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Electronic Arts Purchases BioWare, Pandemic
Posted by
Zonk
on Thu Oct 11, 2007 03:55 PM
from the depths-of-horror dept.
from the depths-of-horror dept.
Kotaku is reporting that EA has purchased BioWare and Pandemic Studios, having offered some $620 million in cash to the Elevation Partners group to buy up VG Holding Corp. From the press release: "'We are truly excited by John Riccitiello's new vision for EA,' said Ray Muzyka, Co-founder and CEO of BioWare Corp. 'This vision is consistent with BioWare's focus on crafting the highest quality story-driven games in the world. It will enable us to further the careers of the passionate, creative and hard working teams at BioWare Edmonton and BioWare Austin.'"
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Fallout From the BioWare/Pandemic Buyout 89 comments
Yesterday's announcement of EA's purchase of BioWare and Pandemic took a lot of people by surprise. Today, there's some more information, reactions, and assurances from the people involved in the move. First and foremost: Mass Effect should not be affected by this purchase. The future of the series is still up in the air, but the game we've all be waiting for is still slated for a November 20th release exclusive to the Xbox 360. EA held a conference call about the buyout soon after it was announced, and answers a number of questions about specifics. FiringSquad has a feature on the reaction from the developers, and that piece has some assurances that EA's CEO John Riccitiello has the best interests of the new acquisitions at heart. Gamasutra has a Q&A with Pandemic's management team, which wants to point out that Pandemic/BioWare and their parent company drove this deal forward; this was not a hostile acquisition. Likewise Gamespot has a chat with the BioWare co-founders, who are equally excited about the deal. This may have been surprising, but if the two companies were onboard with this move it can hardly be dire, right?
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Game Studio Flight From Microsoft A Sign of Troubles? 122 comments
Newsweek's LevelUp blog continues to produce some highly interesting material. Today they have up a look at the 'flight' of game studios from Microsoft's corporate umbrella. BioWare's purchase by EA distances it a bit from their cosy relationship with Microsoft, as does Bizarre's purchase by Activision. Bungie's departure from the company itself goes without saying. So what does all this mean? Is this a sign of troubles in Redmond, or just more fallout from the huge undertaking required to get the Xbox 360 to the position it has today? "For us, the flight of the Killer B's is a clear indication that Microsoft as a whole is still shell shocked not only by the massive losses in the Xbox division, but also more importantly by the poor showing of Rare, which has to rank as not only one of the Microsoft's least successful purchases, but as quite possibly the worst acquisition in the history of gaming. Microsoft paid $375 million in cash for Rare, and based on the modest revenues from its ensuing titles--a Conker's Bad Fur Day remake, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero and Viva Pinata--all they've got to show for it is that proverbial lousy T-shirt, completely stained with red ink."
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Pondering EA's Move Towards Hardcore 51 comments
The site GigaOM is picking up its games coverage again, and kicks off with an article speculating on just what EA was thinking when it purchased BioWare and Pandemic. On the face of it, the move doesn't make much sense. BioWare is a great development house, but from EA's perspective their games are 'small potatoes'. "So why did they spend so much? The acquisition includes several titles for the Wii and DS already in development, and those may have breakout potential. There's tremendous gamer buzz around BioWare's upcoming RPG Mass Effect, but in all likelihood, it'll do similar numbers to the studio's million-plus-selling Knights of the Old Republic -- a hit, but not a huge one. There are rumors that BioWare is developing a 'Star Wars'-themed MMO, but if that's what inspired the purchase, the mystery only deepens: Sony Online's (SNE) MMO Star Wars Galaxies was a disappointment in relation to cost and anticipation, and that was released at the height of the buzz over a movie franchise that's since become old news."
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Electronic Arts Purchases BioWare, Pandemic
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Let me be the first to say... (Score:5, Insightful)
(Pardon me for being cynical, but I can't help but be afraid that a company like EA, known for mediocrity, is going to drag down Bioware, known for excellence)
Re:Let me be the first to say... (Score:5, Insightful)
I tend to think of EA more like "The Borg" - they are out to assimilate every other game company, suck the individuality out of them and turn them into themselves - lifeless automatons.
Re:Let me be the first to say... (Score:4, Informative)
This sums things up nicely: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Let me be the first to say... (Score:5, Insightful)
So, to summarize this business deal: EA= Big Daddies, Bioware = Little Sisters, and if history is any guide to how EA treats their people, bioware's programmers/artists = corpses being robbed of their mana. And where do the customers factor in? We're the fellow passengers on the airplane that crashed during the Bioshock opening scene -- literary filler which exists only because it can't be logically avoided.
