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If only Bioware would split from EA


TrixxieTriss

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I just read this article that Bungie is splitting from Activision and taking Destiny with it.

https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/01/bungie-splits-with-activision-keeps-destiny/

 

One thing that I thought was really interesting was this :

Destiny 2: was beloved by players but failed to meet Activision’s sales standards.

 

Does that sound familiar to anyone? Imagine if EA had never got their grubby hands on swtor. What might the game have been like? Especially considering all the compromises the early Devs had to make to appease EAs insistence they make a WoW clone.

 

I know it will never happen, but I gain what would swtor be like if the Bioware of old could come back and they could financially split from EA and develop swtor under their own licence from Disney.

Edited by TrixxieTriss
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I just read this article that Bungie is splitting from Activision and taking Destiny with it.

https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/01/bungie-splits-with-activision-keeps-destiny/

 

One thing that I thought was really interesting was this :

 

 

Does that sound familiar to anyone? Imagine if EA had never got their grubby hands on swtor. What might the game have been like? Especially considering all the compromises the early Devs had to make to appease EAs insistence they make a WoW clone.

 

I know it will never happen, but I gain what would swtor be like if the Bioware of old could come back and they could financially split from EA and develop swtor under their own licence from Disney.

 

I understand why people think 'Bioware of old'- I really do but they would still have their signature 'blame the players for everything' and there would still be lootboxes. Hell- the game might have caved earlier and faster- there's always this fantasy card of how great this game could have been and can, and then there's the flipside. SWTOR is what it is and came out in the era when MMOs were huge and there was every chance Galaxies might have survived a couple more years but I doubt there would have been another Star Wars MMO.

 

The storylines are highly regarded but the sheer resources required to sustain the independent class stories was not sustainable, imagine had Temple of Sacrifice and The Ravagers been sacrificed for class stories, we just have to look at what happened during KOTFE. Bioware gets to helm a Star Wars RPG with a multiplayer element- I'm all for it, but the pretty class stories, all done up with very little in the way of endgame, sandbox or any number of the issues it launched with was them as they were. Instead of splitting up the class stories, and putting extra resources on an endgame they released and quickly went F2P. I think SWTOR was always going to go that way but it might have ended up a B2P title with a lot more stability in population than an entrenched system which can't get changed now.

 

I'm a Mass Effect fan, a KOTOR fan, there are things Bioware does that I do like- I'm not only an ops/PvP player but this game is an MMO and what Bioware was best at nearly killed the game at launch, sometimes I think EA should have assigned two studios- Bioware for the stories and another for the MMO elements because in 2012, multiplayer was not what they did well at all. SWTOR might have ended up a very expensive failure that killed Bioware as a lot of us were worried it could.

 

Anthem could be a complete success and I think that scares people here because there's this want for SWTOR to be the shining star and get all the resources it could ever want. The problem is that ship's long gone and the best this game can be is sustainable. The first fix is a set fee, because as much as people like to complain, this game loses people who never come back so a set standard full AAA release price for continued play makes sense because at least you have that money, increasing sub perks (sub rent new content and so on), the second is one class story per F2P account- after that, they have to have subbed at least once to do the others. The main course is completely free, requires little engagement with endgame content so it's not like someone can't suck up the F2P negatives for a free game and that is worse for this game than anyone here who may drop their subscription. I actually have come to agree that people shouldn't be able to progress past the first chapter without having subbed once.

 

But yes, if only Bioware could split from EA so I never have to hear 'EA made them do it' ever again. :t_confused:

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See citation #38.

Given the circumstances Electronic Arts has reportedly frozen the entire Mass Effect series, downgrading the BioWare Montréal branch from a leading development team to a support team,[37] and later merging it into EA Motive altogether.[38]

 

Bioware is a undifferentiated part of EA Motive. There's nothing to break out.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioWare

Edited by xordevoreaux
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Sadder is EA's 2018 Annual report which several times mentions the Star Wars franchise, Star Wars Battlefront II (for being very profitable), but did not breathe one word of Old Republic.

 

https://s22.q4cdn.com/894350492/files/doc_financials/annual/2018/2018_Proxy_Statement_-_Annual_Report_Book_-_FINAL.pdf

 

Like when you hide an old pair of stockings with new shoes and pants/skirt to cover them.

