22 réponses à ce sujet

[MrGOH]

EA announced it's cutting 1500 jobs today and canceling the bottom 1/3 of its  in-development games. There are some indications that EA is going to focus more on Facebook and other social media games as well as their yearly revolving door titles like the Sims and their Hasbro titles. So far there are no rumors about cuts at Bioware, but the trend at EA seems to be against developing more titles like Dragon Age. Should I be worried about the future of party-based single player rpgs developed by Bioware under EA?

Edit: Here's the link to a Kotaku article on the announcement.

Modifié par MrGOH, 11 novembre 2009 - 06:48 .

[Seraosha]

It could be worse, Bioware could be in the hands of Activision Blizzard. Bobby Kotick would have probably canned Dragon Age last year. Either that or Bioware would have been pumped full of more staff simply so that they could bang out yearly iterations of Mass Effect and Dragon Age.

I wouldn't worry tbh. In the last couple of years, despite their reputation, EA has been putting solid effort into creating new IP and developing respectable games. Combine that with the high price they paid for Bioware/Pandemic, I'm sure EA aren't about to choke the air from the creative blockbuster monolith that is Bioware any time soon.

Modifié par Seraosha, 10 novembre 2009 - 02:25 .

[MrGOH]

I'm more worried about DA:O sequels specifically - a subsequent announcement was summarized as saying that games that aren't in the same ballpark profits-wise as the sims and those crappy boardgame videogames would be axed. RPG's have higher development costs than other games and smaller fan bases. I don't deny that an Activision or, God forbid, an Atari acquisition would be worse. EA could look at its investment in Bioware and D:O as sunk costs and restructure so that no more deep single player RPG's are made.

I suppose I hope that DA:O was quite profitable and that there's nothing to worry about. I haven't seen any sales numbers yet, so I'm nervous.

Edit: My read on the announcement is that EA sees its recent investment in good games as a partial failure and is thus focusing more on mass-market shovelware for the hordes of folks who will pay $60 for crap.

Modifié par MrGOH, 10 novembre 2009 - 02:35 .

[wrexingcrew]

MrGOH wrote...

Edit: My read on the announcement is that EA sees its recent investment in good games as a partial failure and is thus focusing more on mass-market shovelware for the hordes of folks who will pay $60 for crap.

That's definitely the implication of the release's language: "greater focus on titles with higher margin opportunities."  Not good.

[Chaos-fusion]

wrexingcrew wrote...

MrGOH wrote...

Edit: My read on the announcement is that EA sees its recent investment in good games as a partial failure and is thus focusing more on mass-market shovelware for the hordes of folks who will pay $60 for crap.

That's definitely the implication of the release's language: "greater focus on titles with higher margin opportunities."  Not good.

I simply read it as "More yearly sequels and DLC". If DA has done well enough, it'll get more. If not, then hopefully another dev will come around who will do similar games.

I just love being so optimistic all the time.

[Tyrax Lightning]

More people need to benefit from game sites like Gamespot if they need help researching if a game is gonna be good or not, instead of just guesing at what to buy blindly & relying on luck. If people keep buying bad games over & over & over & think getting mad at it only to keep repeating the mistake is gonna teach game companys the value of quality, then it's no wonder why there are less quality games nowadays.

[MrGOH]

Here are the financial statements accompanying the announcement. From the supplementals, it looks like their PC division is doing comparatively well - it accounts for 18% of the total net revenue (not profits, just money coming in, but PC games have fewer input costs so it could be a safe assumption that they're slightly more profitable, especially because it includes top sellers like the Sims 3). The GAAP financials don't look so hot. Were I an investor I'd be asking for restructuring as well. There's not any information about the operations of individual divisions, so I'm still nervous.

[fairandbalancedfan]

wrexingcrew wrote...

MrGOH wrote...

Edit: My read on the announcement is that EA sees its recent investment in good games as a partial failure and is thus focusing more on mass-market shovelware for the hordes of folks who will pay $60 for crap.

That's definitely the implication of the release's language: "greater focus on titles with higher margin opportunities."  Not good.

So I will be keeping a sharp eye out for Dragon Age sales figures

[Eoweth]

wrexingcrew wrote...

MrGOH wrote...

Edit: My read on the announcement is that EA sees its recent investment in good games as a partial failure and is thus focusing more on mass-market shovelware for the hordes of folks who will pay $60 for crap.

That's definitely the implication of the release's language: "greater focus on titles with higher margin opportunities."  Not good.

