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Fallout From the BioWare/Pandemic Buyout

Posted by Zonk on Fri Oct 12, 2007 09:37 AM
from the if-they're-okay-with-it-i'm-okay-with-it dept.
Businesses Entertainment Games
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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[+] Electronic Arts Purchases BioWare, Pandemic 232 comments
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.'"
[+] EA/BioWare Deal Finalized, Nets EA Ten Franchises 79 comments
Gamasutra notes that the announced deal, where Electronic Arts was to purchase BioWare/Pandemic, has now been formalized. This arrangement will fold ten new franchises into the EA family, from the just-released Mass Effect all the way back to BioWare's classic titles. "EA Games president Frank Gibeau will oversee both studios within his organization, and BioWare's Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk have each been named as vice presidents of EA and co-general managers of BioWare. Similarly, Pandemic's Andrew Goldman and Josh Resnick have each been named vice presidents of EA and co-general managers of Pandemic, while Greg Borrud has been named vice president of EA and chief production officer of Pandemic Studios. "
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Fallout From the BioWare/Pandemic Buyout 25 Comments More /

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  • game over (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Aurisor (932566) on Friday October 12 2007, @09:44AM (#20952737) Homepage
    Anyone else feel like you're in a zombie movie and your best friend just got bitten?

    Me: Bioware? Bioware!?
    Bioware: BRAAIIIIINNNSSSSSSS
    Me: Nooooooo!

    *cocks shotgun*

    • That's hilarious, but it is one of the best descriptions of the reactions we've seen from gamers: shock, disbelief, sadness, maybe some feelings of betrayal, and most of all a resolve to do what needs to be done...

  • You never know - look at Will Wright (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dtolman (688781) <dtolman@yahoo.com> on Friday October 12 2007, @09:49AM (#20952811) Homepage
    The fact that they have pampered Will Wright, and pretty much let him do whatever he wants (on two projects now - the Sims and Spore, is a good sign they know how in theory how to not destroy a creative development team. If they can extend that good practice to the entire Bioware group... maybe this won't end up being a disaster like Origin's buyout...

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by techpawn (969834)
      I see this as EA is more financial backing for these creative minds. As long as they can continue to do what they've been doing EA most likely won't muck up what works. Just add a successful name to the portfolio and keep them fed.

      Then again, look at the SIMS expansion packs...

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      This is not entirely true of The Sims. Will Wright had to develop a lot of The Sims off the clock and in secret just to get a demo going to convince the then EA management that it was an idea worth pursuing. He had to fight a lot to get that game greenlighted:

      "Don Mattrick, a former top Electronic Arts executive who was involved in the company's 1997 acquisition of Maxis, said the company's then-management didn't know how to deal with Mr. Wright. "They had a hard time communicating with Will," Mr. Mattric
    • Let's not forget that Will Wright practically forced EA to let him make the Sims.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by dtolman (688781)
        Yeah - but EA isn't a town - its a continent. As long as they aren't working out of the same office (and keep their release dates a few months apart), I'm sure they'll never realize they ain't the center of the EA universe...

      • Re:You never know - look at Will Wright (Score:4, Interesting)

        by dtolman (688781) <dtolman@yahoo.com> on Friday October 12 2007, @10:18AM (#20953333) Homepage

        Yeah cause if there's one thing "he wants" it's to push out a new crapspansion pack for the sims every 6 months. Too many people forget the Origins, the Westwoods, the Bullfrogs. But as long as we can shovel out another crapspansion for the sims they are all too happy.


        But that IS the whole point. Will Wright gets the freedom to create new original ideas and implement them (you think he's spent a second of his time on the Sims since publishing the original?), as long as EA gets to inherit the IP and turn it into a franchise (aka - pump out endless expansion packs). And who exactly loses in this deal? Wright gets creative freedom, EA gets new IP, and users get content shoveled at them. No one is forcing anyone to buy more expansions. Personally, I think its a good thing that a years old title is getting regular updates. Those Sims expansions are the closest thing out there to a working episodic gaming model...

  • the MMO? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by genrader (563784)
    Does anyone know if this will affect the MMO that bioware has been working on? I have always trusted bioware but the fact EA had to find some way to acquire them shows me EA is desperate and that this MMO may suck now.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by RogueyWon (735973)
      No idea whatsoever. However, part of me wonders if the MMO is related. Perhaps Bioware did a serious look at the costs involved in setting up and maintaining a large-scale MMO and decided that they wouldn't be able to get the ball rolling without some serious financial backing.

      Running an MMO game world with hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of players in a persistent environment, with tens of thousands at the very least per server, is very different to managing the community for something like NWN, w

      • Re:the MMO? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Reapman (740286) <[tdoerksen] [at] [gmail.com]> on Friday October 12 2007, @11:11AM (#20954263)
        Does EA run any MMO's other then Ultima Online? Sims Online, NFS MOtorcity or w/e it was called, died horrible deaths last I heard. UO2 and UO:X was cancelled. I agree that they may have cringed when looking at the realities of running an MMO, but I don't think EA would be at the top of my list of companies that can run an MMO well. Hell I'd pick SoE over em, and that is NOT saying much considering I've despised most of their games.