Re:Let me be the first to say... (Score:4, Informative)
Thanks for the Game Property (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes. When they consolidate there will be several people passionate about eating and paying their bills who will be looking afield to continue their careers.
Anybody at Bioware-Austin (Score:5, Funny)
Subject Field. (Score:1)
NOT pleased at all (Score:2)
Why? (Score:1)
Re:Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's just like asking musicians to stop selling out to the RIAA, at the end of the day most of us will go for the money.
No. No No No No No. (Score:1, Insightful)
This news hurts my soul.
Re:No. No No No No No. (Score:5, Informative)
Back in 80s, EA attracted a number of top game developers and was (to many) synonymous with interesting, solid gameplay. MULE and Archon are two clear standouts published by EA, but a complete list of hits both big and small from "back in the days" is pretty lengthy (Bard's Tale, Mail Order Monsters, the various Construction Set games, Starflight, Seven Cities of Gold, etc.)
EA itself may not have "made" these games, but its distribution strategy and relationship with developers back then did a lot to get good games in the hands of eager players.
EA Games... (Score:5, Funny)
Purchase Everything
</whisper>
At least Mass Effect is pretty much finished (Score:2)
Game over! (Score:5, Funny)
It's not the first of april (Score:5, Insightful)
Another one bites the dust... (Score:1)
Re:Another one bites the dust... (Score:4, Funny)
Carry The Torch? (Score:3, Interesting)
RIP Bioware...
Reapy
Re:Carry The Torch? (Score:5, Funny)
Terrible news... (Score:5, Insightful)
There's hope for Bioware (Score:4, Interesting)
Pandemic on the other hand is basically borg-fodder.
Re:There's hope for Bioware (Score:4, Informative)
Re:There's hope for Bioware (Score:4, Insightful)
EA: We Ruin Games (Score:5, Insightful)
Imagine SimCity, only take out the simulation elements, dumb it down, give it a lame 3d engine, and hire the mediocre studio behind the failure that is Caesar IV to design it. That's exactly what EA is doing with SimCity Societies. One of the most venerable PC game series of all time is reduced to the uninspired, inoffensive, mildly-likable crap that EA specializes in. If Maxis were still around, I doubt we'd be seeing this.
Then there's the Westwood. EA dissolved the studio and released C&C: Generals. It had no live action cut scenes, no creative and silly weapons, and no enigmatic bald men bent on world domination. It was a generic RTS featuring the USA, China, and some Arab quasi-nationstate fighting across desert landscapes dotted with mosques - the same setting used by every Clancy knockoff.
(Just because you build a city doesn't make it SimCity. Likewise, just because you command a modern army doesn't make it C&C.)
And let's not forget the Battlefield series. DICE revolutionized online FPS gaming with BF1942. To this day, it's still one of my favorite games. Battlefield 2, however, is a system hog that could teach Vista a thing or two. Post-release support is abysmal and the game is still riddled with bugs. BF2142 is for all purposes a half-assed futuristic mod based on the same crummy BF2 engine...and it features in-game ads.
I could go on and on, but you get the picture. I've been playing PC games ever since SimCity 2000 in 1993 and have witnessed EA steadily bastardize so many PC games I know and love. They make boatloads of cash from their exploitation games (Madden, The Sims) and then buy out respectable studios. Am I cynical for thinking that BioWare and Pandemic will go to shit? Based on my experience with EA, it's only a matter of time.
Re:EA: We Ruin Games (Score:4, Insightful)
With gaming going so mainstream, there are a lot of people now who accessorize with games rather than geek out over them. Consider the breakdown between music geeks and mainstream -- music geeks will get all into their favorite band, go obsessive over it, and geek out -- non-geeks who don't really care will just buy what their friends listen to so they can fit in. As far as the industry is concerned, a happy geek pays just as much for a CD as a mallrat so they're pleased.
The point I'm getting at, there are people who buy the latest football games because that's what their friends play. There are also people who just get whatever the flavor of the month game is popular and only play it superficially. Then they sell it back to the store and move on. Also, don't discount the parent factor. Here's a Harry Potter game, I'm getting it for the kid. Do I care what the reviews say about it? It's Harry fucking Potter, maybe this will shut the brat up.
Back in the day, it was marginally harder to push out a crappy game because the market was smaller and a lot geekier and thus harder to satisfy. With gaming going more mainstream, the acceptable quality threshold is lower. The same thing goes for movies. I tend to be picky as hell and bag on most of them. Most people I see them with tend to be happy so long as the film doesn't break. "There were lots of lights and fast, shiny objects. I enjoyed myself." My dissatisfied ticket made the studio just as much money as the other guy's genially uninformed ticket. Studio 1, Me 0.
My only hope is that the talent within the company accepted the buy-out offer with the intent of jumping ship to form a new development studio and continue to make good games. Cuz God knows, Bioware is already history.
