87 réponses à ce sujet

[KovaksCA]

Dear EA/Bioware,

    I wanted to start by saying that I am in no way a 'fanboy', I'm a 32-yo professional female who lives a pretty normal life, I have a home, a career, an LI and volunteer with several groups. Up until now I have never commented on a forum or been disappointed enough by a game to ever lodge complaints but what is going on now with Mass Effect 3 is heartbreaking; because I have seen this happen before from the inside.

    My first job out of college was working business development for a branch of a large entertainment company that developed similar products and appealed to a similar demographic as ME3 (which will remain nameless).

    When I first joined their team in 2003 the company was a mess and the entire previous design and business teams had been sacked (which is how I got the job). The company brought in an absolutely genious manager from another division and under him I learned the secret to success in business; 'Be Humble and ALWAYS do the right thing for your customers'. With that as our rallying cry we launched a massive campaign to listen to what our fans and customers wanted, their hopes and what they really liked and didn't like. We admitted the companies past mistakes and we humbly went about engaging our customers at every level from end-user to retailer and beyond. I spend a ton of my own evenings and weekends attending fan events, connecting with people (both 'fanboy' and casual) and whenever I engaged one of those people I always heard my boss Martin saying to me 'Jessica, do the right thing'. In 32 months we had quadrupled our sales and product was moving so quickly we couldn't produce it fast enough.

     Suddenly in early 2006 I started noticing a major change in my direct superiors, the design team leads and some of the high-level executives that I interacted with on a regular basis. All of these people began developing a certain arrogance, an sense that they knew what was right and any customers that disagreed with them were somehow whiners, entitled or just wrong. Slowly but surely this attitude began to be reflected in the product, in the official releases and in how the sales team was directed to interact with their retail clients. New products and how they were targeted began to completely disregard what the fans wanted and between late June 2006 and July of 2007 we lost close to 25% of our sales. This should have been a wake up call to the design leads and other management but instead it actually made them MORE arrogant, I heard the CFO once say 'How dare these smelly nerds criticize what we're doing, if they just left their mom's basement they would see what we are offering is amazing' and the company division that I had put a lot of myself into began a death spiral. What was once an attitude of humility and making the entertainment that fans wanted became an attitude of contempt for the fans and disbelief as to how 'all these people are this stupid to not see the quality we are putting out'.

    The attitudes that I witnessed there led me to leave and within six months of my departure the parent company shut the entire division down and put over 200 people out of work. Bioware, I see some of the same attitudes in you as expressed through how this controversy is being handled and I emplore you to be humble and 'do the right thing' and listen to your fans.

[UrdnotGrunty2]

This please

[Blind2Society]

Karma I suppose. At least it's nice to know that something will take care of things like this when there is no Robbin Hood, Commander Shepard nor other good guy to make it right.

It's also funny to think about how these CEOs and big wigs probably have children watching those Disney movies where the big bad meany corporate types end up having a change of heart in the feel good ending. Little do the kids know those greedy suits are really their parents.

[Laughing Man]

One thing, stop tacking "gate" to the end of everything.

Aside from that, dead on.

[KovaksCA]

Laughing Man wrote...

One thing, stop tacking "gate" to the end of everything.

Aside from that, dead on.

lol, duly noted!

[philippe willaume]

gate or not gate
well said
phil

[Shyftie]

spot on

[Doctor Uburian]

Well said!

It's sure that if bioware doesn't change his attitude,they will face the same fate.

Modifié par Doctor Uburian, 14 mars 2012 - 04:53 .

[ElectronicPostingInterface]

This is what I expect probably happened.

[thesnake777]

I do hope Bioware can avoid this. It would be a tragedy.

Regardless
Hold The Line

[bucyrus5000]

Dear BW, please listen to the Asari at the top of the page.

[New Generation]

I support this.

[blah64]

Wonderful post, and obviously it came straight from the heart. Thank you.

[fish of doom]

*thumbs up*

[Lost Cipher]

Interesting comments, though why the company can't be named is concerning. As well as the fact that the original poster believes they have to relegate the fact they are not a "fanboy". One's status in society has no bearing on intelligence...

[SecElit3]

Listen to this Bio-Ware. It may be your saving grace.

[RolandX9]

+1.

...sorry, the Renegade option is too temptnig to resist. Funny how this began when there was, shall we say, a change in lEAdership at Bioware...

[Darkstorne]

It's just KoTOR2 all over again. Shame it had to happen to Mass Effect, but we can't pretend Bioware hasn't been slowly spiraling downwards since ME1. It's apparent in all of their recent games.

With any luck, they will start listening to fans, employ some more writers (though the current writers are still excellent), and let them PLAN OUT THE ENTIRE TRILOGY FROM START TO FINISH WITH STORYBOARDS with their next IP. It's pretty clear they waited until the last minute to rush this ending out, scratching their heads trying to decide what the hell would happen until the final few months.

Modifié par Darkstorne, 14 mars 2012 - 05:08 .

[Wowlock]

That is exactly what I am afraid of. EA tends to corrupt all it touches. Bioware was once the company that you gave example of...but lately , by the looks of the attitude and the products , we see that EA is actually providing them ....say , tools to be arrogant ?

I mean for them to ignore such an outcry and actually give hints that they ''support'' their questionable decision...makes me quite worried and sad.

It will be hard to find another company who will give the games that I really enjoy to play like Mass Effect but this situation literally force my hand to take a stand on what I believe and that's what I am gonna do.

If that means that BW will lose their future DLC and product sales...so be it. They brought it on themselves and I hope they will take notice of your humble example.

[Aligalipe]

Nice thread ma'am.

[Spectre_Shepard]

I feel the same.

[Sc2mashimaro]

bucyrus5000 wrote...

Dear BW, please listen to the Asari at the top of the page.

DARN IT, you KNOW I'm reading all of these in the voice of each persons' avatar! >.<

At any rate, beautiful letter OP, I've mentioned a few times that it seems like Bioware is growing too fast and that its seems like their business culture is changing.

[KovaksCA]

Lost Cipher wrote...

Interesting comments, though why the company can't be named is concerning. As well as the fact that the original poster believes they have to relegate the fact they are not a "fanboy". One's status in society has no bearing on intelligence...

I don't specifically name the company because in the business world if you become known as someone who doesn't always support 'the company' you can find it very difficult to secure employment in that industry and I have car and mortgage payments....

[zarnk567]

(prepares Gimli Voice) You Have My Axe!

[TheGunslinger]

+100 Approval.