182 réponses à ce sujet

[Fade-Touched-in-the-head]

Bioware is a subsidiary of EA. It's not a partnership. EA owns them.

[AlanC9]

Look at the top of this page, under the thing that says Bioware.

[Il Divo]

[Voxr]

Only in our dreams I'm afraid... 

 

 

*crys*

[Shadow Fox]

Isn't it thanks to EA that Bioware didn't go under?

[Hanako Ikezawa]

Isn't it thanks to EA that Bioware didn't go under?

Yes. But people tend to forget that part. 

[Grieving Natashina]

Yes. But people tend to forget that part. 

Oh, but we both know that the devs should all just quit their jobs and do a Kickstarter, right?   I mean, EA isn't helping them or anything.  

[Shadow Fox]

Yes. But people tend to forget that part. 

Kinda hard to hate them then.

 

Then again I view gaming companies as businesses.

[Kantr]

Isn't it thanks to EA that Bioware didn't go under?

Do you have a link to anything about that? Sounds interesting to read.

[coldflame]

Not possible for bioware to leave ea. ea owns bioware's arse.

[Farangbaa]

Ahw that's cute, he thinks it's some some sort of contract with an expiry date.

[ForgottenWarrior]

Ahw that's cute, he thinks it's some some sort of contract with an expiry date.

Lots of people do.

[Rawgrim]

Kinda hard to hate them then.

 

Then again I view gaming companies as businesses.

 

Take a look at what happened to Origin, Westwood, Bullfrog, and other great companies EA bought. Makes it easy to hate them, really.

[Farangbaa]

Lots of people do.

Adorable.

[Galactus]

Will the day ever come when Bioware is honest to its consumers?

 

Not anytime soon.

[Andraste_Reborn]

But it's entirely something else?

 

Yep. EA purchased BioWare in 2007. BioWare are now a subsidiary of EA, not a separate company.

 

However people feel about that, the fact remains that BioWare probably wouldn't exist right now if somebody hadn't bought them. I guess there's an alternate universe somewhere where people blame Ubisoft/Sony/Microsoft/Activision for everything they hate about recent BioWare games ...

[Il Divo]

Yep. EA purchased BioWare in 2007. BioWare are now a subsidiary of EA, not a separate company.

 

However people feel about that, the fact remains that BioWare probably wouldn't exist right now if somebody hadn't bought them. I guess there's an alternate universe somewhere where people blame Ubisoft/Sony/Microsoft/Activision for everything they hate about recent BioWare games ...

 

I always thought this was odd in the sense that some say they wish Microsoft had bought Bioware. It's not like Microsoft has had the greatest reputation either regarding things like time exclusive dlc, the Xbox One previews, Xbox and 360 hardware issues (red ring of death), the general quality of the Halo 4 multiplayer, among other things. 

 

I suspect the only real difference is that we would be blaming Microsoft and not EA for the various design decisions. 

[Andraste_Reborn]

So basically, BioWare folks would have to start an entirely different company?

 

Yep. And even if BioWare employees left the company to start another one, EA would still own all the intellectual property rights to Dragon Age, Mass Effect, etc.

[Hexoduen]

Isn't it thanks to EA that Bioware didn't go under?

Do you have a link to anything about that? Sounds interesting to read.

 

Yeah I'd like a source for this as well. To my knowledge Bioware was a succesful independent gaming developer before EA bought them.

[AlanC9]

Yeah I'd like a source for this as well. To my knowledge Bioware was a succesful independent gaming developer before EA bought them.

Bio wasn't actually independent when they were bought by EA. The venture capital firm Elevation Partners bought a majority stake in 2005, and sold it to EA two years later -- making a boatload of money in the process, apparently.

Note that in 2005 Bio's new game was Jade Empire, which doesn't seem to have been a big hit. Mass Effect was years from completion, and DA:O further still. Bio was still coasting on KotOR money, but that only goes so far.

People sometimes forget that Bio was moving into action games before EA showed up.

[CenturyCrow]

A split like this actually occurred with Bungie and Microsoft and Bungie started work on Destiny. Trouble is they formed an agreement with Activision. In the year leading up to the release of the Destiny, the original concept and passion for the game changed a lot. The lead writer quit (went to Microsoft). The lead musician was terminated with prejudice (he took Bungie to court and won). But I really doubt that Bungie could have completed the game without additional monetary support (Activision reportedly coughed up with half a billion over the life of the game).

 

If you look into EA and other corporate buyouts, they are primarily buying the brand name and little else. They just gut the carcass and take the prime parts and sell off what they can. i.e. example: Atari. the name has been bought and sold frequently. Like many 'brand names,' the name lives on but the original company has long since died. I've often said that EA is where gaming companies go to die. The Origin name lives on as a PC application.

 

However, we can't backup in time before the EA buyout and pretend it never happened. It seems the RPG style of game that BioWare made famous hasn't died at all. The old Baldur's Gate series was revived by a former BioWare employee. There are quite a few games out or coming out that are in the same vein as Baldur's Gate; even the D & D people (Wizards of the Coast) are bringing out a isometric based game this year (Sword Coast Legends). That will be competing with Divinity: Original Sin, Transistor, Pillars of Eternity. You also have Witcher 3, a digital download without DRM that I'm more than willing to support.

 

So in spite of EA corporate manipulations, the old style of RPGs live on; there's just way too many passionate and creative people out there who want to make games. And many of them are BioWare employees–they just don't make policy. And as long as people buy and play any game, the creative process will continue.