This is GREAT news! (Score:5, Funny)
Good for them. (Score:4, Insightful)
Now for us gamers..... crap! Well if you are going to go out with a bang, then I guess Mass Effect is a great place to end it on.
There's still hope.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Noooo! (Score:2)
I for one welcome our Wii-enhanced Bioware (Score:1)
NOOO (Score:1)
The horror, the worst news of the year.
I love Bioware games, and now thats over
Mass Effect (Score:2)
Seriously this new sucks, every time EA buys something out to grab some IP they screw it up. I remember when they bought Westwood, the creators of the Command and Conquer series. What did we get out of that; RA2, Renegade...Generals (ok CNC3 is pretty good). I was looking forward to Mass Effect, but I've been boycotting EA for years now, and I don't think I'll be picking it up because of this. Mass Effect was the reason I was going to finally buy a new console and HDTV. Maybe I'll just be building a new PC instead, and I've been interested in the Wii too, which is looking like a better purchase because of the excellent price and my lack of an HD setup.
What does HK-47 say? (Score:3, Funny)
Just what I wanted.... (Score:1)
Seems to be confusion (Score:1)
EA does not have any rights to D&D related stuff, so Neverwinter Nights cannot be made or published through EA.
Unfortunately Atari have that privelige (I wish Atari would hurry up and die).
But overall, this has a sense of foreboding.
I hope Bioware does not get stuffed around.
Yeah, this sucks (Score:3, Insightful)
At the end of the day, it's the way of business....the small ones either grow or get consumed by a larger company. With the cost of developing games getting so high, there's not too much that can happen with that. Unfortunately, that means that game studios start resembling movie studios - with huge $$ being invested, they're less likely to go with something original and more likely to develop sequels or copies. The smaller companies may release interesting games, but they're not as likely to be a success [wikipedia.org]. A shame.
I wonder if Bioware will stay as its own Studio. (Score:4, Insightful)
If EA intends to get heavily involved in Bioware's day to day operations, than Bioware as an independant studio may not exist for too much longer. EA already has studio's in Vancouver and Montreal, and do not really need extra floor space. If that happens, I expect that alot of Bioware's core employees will just quit and form a new studio. Many of them have lived in Edmonton a long time and probably have some pretty deep roots in the community. Plenty may want to leave for milder weather in Vancouver though.
What will be really interesting is to see what Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk end up doing. If they stay with their Studio in Edmonton and stay in control of day to day operations, things should be fine. If they take their money and run, well they earned it.
END COMMUNICATION
Death to EA! (Score:2)
Sad day for gaming (Score:1)
Appropriate to quote it again.... (Score:2, Interesting)
What the... (Score:1)
The sound of doom in the distance... (Score:2)
Seriously, Bioware prides itself on being a tight, self-sufficient, family office that makes great games. There was enough worry during the Pandemic merger that such qualities might be lost... they seemed to have come through fairly unscathed... and no the behemoth that is EA is going to come play in the sandbox?
The bad news is that I sense a lot of soon-to-be-unhappy people at Bioware.
The good news is that if they move on, maybe I can live the dream and work there
Hey, I figure ya gotta look at the bright side with everything
D&D games (Score:3, Informative)
EA -- Buy out quality studio, create shovelware :( (Score:1)
New franchise (Score:2)
Mass Effects new cover (Score:2, Funny)
Unskippable (Score:5, Insightful)
In the future? (Score:2, Funny)
April 1st already? (Score:2)
I wish EA would buy Microsoft (Score:2)
EA (Score:2)
Origin
Overheard At The Bioware Office... (Score:1)
to be honest.... (Score:1)
Re:Obligatory SW Reference (Score:3, Funny)
As the truth begins to emerge...
Bioware: "That wasn't part of the deal! You said you would leave us alone!"
EA: "I am altering the terms of our agreement. Pray I don't alter them any further!"
Re:Maybe it's not the doom we fear (Score:2)
Now, when it comes to MMOs, the big titles(EverQuest and World of Warcraft) share the same basic gameplay design that has made so many of us keep jumping from game to game looking for something DIFFERENT that will also be good and hold our attention. Bioware, of all the developers out there, was the developer that had the best chance to come up with something DIFFERENT, a true MMORPG which might evolve decently over time. Now that EA is going to be in charge, that hope has pretty much died. EA is NOT about supporting innovation and new ideas, but is more about playing it safe and using a formula design to generate money.
Bioware was the company I hoped would come out with games that would bring artistic storylines back to the mainsteam instead of the garbage we see(which centers around violence without any ways to avoid combat). Now....I see myself going back to old games until they no longer run due to changes to Windows.
Re:Obsidian (Score:2)