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Imagine if EA had never got their grubby hands on swtor. What might the game have been like? Especially considering all the compromises the early Devs had to make to appease EAs insistence they make a WoW clone..

 

Actually, it was meant to be the WoW Killer from the start but that threat never materialised from SWTOR because not long after launch, early in version 1 a number of changes including RNG was a thing back then that drove a lot of players away.

 

Now Bioware was merged into EA in 2007, the Hero engine was released in 2004, and the initial idea for SWTOR started in 2007, in effect EA has always had its hooks in this game and bioware itself i doubt have the resources and capability to run a large MMO even with their successful game series. You can imagine all you like but it doesn't change anything, this was always the direction EA wanted for SWTOR; a cash cow.

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You can imagine all you like but it doesn't change anything, this was always the direction EA wanted for SWTOR; a cash cow.

 

You use the term "cash cow" with derision as if EA should somehow be delivering the game to a needy player base as a charitable contribution.

 

Electronic Arts has never sought under section 78 for a letter of determination from the IRS to be listed as a non-profit corporation under any paragraph under 501c of the IRS tax code. Not member-driven 501c(7), not charitable 501c(3), nothing.

 

So, as a publicly traded for-profit company, EA is responsible to its shareholders to maintain the company's profitability, and it is absurd to deride a for-profit company in its efforts to engineer revenue-generating products (cash cows) to meet that responsibility.

 

This game is the fish in the fish market, the apple in the produce section, the bag of potato chips in the snack aisle. A product. For sale.

 

And we are that product's consumers, so deriding EA for intending SWTOR to be a cash cow makes no sense.

 

The only point of derision any of us can truly make is offending what players believe a good Star Wars game should be and consistently delivering a shoddy product release after release after release.

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Merging with EA was a bad move, especially considering how many gaming companies that EA has destroyed over the years. At this point, Bioware is no longer the same and never will be.

 

Edit: BW could start a new company with a different name., and stay as far away from EA as possible.

Edited by ZeroTypeR
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sometimes I think EA should have assigned two studios- Bioware for the stories and another for the MMO elements because in 2012, multiplayer was not what they did well at all. SWTOR might have ended up a very expensive failure that killed Bioware as a lot of us were worried it could.

 

I might be in the minority on this, but I actually found WAR to be one of my favorite MMOs of all time, and that was a BW game. I never knew BW from anything but WAR, I never heard of them doing great stories or anything else.

 

That game began with tons of bugs, and was not fully developed when it came out (as usual it seems with new MMOs) and the bad start hurt it's longevity IMO. People gave up on it early on, and never came back but in reality, they ended up making the game very fun and successful from a technical standpoint.

 

The large PVP battles in an open world were fun and I was amazed how well the game ran with so many characters on the screen, all running about fighting. The WZs were fun too, I loved the variety of maps they had!

 

This is why it shocked me that they created a game, SWTOR after WAR which is incapable of running large scale battles! How is this possible, when they did it with an older game quite well? Also surprising me to this day is how they had so many really varied different WZ maps, yet with SWTOR they seem to struggle with creating different fun maps for their WZs.

 

After a couple years WAR was running very well, class balance was decent and I played many different classes, loved the healers more than anything (I still miss my Warrior Priest)!

 

The game WAR collapsed due to lack of players, but in the end WAR was actually running quite well and had minimal technical issues. It was fun, engaging, allowed for immense open world battles over keeps with hundreds of players engaging one another and if you queued for it's WZs they were really fun and imaginative. I never fretted over gearing, at worst it could be inconveneit, but I never dreaded it or stopped playing the game over any gearing issues WAR had during it's span of life. Sadly it's poor start up created a mass exodus of players initially and I feel they just never gave it a chance later. Typical fickle players, in my mind.

 

Oh! They even had a part of their forums/website dedicated to showing how many got "BanHammered" for cheating, hacking, it was running scoreboard! I mean, that's how fun that game was, they even made light of that facet of the game! I loved that.

 

I just can't agree with the notion that by 2012 BW was incapable of making a decent MMO on their own.

