EA buy Bioware Corp. and Pandemic Studios
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Soldato
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Does bioware really need any "extra" money from EA? I would have thought they are rakeing it in and being bought by EA hinders them more then helping them.
Further more can someone please tell me some games EA have made which hasn't needed constant patching and is infact now working perfectly?
If EA buy up enough studioes they will control the market enough to be able to dictate what games come out on what consoles etc. Everyone will end up being their puppet so to speak. Microsoft and Sony will have to pay huge amounts of money to EA to get the games they want and it will screw everything up.
Further more can someone please tell me some games EA have made which hasn't needed constant patching and is infact now working perfectly?
If EA buy up enough studioes they will control the market enough to be able to dictate what games come out on what consoles etc. Everyone will end up being their puppet so to speak. Microsoft and Sony will have to pay huge amounts of money to EA to get the games they want and it will screw everything up.
I'm not sure that's entirely fair. Red Alert 2 and C&C 3 were both made under the EA label, the only game in the C&C series i would call a complete failure produced under EA was Renegade, Generals wasnt to my taste but it was popular, I loved Red Alert 2 and C&C3 is thought as the best in the series by many.
On the battlefield front, EA has been the publisher of the IP since the beginning? The games have always been developed by Digital Illusions and published by EA, the IP has never passed into the hands of EA to be 'ruined' as its always been in theirs.
EA are behind the production of some very solid games, examples would be SSX series, Medal of Honor series, Sim City 4, Need for Speed series and the aforementioned Battlefield and C&C series. They were also producers of Ultima Online, probably the oldest MMO still being played today (and as far as i know they still maintain it well). New games to come also look extremely promising (read: Crysis).
They aren't some modern big scary monster eating up all the old, traditional smaller, games companies, they are in fact one of the older games producers still around today. Some of my favorite titles on the Megadrive started with the old EA logo (it was so long ago i can't remember many titles but Desert Storm springs to mind).
EA bashing seems to have become a fashion as of late, i still hold faith that Bioware won't let their standards for games slip as they are humans with pride and a brain of their own.
[EDIT] Oh i forgot, they're also producers of the madden series, the Wii release of the latest installment is just godlike
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Soldato
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EA are publishing crysis 
No need to upgrade now lol.
, I would expect a lot of shovel ware to come out soon.
To be hinest i always thought bioware had quite a lot of money anyway?.If EA keep their hands off the creative side, and just provide a nice stable cashflow and publishing deal, then this could be a good thing...
What's the betting they don't though...
Ah well, at least they haven't got Obsidian
Hope it don't go like westwood did and C&C series, at least mass effect is almost done so they cannot really muck about with that to much,bioware had quite a few games i liked quite a fan of theirs really.
Soldato
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Soldato
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$800million isn't that much when you think how much EA makes. And remember thats like £400million now as its about 2 dollars to a pound.
EA's purchase of Mythic will really show what EA are up to in the next couple of years. I really really do hope that EA know what they are doing long term, but I doubt it.
And I agree all video game money is in consoles. No matter how much we like the pc the majority of the population dont game on a pc. It doesnt look good for the pc at all, or for the game industry as a whole. PC technology is what drives the console, remove the need to improve the PC technology it will also have a knock-on effect on the console and the whole video game industry.
My feeling is the future of the whole visual media is going to be games driven: who wants to watch when you can take part? And this is just EA doing a Hollywood. Which many have said ruined the film industry and is just getting those independent studios back.
And I agree all video game money is in consoles. No matter how much we like the pc the majority of the population dont game on a pc. It doesnt look good for the pc at all, or for the game industry as a whole. PC technology is what drives the console, remove the need to improve the PC technology it will also have a knock-on effect on the console and the whole video game industry.
My feeling is the future of the whole visual media is going to be games driven: who wants to watch when you can take part? And this is just EA doing a Hollywood. Which many have said ruined the film industry and is just getting those independent studios back.
The heads of both studios (Josh Resnick/Andrew Goldman of Pandemic and Greg Zeschuk/Ray Muzyka of BioWare) took some time to discuss the deal with IGN and explain why they think it's good news for them and their fans.
"What I would point out to [the fans] is actually the original combination, the original vision behind bringing Pandemic and BioWare together was developed in collaboration with John Riccitiello," says Pandemic's Josh Resnick. "And that same John is now running EA. He is bringing us into the fold and partnering with us because of the work we did over the last two years. That work included bringing the best talent possible to both BioWare and Pandemic and investing heavily in building very innovative and creative and compelling original IPs. That's why he's partnering with us now. He wants to continue that vision of us being an independent studio with an independent, entrepreneurial culture. And he wants to just support us in continuing to invest in those original IPs and our talent and bring that together with the publishing muscle of EA. What an amazing combination. Actually, we see consumers really being the big winners here. They're gonna get all the same great work that we've been doing for a while and our products, and even more so. We're excited for us and our employees and EA but most importantly our fans.
"Everybody finds it hard to believe that we are going to remain independent but we really are. We're still Pandemic here and we're just inside of EA Games."