As I've said all along, all EA cares about is making money, not making great games and putting support behind them.

[MrGOH]

Eoweth wrote...

wrexingcrew wrote...

MrGOH wrote...

Edit: My read on the announcement is that EA sees its recent investment in good games as a partial failure and is thus focusing more on mass-market shovelware for the hordes of folks who will pay $60 for crap.

That's definitely the implication of the release's language: "greater focus on titles with higher margin opportunities."  Not good.

As I've said all along, all EA cares about is making money, not making great games and putting support behind them.

As a publicly traded corporation itsmandate is to only care about making money. That's all that shareholders care about. Well, the overwhelming majority at any rate. I am alos afraid that they'll cut corners on subsequent DA games.

[Soulshot]

So far it seems that with the good reviews and not many other games out yet for christmas, Dragon Age should be selling quite well. Add that to the fact that Mass Effect 2 is almost guaranteed to be a smash hit, and the two games should make quite a profit.

[Freebeers]

RIP Warhammer Online...



shoulda made it single player!!!!!!

[MrGOH]

Gamasutra has reported that DA:O has had strong early performance. Let's hope that keeps up and Bioware can keep on trucking with it single player RPG's.

[n2nw]

So we all need to shamelessly market DAO to all our friends, coworkers, family members, and acquaintances so that sales will be really high and EA will want to make more games like DAO.

[Raoull482]

In speaking with Fernando last summer and learning how Bioware was acquired, I really doubt Riccitiello would let them go so easily. He has faith in Bioware as I know we all do here.



Here's to a DA:O pt. 2 and a ME3! *raises glass* cheers!

[BluesMan1956]

If DAO proves to be a continued source of income thru DLC then it should survive, especially if the total DLC exceeds game sales.

[fairandbalancedfan]

Soulshot wrote...

So far it seems that with the good reviews and not many other games out yet for christmas, Dragon Age should be selling quite well. Add that to the fact that Mass Effect 2 is almost guaranteed to be a smash hit, and the two games should make quite a profit.

Yeah I think DA will make profit, but you are kind of wrong about the not many games comment. MW2, Assassin's Creed 2 is enough to make a dent in your wallet.

[Daemongar]

Seraosha wrote...
I wouldn't worry tbh. In the last couple of years, despite their reputation, EA has been putting solid effort into creating new IP and developing respectable games. Combine that with the high price they paid for
%companyname%, I'm sure EA aren't about to choke the air from the creative blockbuster monolith that is
%companyname% any time soon.

Replace %companyname% with: Origin, Bullfrog, Westwood... EA buys companies just to force them to make mass marketed 3D junk. When junk fails, crush company.

[Rayne Myria Solo]

The way I understand it, Riticello and Myzyka and Zezchuck are old friends, and they already knew him well, so they as much as chose to become part of EA to gain access to the publishing resources EA has. Bioware lost NO employees in the layoff that I've been able to find, mostly all Mythic (WAR) and a few other lesser-known studios. I would bet the Mythic guys that are left are working on SWtOR and maintaining the skeleton crew that runs WAR. I wouldn't honestly worry about Bioware. DAO went gold in less than 3-4 days, that's practically a record, and I'm fairly sure it *is* for BioWare.

[wrexingcrew]

Daemongar wrote...

Replace %companyname% with: Origin, Bullfrog, Westwood... EA buys companies just to force them to make mass marketed 3D junk. When junk fails, crush company.

There's truth to that.  Maxis and the remnants of Westwood are being gutted - the entire C&C team is gone once the last game ships.  Which is horrible, because those two studios made the best non-RPG PC games of the 90s.* 

BioWare and DICE are safe, yeah - they're both profitable and prestige-builders, so they're not going anywhere.  What I would worry about is new IP or marginal franchises - in other words, Mirror's Edge 2 and JE 2 both seem unlikely now.  Not to mention whatever BioWare was planning post-SWTOR/ME3/DA:O2.


*Ok ok, fine, in my opinion.

[miltos33]

Every cloud has a silver lining. Those ex EA employees may open up independent studios or move to other publishers and have the artistic freedom to actually release some decent games.

[artmonster1967]

miltos33 wrote...

Every cloud has a silver lining. Those ex EA employees may open up independent studios or move to other publishers and have the artistic freedom to actually release some decent games.

or they will be forced to apply for extended unemployment benefits.....like over 10% of the country is doing ATM........

.

[Stanley Woo]

There's already a thread discussing EA's financial situation. We don't need multiple threads discussing this. Thank you.



End of line.