BioWare - It's Official: the BioDocs Retire

Thaurin

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BioWare: Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk retire

Ha, read this on news on Facebook for those that don't do Facebook:

"Today, BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk have announced they are retiring from BioWare. Both have written blogs to discuss their retirement. Please join us in wishing them all the best in the future. Also, Aaryn Flynn, General Manager of BioWare Edmonton & Montreal shares his thoughts about Ray and Greg and what is coming up for BioWare."

http://bit.ly/S2XwPk

Fuck, these guys don't look like they're 67, which is the new age on which you can retire over here. Rich bastards, sigh.
 
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BioWare co-founders Zeschuk and Muzyka leave the company

Remember those rumors about Bioware. Well read on.
Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka, two of the three original founders of BioWare (the third, Augustine Yip, left in 1997), have now departed the company they helped create. There were rumours as far back as August that the pair had either left or were preparing to leave, though at the time Zeschuk maintained that he had just left his role at BioWare Austin in order to “spend more time on a wider range of BioWare games”.

This announcement comes one day after EA and BioWare confirmed (with a haste that now seems clearer) development of Dragon Age 3.

Zeschuk writes that he intends to dedicate himself to beer (uh, not like that), and outlines plans for “a web-based interview show called The Beer Diaries where I interview notable brewers and showcase their beers”. In his own farewell blog post, Muzyka indicates that he has a passion for “social impact investment” and wishes to spend time “getting involved with more charities in education, health care, and animal rights, areas where my wife and I’ve typically focused our charitable donations.”

Both posts offer reflections on their time in the videogames industry, thanks to fellow BioWare staff and nods to former and current business partners who’ve helped bring BioWare’s games to reality.

At the present time, EA is offering no comment on their departures.

Another rumor proven true despite many saying it wasn't going to happen. Two in one week no doubt.:) Also it's official EA is now in control.

Link-http://blog.bioware.com/2012/09/18/from-greg-zeschuk/
Link-http://blog.bioware.com/2012/09/18/from-ray-muzyka/
 
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So did EA boot them out or did they decide to leave the sinking boat? Reading Ray's post seems like the answer is leave the sinking boat...

These new "challenges" sound really weird to me, but multimillionaires probably have weird dreams like that.
 
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Its not like it will lead to much of a change in Bioware. Every utterance of the doctors for a long, long time has just been corporate spiel of the worst kind. From Ray's blog entry (my highlights):

Ray Muzyka said:
I’ve been thrilled to see many exciting products in early development the past few months in the universes of Mass Effect and Dragon Age, as well as new content and business models for SWTOR, new play for free titles like Command and Conquer, Ultima Forever and social games on PC, tablets and mobile, and much more across BioWare and the wider EA team.

I don't get the feeling they cared about producing works of art rather than products to sell - if they ever did.
 
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This probably raises DA3´s chances of not sucking.

Also, inb4 melodrama :).
 
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This probably raises DA3´s chances of not sucking.

Also, inb4 melodrama :).

If there is you brought it on yourself with that comment.:p
 
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I wonder if they'll go back into medicine or if they will still continue in their higher calling like the Peoplesoft founder did with Workday.

Heh, I bet they get hired to work on the BG Enhanced Edition.

I think Jade Empire was the last thing they had their hands in. Will the company direction change? Classic case of success spoiling them.
 
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There are already 2 threads about it in the RPG section.
And, yes, I think it's time now. ;)
 
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Maybe they've decided that they had enough cash now so that they could retire or invest them into EA stock ?
 
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I'd imagine they have some sort of non-compete clause that prevents them from working with a competing publisher or starting a new studio for X period of time.
 
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I'd imagine they have some sort of non-compete clause that prevents them from working with a competing publisher or starting a new studio for X period of time.

right, but this doesn't mean they can't start the preliminaries of something.

I would imagine they would get bored eventually.
 
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After what feels like ages of speculation, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk have simultaneously announced their retirement from BioWare and the industry. In lengthy blog posts at BioWare, Ray and Greg thank their teams and fans for the last 20 years.
From Ray, who confirms the rumours from earlier in the year:
After nearly two decades in videogames, I’ve decided to move on to pursue an entirely different set of challenges. This has been an incredibly difficult decision to make; after thinking about it for many months, I made the decision to retire from videogames back in early April 2012 – at that time I provided six months’ notice to EA, to help enable a solid transition for my teams at BioWare.
...and Greg, who is clear he will leave the video game industry altogether:
Writing a note like this is something one imagines doing once in a lifetime, if at all. The experience of following a dream, achieving it and along the way working with the most talented, passionate and engaging people imaginable isn’t something I’m likely going to repeat again. Building BioWare over the years with Ray and the many other people involved was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I’ll cherish it always.
After nearly twenty years working at BioWare I’ve decided it’s time to move on and pursue something new. This decision isn’t without significant pain and regret, but it’s also something I know I need to do, for myself and my family. I’ve reached an unexpected point in my life where I no longer have the passion that I once did for the company, for the games, and for the challenge of creation. For the people I have had the privilege of working with, however, my passion burns as brightly as it did the day we started. The people I work with now, and that I have worked with in the past, have inspired me and really made all of the challenges we’ve collectively faced over the years worthwhile. We have been blessed with tremendous success over the years at BioWare, and the reason is simply down to a large number of great people doing great work. Successful people or companies have to admit luck also plays a part in their success, and it certainly did for us; a few times over the years we made the right game at the right time and success flowed as a result. When we got it right, it was like a hole in one or a home run; it was a magical feeling and incomparable in positive impact for everyone involved.
Head over for the full texts. Thanks, Avantenor!
More information.
 
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FIRST!

now all we need to do is merge the four threads.

I will begin to watch the internet explode now. this should be bigger than the Obsidian Kickstarter.
 
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Sad to say. I knew it the moment EA bought Bioware. It was over , all the rest was just slow painful death.

All respect to the good docs. They certanly made it. And while they held the keys, they made the magic.

Now they can peacefully retire.
 
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TBH I don't think they've had control on the company for a long time before the merger.

They just seemed to be managing people and trying to get themselves acquired. The last time they got their hands dirty on a game was Jade Empire.

Even with Baldur's Gate 2 I distinctly remember how much a Diablo 2 feel it had to it especially in Throne of Bhaal where you could instantly teleport to your murder god cave. The imbalance of the economy and the fast combat of NWN only reinforced this to me, and it was later confirmed that they did drool over Diablo 2 (and probably its sales figures).

I remember them talking about adding an RPG Layer to the Unreal Engine and watched them hire a number of Unreal developers. I think the writing was on the wall then. What would an expert in FPS development want to write first, Ultima or Doom?

Does anyone remember when they actually got candid and started waxing nostalgically for the days of BG?
 
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