Edited by Lhancelot
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You use the term "cash cow" with derision as if EA should somehow be delivering the game to a needy player base as a charitable contribution.

While I cannot speak for Celise, I view the term "cash cow" in a derogatory way, as in something that will make money without having to put in effort.

 

We've all seen this in the gaming industry. Milk a franchise with the same formula over and over. Add a horrible grind you can bypass with money. Rely on gambling boxes. Etc.

 

The sad thing is that it is financially viable, and so many developers will keep doing it.

 

But occasionally you have developers that are passionate, creative and want to make a really fun game AND make money doing it. I feel like those developers make better games.

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Actually, it was meant to be the WoW Killer from the start but that threat never materialised...

 

Other than seeing this remark from a few that posted on the forums and perhaps some random editorial article that was nothing but speculations and theories, I've never seen anything to suggest that TOR was supposedly to be a WoW Killer.

 

....Devs had to make to appease EAs insistence they make a WoW clone.

 

C'mon. You've been around long enough to know that that statement is pure rubbish.

 

Also, as Steve pointed out:

You missed an important point about Bungie and Activision compared to BioWare and EA. Activision was Bungie's *publisher*. EA is BioWare's *owner*.

 

It's a lot easier to break from a publisher than break away from an owner. Breaking from a publisher would basically be fulfillment/cancellation of a contract. Breaking away from an owner would require the subsidiary to purchase their studio, or to end their employment and start a fresh new company, leaving the product (in this case SWTOR) behind.

 

In an imaginary world, though, BW splitting from EA would probably be a good thing. Although I doubt it would improve their common sense any. I think they'd still make idiotic decisions.

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I might be in the minority on this, but I actually found WAR to be one of my favorite MMOs of all time, and that was a BW game. I never knew BW from anything but WAR, I never heard of them doing great stories or anything else.

 

 

WAR was a Mythic Entertainment game. It was developed while Mythic was an independent company. Mythic and BW were both acquired by EA in short succession. Mythic was subsequently merged into BW after the last of Mythic's founders left. BW had little to do with WAR and nothing to do with its development. It was out and running before the forced mash up of the two studios.

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C'mon. You've been around long enough to know that that statement is pure rubbish.

 

 

Actually last year there was a very good interview with the original lead guy. He distinctly said that EA made them change direction to a WoW clone.

 

I didn’t just make it up. That was from the horses mouth, so to speak.

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Actually last year there was a very good interview with the original lead guy. He distinctly said that EA made them change direction to a WoW clone.

 

I didn’t just make it up. That was from the horses mouth, so to speak.

 

It was and I remember that interview well. I also thought the producer was completely vague, bordering on sour grapes trying to justify money for a new project.

 

The problem for me was he didn't specify what he would have done differently. I recall him also saying that he wanted it be essentially "KOTOR but online" -- but what does that even mean? He talked about social hubs, but that's not an MMO.

 

At the end of the day MMO's have to decide the proper balance between solo, small group (flashpoints), and larger group (raid) content, along with things like strongholds, crafting, and PvP. He would have run into the exact same dilemmas as any MMO producer.

 

Did he think people just wanted to do solo content and then hang out on fleet shooting the breeze? If so, EA was wise to shift gears.

 

Maybe the guy had the most brilliant idea on how to make KOTOR online, but simply complaining that his vision wasn't fulfilled doesn't cut it for me -- I would need to know what his vision was in terms of actual implementation.

 

Dasty

Edited by Jdast
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It was and I remember that interview well. I also thought the producer was completely vague, bordering on sour grapes trying to justify money for a new project.

 

The problem for me was he didn't specify what he would have done differently. I recall him also saying that he wanted it be essentially "KOTOR but online" -- but what does that even mean? He talked about social hubs, but that's not an MMO.

 

At the end of the day MMO's have to decide the proper balance between solo, small group (flashpoints), and larger group (raid) content, along with things like strongholds, crafting, and PvP. He would have run into the exact same dilemmas as any MMO producer.

 

Did he think people just wanted to do solo content and then hang out on fleet shooting the breeze? If so, EA was wise to shift gears.

