HerbieZ Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 This is a colossal kick in the nuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Obi-Wan Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Umm.... wow. That REALLY sucks. Just wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish.Stapler Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 I just hope that Mass Effect is close enough to being finished that EA can't mess it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Like it's been said, you're not going to hear any employees complain about this openly now, because nobody is going to start off criticising the new boss. What would be the point of that? After all, even if Bioware employees dislike EA, what good will it do them to voice displeasure? It'll just cost them their jobs, and it'll look bad when they're looking for the next one either way. I can speak to this. Employees in these sorts of companies typically are bound by conduct regulations that prevent them from opening speaking unfavorably about their employer. In my contract I am prevented from saying such things. So the silence from bioware employees contractually mandated. Want to know what Bioware employees think of it? Watch how many of them quietly leave in the next couple of months...That is by far the best indicator. But the biggest disappointment is that even if "all" the important people leave and go elsewhere, they can't take their properties with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Char Ell Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Damn! I take a day off and miss a nuclear bomb of an announcement. A disconcerting move, no doubt. And I very much agree with the analyst who questioned how two companies that were purchased for somewhere north of USD$300 million in 2005 doubled in value to USD$620 million in two years, not to mention the additional USD$155 million in stock that will also be issued. The 2005 investors have big dollar signs for eyeballs and they keep repeating the phrase CHA-CHING! All I can say is that John Ricitiello headed up Elevation Partners group when they purchased BioWare and Pandemic Studios in 2005. Mr. Ricitiello left Elevation Partners in February to assume the CEO position at EA. It seems quite apparent from yesterday's announcement that Mr. Ricitiello very much wanted to have BioWare and Pandemic Studios join the EA fold and was willing to pay a very steep premium to get them. I've played very few EA games so I'm taking a wait-and-see attitude for how this will impact BioWare's future games. Mass Effect will be fine. How plans for the Mass Effect trilogy will be impacted is another matter. It just depends on the contractual arrangement between BioWare and Microsoft. Greg Zeschuk: Well, to be blunt, I don't really see ourselves as not being independent anymore. We've got a goal of making great BioWare games, and we believe in [EA CEO] John [Riccitiello]'s vision--we can't overemphasize that. We've worked with John for years, and we're looking forward to keep doing what we're doing and doing it well. That's all well and good but the good doctor is deluding himself if he thinks BioWare is still independent. EA is a publicly held company. Shareholders want return on their investment and BioWare will not be able to pull another Dragon Age while under the EA umbrella. I just don't see that happening in a financial results driven company. And if EA's financials suffer, as is likely to happen at some point down the road, and John Ricitiello gets the boot then who knows who will take over the reins and what they would expect from their in-house game development units? It's unfortunate news and for me the news came much earlier than anticipated. The gaming industry is bound to consolidate but I thought BioWare wouldn't need to be concerned about their finances for the next 4-5 years after their acquisition by Elevation Partners. But with EA offering such a high premium it looks like the offer was too good to pass up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devilsfanatic Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Knights of the Old Republic was one of the games that EA did NOT get their hands on according to the gamespot article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev7 Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Knights of the Old Republic was one of the games that EA did NOT get their hands on according to the gamespot article. That just stinks!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Lion54 Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Bioware was licensed to make one game, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Bioware has NO rights to the game or franchise other than collecting revenue from continued sales. When the game was a hit and LA wanted to make a sequel, Bioware wasn't interested. They contacted Obsidian and Obsidian agreed. The lack of KotOR 3 has nothing to do with Bioware. If LA wanted to make the game, they would find a developer. It hasn't been made because LA wants to focus attention on their other games. Knights of the Old Republic was one of the games that EA did NOT get their hands on according to the gamespot article. EA can't get something from Bioware that Bioware doesn't have. Likely, the article is referring to the royalties from the continued sales of the game. In other words, if you buy another copy of KotOR 1, Bioware will get the money, but EA will not. However, when Mass Effect comes out, EA will get a cut of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev7 Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Bioware was licensed to make one game, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Bioware has NO rights to the game or franchise other than collecting revenue from continued sales. When the game was a hit and LA wanted to make a sequel, Bioware wasn't interested. They contacted Obsidian and Obsidian agreed. The lack of KotOR 3 has nothing to do with Bioware. If LA wanted to make the game, they would find a developer. It hasn't been made because LA wants to focus attention on their other games. EA can't get something from Bioware that Bioware doesn't have. Likely, the article is referring to the royalties from the continued sales of the game. In other words, if you buy another copy of KotOR 1, Bioware will get the money, but EA will not. However, when Mass Effect comes out, EA will get a cut of that. Thanks for the clarifacation Bob lion54! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandalore252 Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Gentlemans this is the end of the great style of Kotor games we had until now, prepare for really rushed, incomplete and horrible Kotor games. Oh and they will only be released in the year 3000! Those who know Westwood and Command & Conquer know that doom has arrived to Star Wars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Char Ell Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 ^^^ This announcement has no impact on the KotOR franchise or any other Star Wars game franchise other than the almost foregone conclusion that BioWare and Pandemic Studios won't be making any more Star Wars games. Bear in mind that LucasArts is a competing publisher to EA and LucasArts controls all SW game development. It is highly unlikely that LucasArts is going to use an EA-owned developer to develop a Star Wars game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoiuyWired Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 RIP guys. Well at least with those $$$ you guys can retire... And yes, now I would hope that someone else would make kotor3, maybe LucasArts itself. I mean, I would rather see NO kotor3 at all than some EA-quality product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jediphile Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 As much as this news sucks in many people's opinion (just check Bioware's forums, if you have any doubt...), I consider it a complete non-factor to the status of KotOR3. Sure, people have speculated that Bioware might do KotOR3 or might be doing a KotOR-based MMORPG, but it's all been conjecture with very little evidence and a lot of supposition, as far as can tell. Bioware has never officially confirmed anything and actually even expressed interest in doing only their own IPs, which effectively rules out any possibility of being involved in Star Wars games again. Of course, they could have changed their minds, but there has been no evidence to suggest that, and now it really doesn't matter anymore anyway. It'll be a cold day in Hell before LA allows an EA-owned dev to do a Star Wars game, so it's now a very, very, very, very, incredible moot point... Not that it matters, anyway. KotOR3 is vapourware Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negative Sun Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 This announcement has no impact on the KotOR franchise or any other Star Wars game franchise other than the almost foregone conclusion that BioWare and Pandemic Studios won't be making any more Star Wars games. Bear in mind that LucasArts is a competing publisher to EA and LucasArts controls all SW game development. It is highly unlikely that LucasArts is going to use an EA-owned developer to develop a Star Wars game. QFE Couldn't agree more, LA decides what happens to KotOR, not BioWare or EA (thankfully!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Char Ell Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 I mean, I would rather see NO kotor3 at all than some EA-quality product. A lot of people are either unaware or have forgotten that EA got a new CEO earlier this year. John Ricitiello headed the group that acquired BioWare and Pandemic Studios back in 2005. He left that group to take over as CEO of EA in February of this year. I tend to think that EA was willing to pay such a high price for BioWare and Pandemic Studios because he knew that they produce quality games and that is something he wants to improve at EA, as well as to have EA gain more of a presence in the genres that these two companies develop games for. In any case, a list of pros and cons I came up with about BioWare being acquired by EA. PROS - BioWare doesn't have to worry about finding publishers for their games and negotiating publishing deals. Obviously EA will now publish all their games that aren't already contracted out to another publisher. This will allow BioWare management to concentrate solely on the development side. - BioWare will have much more freedom to create games for multiple platforms and won't have to make exclusive deals like they did with Mass Effect. CONS - BioWare will become part of a publicly traded company, subject to the whims of shareholders' demand for profitable performance on EA management. With John Riccitiello at the helm I think BioWare will be given a long leash. However, should other EA development efforts underperform then BioWare may be pressured to help the parent company's bottom line by bringing games to market sooner than desired by the BioWare team. - BioWare will also become subject to management changes. Should John Riccitiello be forced out or otherwise leave his position as CEO of EA and new management is brought in then BioWare could have operational changes dictated to them that they might not be real happy about. Short term, everything at BioWare will likely operate status quo. The long term impact however is much more of a question mark, IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoffe Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 A lot of people are either unaware or have forgotten that EA got a new CEO earlier this year. John Ricitiello headed the group that acquired BioWare and Pandemic Studios back in 2005. He left that group to take over as CEO of EA in February of this year. I believe I read somewhere that JohnR was recruited to the Bio/Pandemic owner company (VG Holding) from EA, where he was an exec before. Thus he's had his part in making EA what they are today. (If you want to bring out the tin foil hat you could also speculate on the coincidence of a high-ranking EA exec being involved in the deal forming the Bio/Pandemic merger, turning Bio from a privately owned company into something that can more easily be bought, then assuming CEO position in VG Holding (the owner company) for a few years, before returning to EA again and making them buy the company he helped construct. Long term planning or just a coincidence?) - BioWare will also become subject to management changes. Exactly, even if the BioBosses have a good working relationship with JohnR there is no guarantee that he'll stay on that job forever, and someone with a different view of how things should be done might take the helm instead. The past track record of EA absorbing and destroying good game studios does hint at the corporate culture prevalent in EA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negative Sun Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Sure, people have speculated that Bioware might do KotOR3 or might be doing a KotOR-based MMORPG, but it's all been conjecture with very little evidence and a lot of supposition, as far as can tell. After Galaxies, I'd be surprised if even EA would be stupid enough to look into a Star Wars MMORPG, nevermind LA letting them do it in the first place... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Char Ell Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 I believe I read somewhere that JohnR was recruited to the Bio/Pandemic owner company (VG Holding) from EA, where he was an exec before. Thus he's had his part in making EA what they are today. (If you want to bring out the tin foil hat you could also speculate on the coincidence of a high-ranking EA exec being involved in the deal forming the Bio/Pandemic merger, turning Bio from a privately owned company into something that can more easily be bought, then assuming CEO position in VG Holding (the owner company) for a few years, before returning to EA again and making them buy the company he helped construct. Long term planning or just a coincidence?) Mr. Riccitiello actually left EA to become one of the founders of Elevation Partners back in 2004. I'm pretty sure he was the one doing a great deal of the recruiting for people with money to invest in technology and entertainment, people like Bono. Elevation Partners formed VG Holding to be the parent company of BioWare and Pandemic. Mr. Riccitiello remained managing director of Elevation Partners while also taking on the additional role of CEO for VG Holding up until the time he left EP and VGH for the EA CEO position. In any case your tin foil hat theory doesn't seem all that far-fetched to me. EA's previous CEO, Larry Probst, gave up his CEO position to Mr. Riccitiello but Mr. Probst did stay on with EA as chairman of the board. It's not like he got forced out. And after this announcement was made it did occur to me that BioWare really lost their ability to refuse EA's offer when they decided to be acquired by Elevation Partners. Sure, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk were owners of VG Holdings but they were likely minority owners and couldn't squash the EA deal on their own, like they could have done if they hadn't agreed to be acquired by Elevation Partners. I haven't really followed EA in the past because I only follow news for companies I'm interested in and EA wasn't publishing games I was interested in. This deal changes that so I'll likely keep a much closer eye on EA's dealings going forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ctrl Alt Del Posted October 15, 2007 Share Posted October 15, 2007 My voice will be together with the ones screaming, hell no! Also, does this mean the end of Bioware PC games? Are the all consoles from here on out? Well, that's unlikely. EA policy of making more money with a single strike reigns supreme. Meaning that their games always have the tendency of being multi-consoles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SykoRevan Posted October 15, 2007 Share Posted October 15, 2007 There's a good chance I'm going to hurt someone for this. You know, I live in Florida, and after I moved to a horrible city near Orlando, I remembered EA had an office in Maitland, just north of Orlando, so I decided to vent my increasing anger at having to live in this redneck town. So what did I do? I stood in front of the building with a large sign with a one-finger salute drawn on it planted next to me, while I gave them a one-finger salute of my own. Childish, I know, but I enjoyed seeing them look at me from the parking lot. I videotaped myself doing it too, and I have to say that even I admire my own ability to stand upright and still, flipping them off for almost a full hour. This was after playing Superman Returns for the Xbox 360 and realizing that these money-hungry video game pirates have ruined the Man of Steel in video games, and the game was indeed developed right there in EA Tiburon. Of course, now I'm wondering what this has to do with what those bloodsuckers have done to BioWare, but suffice to say that I'm paying them another visit, and I am going to do alot more than stand outside their building, which is a Florida monument to the gaming equivalent of purgatory, and give them the middle finger for an hour. If I don't come back in 4 days, tell BioWare I love them. And tell John Riccitiello I hope he gets attacked by Rhett's elves, and Darth Malak, simultaneously. P.S. Sending hate mail to EA is not only allowed, but encouraged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negative Sun Posted October 15, 2007 Share Posted October 15, 2007 ^ This gets my vote in this year's Post of the Year Award Right on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tk102 Posted October 15, 2007 Share Posted October 15, 2007 I videotaped myself doing it tooPlease share @ youtube.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hallucination Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 SykoRevan is now ****ing epic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boba Rhett Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 I too require pictures/video forth which to adorn my SykoRevan alter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabretooth Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 SykoRevan is my HERO. Epic and Crytek are mostly game engine makers though. They've made some amazing game engines that other companies use to make good games, but Epic/Crytek's own games are fairly generic and bland from a story/gameplay perspective. Feels more like tech demos to show what their engines can do, in my opinion. The multiplayer may be OK, but the single player scenarios of their games leave a lot to be desired. So you're telling me that to make a great game you need a singleplayer with a rich story? You tell that to the reviewers who have given UT, UT2004 and FarCry 9+/10 scores. And to the millions who frag each other in an addicted daze on UT servers everyday. FarCry and UT are both excellent games, good story or not (UT doesn't even have one), and far from "tech demos". Tip: Sabre is a little sensitive when it comes to anti-UT statements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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