing monsters......
My theme song.
Its just funny people actually believe Bioware have their customers best interest more at heart then EA.
.......except for the fact that EA did not have an Austin branch before it purchased Bioware. Bioware set up shop in Austin for the sole purpose of creating TOR and several big names from the original Bioware group from Edmonton came down here (if you can't tell, I live in Austin). True, it is under the direction of EA (since they own them) but it still Bioware and has enough big names involved with it to tell me it is the Bioware we all know and love.
Again, it IS Bioware and not some fake entity using their brand name.
EA has had a studio in austin since UO..... >.>
My theme song.
I don't know what to believe for sure about all the EA/Bioware stuff, but I do know I like the quote stating they're making entertainment and ART. I, at one time on these forums, had someone argue with me that video games are not art. Well, fuck you to whoever that was. THERE....a developer saying they see it differently. Video games are entertainment AND ART.
On topic: I don't really see, actually, how a company can OWN another company and be so uninvolved as they're claiming. EA owns Bioware. That's a huge investment worthy of a say in things. Then on the other hand....it sounds like some people are saying it was a MERGER. I'm not smart enough about business stuff to have much comment, but something sounds questionable to me regarding EA's active involvement. Hard for me to believe it's non-existent or even minimal. But whatever.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
I don't know anything about that. Maybe that office closed since UO because the only location owned by EA in Austin is BioWare Austin. You can see that right on EA's own website.
Edit: Found a link to an article on here (of all places) that they closed the office down that was in charge of UO back in '04 which predates the opening of Bioware Austin by 3 to 4 years.
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/12/view/news/page/3/read/1245/Ultima-Online-EA-Announces-UO-Expansion-Closes-Austin.html
I've seen it happen in the music industry alot more than in video games where one of the major record labels buys out one of the newer labels that have artists selling well and they usually in fact do stay out of their affairs as long as the company continues to turn the kind of profit that it did when they bought the company the problems start once the labels artists don't sell well anymore.
More than likely this is the same kind of arrangement EA has with Bioware so long as everything they make continues to turn to gold what reason would BW have to interefere with them? If they thought they could do what they do already they could have started a whole new company and not payed close to a billion dollars to own them.