EA "acquires" Bioware

[Tails_Kitsune]

EA Buys Bioware, Pandemic

According to EA's Chief Executive Officer, they just "acquired" BioWare and Pandemic Studios. That's vague for "swallowed up."

EA already pumps out enough monotonous games as it is.

"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."

Are we thinking about the same EA here?

[TheSilentAssassin]

Re: EA "acquires" Bioware

Are we thinking about the same EA here?

Depends on which one you are talking about, but probably not

[Tails_Kitsune]

Re: EA "acquires" Bioware

Are we thinking about the same EA here?

Depends on which one you are talking about, but probably not

I guess not. I've always thought EA was shrewd, and rushes their games just to make money. On the other hand, Mr. Muzyka seems to think EA is going to bless them with knowledge, money, and creativity.

To each his own. I wonder if he just said that to be polite. I can't see EA having a vision other than money.

[Rand{CLR}]

This sucks. Bioware is pretty damn good. Or at least, was. :P

-Rand

[ThisElfRocksHard]

This sucks. Bioware is pretty damn good. Or at least, was. :P

-Rand

My thoughts exactly. Who's next? Bethesda?

Doesn't Bioware read the same things we do? Shouldn't they know better?

[Trooper110]

It probably came down to how much money EA was willing to plunk down for it, unfortunately.

[baw]

I stay away from EA published games.

[Rand{CLR}]

It probably came down to how much money EA was willing to plunk down for it, unfortunately.

Which, in scientific terms, was "a hell of a lot." Something on order of 750 million dollars, all told.

-Rand

[Premonition]

details are sketchy at best on this. EA looks to only got the rights to like 3 games. Could this be a publisher dev deal. Most notable game is the xbox 360 exclusive mass effect. people are wondering if EA will take this game multi platform now.

This doesnt look like EA gobbled them up, more just took a bite out of them. More details should be coming soon though.

[xGoblin013x]

well, things can only go downhill in EA now...
Pandemic is, or was, the bunch of fools who made the crappy Star Wars Battlefront games. Hate to see what games theyll pump out with those corner-cutters....
Course, you say that Bioware was good, so mabye theyll balance out to keep EA goin on the good idea/mediocre job track...

[Rand{CLR}]

Just as a bit of an example, Bioware has made the following games:

1. Baldur's Gate
2. Baldur's Gate 2
3. Neverwinter Nights
4. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
5. Expansions for the above

The engines for the games led to Icewind Dale 1 and 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, Star Wars KOTR 2, and Planescape Torment.

Basically, they're probably the best developer of RPGs out there, with the possible exception of Bethesda.

-Rand

[Tails_Kitsune]

Course, you say that Bioware was good, so mabye theyll balance out to keep EA goin on the good idea/mediocre job track...

I'm hoping that's true, but from what I've seen from EA, they'll cut content in an attempt to put out a poorly done game, just for the hopes of earning more money.

If I recall correctly, EA pushed DICE a lot during BF2142 (or was it BF2?) and pushed the release date months ahead of what was planned. I can't help but think that EA simply wanted more money, and was willing to release a rather bugged game to get the money faster.

[rusty99]

Why can't EA just understand that buying out quality game companies isn't going to make them better, rather they are screwing them up and destroying legacy titles (Westwood and the C&C series comes to mind). I wish instead of absorbing other companies that they would concentrate on putting out quality products.

[Kenshin Himura]

Why can't EA just understand that buying out quality game companies isn't going to make them better, rather they are screwing them up and destroying legacy titles (Westwood and the C&C series comes to mind).

Since EA doesn't want to waste the time trying to develop better games to compete with the market, they just buy out companies who produce better games than they do so they don't look that bad.

Last I heard, EA also has more shares in UbiSoft than the actual board of UbiSoft does... I can't help but think we'll be seeing some changes happening in UbiSoft as well.

What're we going to do with you, EA?

[th3st1ck]

Why can't EA just understand that buying out quality game companies isn't going to make them better, rather they are screwing them up and destroying legacy titles (Westwood and the C&C series comes to mind).

Since EA doesn't want to waste the time trying to develop better games to compete with the market, they just buy out companies who produce better games than they do so they don't look that bad.

Last I heard, EA also has more shares in UbiSoft than the actual board of UbiSoft does... I can't help but think we'll be seeing some changes happening in UbiSoft as well.

What're we going to do with you, EA?

oh dear