"What we're about is making great games and that's not going to change," said Greg Zeschuk of BioWare. "Ray and I have been doing this for almost 15 years now and we've been very fortunate to make some really seminal games in the role-playing game space. We really think that this move -- we believe in the vision. We believe in the opportunity this gives us and the chance to stretch our wings and do even more. We're excited about what John is bringing to the table. We of course worked with him when he was the CEO of BioWare and Pandemic. We believe in where things are going and we think BioWare can be even stronger in the future."
"One of the things we've learned working with John is we share the same values," said Ray Muzyka. "We're excited to be part of the team that John's building. We share the same vision. So we're really excited to join the EA Games label."
IGN asked both studios if the terms of the purchase allowed them to maintain complete creative control of their projects.
"We were an independent developer in control of all our products and our dev team," said Pandemic's Andrew Goldman. "Now we see ourselves as an independent brand inside of EA Games. And as the leaders of the independent brand we are still in control of the projects we're making. Nothing is really changing here other than we're getting the support of a very large organization to help us make our products better."
"Well, I would say we have a very strong vision for what we want to create and how we're going to create it," BioWare's Greg Zeschuk told us. "That's certainly not going to change. What's exciting for us is we get great partners to collaborate with on this. Frank Gibeau, the President of EA Games that we'll be reporting in to, we have great respect for him. He's a huge gamer, makes us even ashamed as serious gamers. He's a really great guy and loves what we do. It's actually going to be a great opportunity for collaboration. Our teams really do control their destiny. I think this gives us a chance to do even more things."
"I think another way to look at is the integration of great development teams and marketing capabilities already present within BioWare," said Ray Muzyka. "Combine that with even more marketing resources, sales resources, distribution, direct consumer relationships that EA brings as the world's biggest, best publisher. When you combine those two together, we are part of the team that is going to be delivering some of the best experiences, some of the best story-driven games in the world. That's what we're always striving to do at BioWare and that is not changing at all."
Source - http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/827/827000p1.html
I dont know wether or not to believe them, before i used to think what ever came out of Bioware was a prime example of what computer gaming should be like, now i dont know if i'll ever buy another Bioware game.
"What I would point out to [the fans] is actually the original combination, the original vision behind bringing Pandemic and BioWare together was developed in collaboration with John Riccitiello," says Pandemic's Josh Resnick. "And that same John is now running EA. He is bringing us into the fold and partnering with us because of the work we did over the last two years. That work included bringing the best talent possible to both BioWare and Pandemic and investing heavily in building very innovative and creative and compelling original IPs. That's why he's partnering with us now. He wants to continue that vision of us being an independent studio with an independent, entrepreneurial culture. And he wants to just support us in continuing to invest in those original IPs and our talent and bring that together with the publishing muscle of EA. What an amazing combination. Actually, we see consumers really being the big winners here. They're gonna get all the same great work that we've been doing for a while and our products, and even more so. We're excited for us and our employees and EA but most importantly our fans.
"Everybody finds it hard to believe that we are going to remain independent but we really are. We're still Pandemic here and we're just inside of EA Games."
"What we're about is making great games and that's not going to change," said Greg Zeschuk of BioWare. "Ray and I have been doing this for almost 15 years now and we've been very fortunate to make some really seminal games in the role-playing game space. We really think that this move -- we believe in the vision. We believe in the opportunity this gives us and the chance to stretch our wings and do even more. We're excited about what John is bringing to the table. We of course worked with him when he was the CEO of BioWare and Pandemic. We believe in where things are going and we think BioWare can be even stronger in the future."
"One of the things we've learned working with John is we share the same values," said Ray Muzyka. "We're excited to be part of the team that John's building. We share the same vision. So we're really excited to join the EA Games label."
IGN asked both studios if the terms of the purchase allowed them to maintain complete creative control of their projects.
"We were an independent developer in control of all our products and our dev team," said Pandemic's Andrew Goldman. "Now we see ourselves as an independent brand inside of EA Games. And as the leaders of the independent brand we are still in control of the projects we're making. Nothing is really changing here other than we're getting the support of a very large organization to help us make our products better."
"Well, I would say we have a very strong vision for what we want to create and how we're going to create it," BioWare's Greg Zeschuk told us. "That's certainly not going to change. What's exciting for us is we get great partners to collaborate with on this. Frank Gibeau, the President of EA Games that we'll be reporting in to, we have great respect for him. He's a huge gamer, makes us even ashamed as serious gamers. He's a really great guy and loves what we do. It's actually going to be a great opportunity for collaboration. Our teams really do control their destiny. I think this gives us a chance to do even more things."
"I think another way to look at is the integration of great development teams and marketing capabilities already present within BioWare," said Ray Muzyka. "Combine that with even more marketing resources, sales resources, distribution, direct consumer relationships that EA brings as the world's biggest, best publisher. When you combine those two together, we are part of the team that is going to be delivering some of the best experiences, some of the best story-driven games in the world. That's what we're always striving to do at BioWare and that is not changing at all."
Source - http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/827/827000p1.html
I dont know wether or not to believe them, before i used to think what ever came out of Bioware was a prime example of what computer gaming should be like, now i dont know if i'll ever buy another Bioware game.
I remember talking to someone in Lionhead about the take over of Bullfrog... he said that it was never the same again, and thats why Peter left...
Stelly