 

Maybe the guy had the most brilliant idea on how to make KOTOR online, but simply complaining that his vision wasn't fulfilled doesn't cut it for me -- I would need to know what his vision was in terms of actual implementation.

 

Dasty

Great reply Dasty - I agree fully. I especially agree with the "sour grapes" comment as well...I thought it was a very odd interview.

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Electronic Arts acquired BioWare in October 2007. EA noted at the time that it would pay an additional $155 million in equity to "certain employees" of the company, subject to "time-based... vesting criteria." Zeschuk and Muzyka's concurrent departures come almost exactly five years after the acquisition.
https://www.wired.com/2012/09/bioware-doctors-retirement/

 

BW might have had semi-autonomy before the founders cashed out. Who knows.

Edited by Rion_Starkiller
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It was and I remember that interview well. I also thought the producer was completely vague, bordering on sour grapes trying to justify money for a new project.

 

The problem for me was he didn't specify what he would have done differently. I recall him also saying that he wanted it be essentially "KOTOR but online" -- but what does that even mean? He talked about social hubs, but that's not an MMO.

 

At the end of the day MMO's have to decide the proper balance between solo, small group (flashpoints), and larger group (raid) content, along with things like strongholds, crafting, and PvP. He would have run into the exact same dilemmas as any MMO producer.

 

Did he think people just wanted to do solo content and then hang out on fleet shooting the breeze? If so, EA was wise to shift gears.

 

Maybe the guy had the most brilliant idea on how to make KOTOR online, but simply complaining that his vision wasn't fulfilled doesn't cut it for me -- I would need to know what his vision was in terms of actual implementation.

 

Dasty

 

It’s a shame he didn’t actually lay out in detail what he would have done instead. Maybe one day once swtor has been long dead and buried we will find out some of the hidden truths that have happened behind the scenes of this game.

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It’s a shame he didn’t actually lay out in detail what he would have done instead. Maybe one day once swtor has been long dead and buried we will find out some of the hidden truths that have happened behind the scenes of this game.

 

We just need an influential streamer to infiltrate the BW cabal, befriend them and then learn all their dirty secrets. I nominate Snave or Hottie for this job.

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You use the term "cash cow" with derision as if EA should somehow be delivering the game to a needy player base as a charitable contribution.

 

Electronic Arts has never sought under section 78 for a letter of determination from the IRS to be listed as a non-profit corporation under any paragraph under 501c of the IRS tax code. Not member-driven 501c(7), not charitable 501c(3), nothing.

 

So, as a publicly traded for-profit company, EA is responsible to its shareholders to maintain the company's profitability, and it is absurd to deride a for-profit company in its efforts to engineer revenue-generating products (cash cows) to meet that responsibility.

 

This game is the fish in the fish market, the apple in the produce section, the bag of potato chips in the snack aisle. A product. For sale.

 

And we are that product's consumers, so deriding EA for intending SWTOR to be a cash cow makes no sense.

 

The only point of derision any of us can truly make is offending what players believe a good Star Wars game should be and consistently delivering a shoddy product release after release after release.

 

Oh.. and i suppose Visceral is still going, pumping out dead space 4 and 5? i suppose Westwood is still going pumping out command and conquer games.. oh wait, EA isn't a charity case and they are driven by money, theyve already destroyed a game series and two good companies and a third on the verge of ruin if Anthem bombs.

 

Businesses look out for one thing no matter their status, to survive they need money to keep going and that means creating a revenue stream for profit, SWTOR is it. So it is a cash cow and always was.

 

Other than seeing this remark from a few that posted on the forums and perhaps some random editorial article that was nothing but speculations and theories, I've never seen anything to suggest that TOR was supposedly to be a WoW Killer.

 

But the fact you've mentioned it legitimises the point. so nothing more to add there.

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WAR was a Mythic Entertainment game. It was developed while Mythic was an independent company. Mythic and BW were both acquired by EA in short succession. Mythic was subsequently merged into BW after the last of Mythic's founders left. BW had little to do with WAR and nothing to do with its development. It was out and running before the forced mash up of the two studios.

 

Ah yes I forgot about Mythic. I just remembered seeing BW name on the game later I believe. Well. No wonder they took nothing from that game and brought it here, rofl.

 

Thanks for the history lesson. :o

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