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Is this the end for BioWare as we know them?

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
That's 3 flops in a row. Not just small flops but colossal disasters. Their last 3 games were Mass Effect: Andromeda, Anthem, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

A lot of studios don't survive a single high-profile blunder. BioWare has 3 in a row with nothing to prove that they can be relied on to deliver successful games.

Do they get one last crack at it with the next Mass Effect game, or will EA hand the reins to another studio and erase BioWare or reduce them to a support role?
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
What a way to fuck it up man.

They nailed Star Wars KOTOR, Mass Effect 1-3 were amazing RPG-lites and the same could be said about Dragon Age, even if it's sequels were less consistent in quality.

Now we'll be left we no Dragon Age and no Mass Effect. Fuck man, I loved those "easy to get into" RPGs.
 

LectureMaster

Gold Member
What a way to fuck it up man.

They nailed Star Wars KOTOR, Mass Effect 1-3 were amazing RPG-lites and the same could be said about Dragon Age, even if it's sequels were less consistent in quality.

Now we'll be left we no Dragon Age and no Mass Effect. Fuck man, I loved those "easy to get into" RPGs.
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If EA doesn't kill them after a hat trick of flops then clearly they want to fail. Bioware has been a reanimated corpse for a decade. There is nothing left of them, not even to die with dignity. The more anyone pretends they can return to what made them great, the longer and harder they will deny all reality to their own detriment, including EA.

There's nothing left to mourn for. Let's stop giving the activist attention whores in charge at Bioware what they crave and move on.
 
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xrnzaaas

Member
I would be surprised if Bioware gets to make another game again.

Like with DA, they got everything, time, money, resources, they were in charge, they made the game they wanted to make, and it totally bombed. When was the last time EA gave a dev that much freedom.
There's just one tiny thing missing called talent. And that's been gone for many many years.
 

Loomy

Thinks Microaggressions are Real
The Bioware that existed up to Mass Effect 3 has long been gone. This has been a new studio using an old name for a long time now.

The sad thing with Bioware is they've lost so much confidence(and EA in them) that they keep retreading old ground. Anthem, for all it's messy Jank and late alpha level completedness, was an interesting idea with potential. They just had to actually spend time finishing it with a planned content roadmap before they launched it.

Since that tanked(on the heels of Andromeda), they re-released ME1-3(great package), a Dragon Age game no one apparently wanted, and now ME5.

You have a bunch of new people making games the old people were passionate about, no wonder they're half hearted efforts. They should let these new people make the games they want to make.
 

simpatico

Member
Names too big to close imo, but I also can't see papa EA letting them burn through more cash so who knows.

When's the last time they actually made money?
EA is probably trying to figure out how they can preserve the Bioware name/IP but just staff it with all new people. The problem is no one with the passion and capability of making a successful game the size of Mass Effect wants to pour that much work into someone else's shit. And for that reason, Bioware is dead. Been dead. I think the last 3 games are Bioware trying to do what I just described.
 

StereoVsn

Gold Member
That's 3 flops in a row. Not just small flops but colossal disasters. Their last 3 games were Mass Effect: Andromeda, Anthem, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

A lot of studios don't survive a single high-profile blunder. BioWare has 3 in a row with nothing to prove that they can be relied on to deliver successful games.

Do they get one last crack at it with the next Mass Effect game, or will EA hand the reins to another studio and erase BioWare or reduce them to a support role?
Oh, ME is going to be same sort of slop as Andromeda and Veilguard. After all it’s the same people working on it as on all these disasters.
 
I mean, BioWare releasing Veilguard and Volition releasing the Saints Row reboot are giving me similar vibes. Volition attacked their fans, leading up to and after the release of their game as well, and we know what happened to Volition after that.
 

StereoVsn

Gold Member
I’m honestly surprised EA hasn’t euthanized them yet. Someone at BioWare must have some serious dirt on EA executives
Yep, we are talking about over $500-600 million lost and on top of that opportunity loss.

Imagine if they spent those $500-600 mil on actually good 3 games. The delta is probably around $1bil.

I really can’t understand why any sort of a director or writer is employed there. From technical standpoint, Veilguard was competent, but everyone else besides actual programmers and environmental designers should have been kicked out.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
Yep, we are talking about over $500-600 million lost and on top of that opportunity loss.

Imagine if they spent those $500-600 mil on actually good 3 games. The delta is probably around $1bil.

I really can’t understand why any sort of a director or writer is employed there. From technical standpoint, Veilguard was competent, but everyone else besides actual programmers and environmental designers should have been kicked out.
I think their upper management is clueless too.

Dragon Age 4 started as a single player game, then they canceled it and started development on a live service Dragon Age that was supposed to share components with Anthem. Then when Anthem bombed they retooled DA4 into a single player game. It’s kind of a miracle it even got released.
 

Hari Seldon

Member
Can they remaster KOTOR or is there licensing shit that stops them? They need something like that to stem the tide and get some fans back.
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
Mass Effect Andromeda marked the beginning of the end. Right now they are developing the next Mass Effect. I want them to succeed honestly. I'm not confident whoever is left at the studio can make a product like the original team had.


A video basically explaining when 150 senior devs left the studio :(
 
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Hollywood Hitman

Gold Member
And the sad part is these games could've went the other direction with simply proper leadership.

Andromeda after anthem and veilguard actually looks pretty minor in it's issues, they could've done some fine tuning and Andromeda ultimately wouldn't have been so bad.

Anthem at one point when the loot valve was opened seemed like it was gonna turn the corner and then like idiots they turned it off, dead.

And veilguard... They just couldn't help virtue signaling to the 0.1 percent. The game itself while not amazing wasn't bad, it was ruined by taash. Take her out and it isn't great but it isn't awful either.

I agree tho bioware is gone, it's time to lean on the ex bioware dev projects
 
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