        All the assurances in the world still don't get the bad taste that Westwood and Origin's deaths created. I hope I'm wrong.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by Pandur77 (1172799)
          EA bought Mythic some time ago (and renamed them to EA Mythic) which is the developer of Dark Age of Camelot. EA Mythic is also developing the new Warhammer MMO.
    • Suck? It won't suck. It won't exist. Look at the track record for yourself. Ultima X: Odyssey. Ultima Online 2. Battletech 3025. Earth & Beyond. Motor City Online. About the only MMORPG released by EA that wasn't canned before release or canned only a few months after release was Sims Online (Lord knows why).

      Chris Mattern

  • Hardly (Score:5, Funny)

    by CaseyB (1105) on Friday October 12 2007, @09:50AM (#20952845)

    This may have been surprising, but if the two companies were onboard with being given stacks of cash so large they require heavy machinery to move it can hardly be dire, right?

    Fixed that for you.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Miltazar (1100457)
      That is exactly why this went forward. What just because a company went along with it, somehow it changes the fact? EA still is EA, whether this is a hostile take-over or them dumping piles of cash on Bioware. Origin Systems went willingly as well, what happened to them? Oh yeah, their founders eventually realized it was a bad idea and left. Now the company that had some great franchises, such as Wing Commander, Ultima, etc, now only makes Ultima Online expansions. The truth is that they did it for th
  • Didn't this get enough coverage yesterday?

    http://games.slashdot.org/games/07/10/11/2053228.shtml [slashdot.org]

    WTF cares?
    • Yesterday was the announcement, today's the analysis, and it's sorely needed. To a gamer who's head hasn't been up their ass the past ten or so years, Bioware's a big deal. Pandemic has also been making a name for itself the past few years with titles like Star Wars Battlefront and Mercenaries. In the game industry, yesterday's announcement was like saying "Nuclear war between the US and Russia!" and today's is, "What got us here and how can you survive the nuclear holocaust?"
  • Frankly, in the big "who's the most evil empire" game, I don't see EA as necessarily worse than Atari (who created huge problems with WotC game IP left and right) and Microsoft (whom we all know and loathe).

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by BarneyL (578636)
      The difference between Microsoft and EA is that Microsoft wants to destroy the competition. EA seem out to destroy the industry.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by azuredrake (1069906)
        This is not true at all. EA gets a lot of flak for previous acquisitions (Westwood, Origin) where the move was widely seen as just buying the IP and then cannibalizing an otherwise perfectly creative studio. However, their new CEO, John Ricotello, has a very accurate vision for how to move the company forward into developing new IP and really amping up the creative side of game design, rather than just the business side. I've heard him speak, and he really does know exactly what he's talking about. Furth
  • The title include the word "fallout", yet nothing in the blurb justifies the use.

    Damn sensationalist /. eds!

  • This may have been surprising, but if the two companies were onboard with this move it can hardly be dire, right?

    Such naive optimism! I miss those days before my heart was a dried up little rotten apple of cynicism. Oh well, I'll give it a try. Yeah... right... this can't be that bad. It's probably even a ...

    Oh, never mind.

  • Dumb move by EA (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CHK6 (583097) on Friday October 12 2007, @10:52AM (#20953927)
    If John Riccitiello thinks this acquisition will help EA he's overly optimistic. Not because Bioware is a shill (in fact the opposite), but if I was a Bioware employee with a large stake I'd cash out now before stepping back into the corporate culture and schedule demands. So EA paid through the nose to pay for a major stake holder position, yet it's that money that gives employees no incentive to stick around. Maybe Bioware's employees have no stake in all of this, but I doubt the principle developers don't have a monetary stake. But there are so many other companies getting all lathered up thinking about taking those wanting to jump ship. Maybe a RPG in the EVE universe? Also take that many of Bioware's Austin employees are ex-EA peeps, I doubt bad blood is washed clean.

    The gravy trained just pulled in to the station. Get off now because the next leg of the trip is over a rickety and unproven wooden bridge. The last few trains that came along the EA route derailed and burned.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by GregPK (991973)
      Nope...

      Every person I've worked with that was involved with EA takeover in some way pretty much took thier Cash and left.

      A great number of good games could have been made had EA not done thier best to destroy them. Or release everything they make with Serious bug issues.

      Microsoft back in the early days of gaming did everything they could to foster the creativity of gaming into what it is today. With big budgets, big parties, big group gatherings.

      God those were the days when I was happy to be in the industr

  • OMG OMG - Oh, wait, FUCK! (Score:3, Funny)

    by MWoody (222806) on Saturday October 13 2007, @12:49AM (#20963493) Homepage
    You son of a bitch. You don't include "fallout," "bioware," and "pandemic" in an article title like that, ever. Now I have to change pants, and all for naught.

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