BioWare - The Long Strange Journey of Greg Zeschuk

Polygon has an article format interview with ex-BioWarian Greg Zeschuk on his career journey. Although the piece discusses his next foray into a beer video blog, a fair amount of space is dedicated to BioWare and the reasons for leaving:

Just why Zeschuk lost his passion for gaming remains a bit unclear. Was it because of the sale to EA, Star Wars: The Old Republic's relatively small subscriber base, the anger some fans felt over the ending of the Mass Effect trilogy?
"Everything's a factor," Zeschuk tells me. "There's nothing that's not a factor, but there's no single one thing. I think the best way I can describe is: Do the same thing for twenty years and it's very, very intense. It's very high pressure. It's very high stress. It's challenging. It's sometimes rewarding and sometimes it's not. And you just get tired of it after awhile. That is probably the easiest way to for me to describe it. Sometimes you just need to change things.
"One of the few things I find kind of funny is the responses of the fans, because they sort of respond that they are kind of mad at us for leaving because they think we owe them more games. You know it's sad I wish I could deliver on that, but I don't think I would be as good as I was in that space historically. Like I said, the fire wasn't there."

More information.

I don't hold it against someone who just wants to cash in and ride off into the sunset…

But quit the BS— admit that you sold out to EA for the cash, they f'ed your company like they have everyone else, and quit blaming the fanbase.

Originally Posted by ChaosTheory
I don't hold it against someone who just wants to cash in and ride off into the sunset…

But quit the BS— admit that you sold out to EA for the cash, they f'ed your company like they have everyone else, and quit blaming the fanbase.

Beat me to it. I would like someone to ask him if it was worth selling Bioware's soul for some cash.

Originally Posted by DarNoor
Beat me to it. I would like someone to ask him if it was worth selling Bioware's soul for some cash.

Probably not if you wanted to keep making games but worth it if you just wanted to drink and write about beer.

I found this quote quite disturbing :

"One of the few things I find kind of funny is the responses of the fans, because they sort of respond that they are kind of mad at us for leaving because they think we owe them more games."

Players / Gamers demand that they, the Doctors, "owe them more games" ???

In what kind of world do we live ? Where consumers demand things to be produced for them, or else … ???

Originally Posted by ChaosTheory
I don't hold it against someone who just wants to cash in and ride off into the sunset…

But quit the BS— admit that you sold out to EA for the cash, they f'ed your company like they have everyone else, and quit blaming the fanbase.

Bioware didn't sell to EA.

even when their are gone they are still trying to spin the message

they quit because their passion was gone, they weren't forced out
fans are mad because they want them to make more games (even after it was said there was a bad reaction from fans)
their time at EA was their most successful and enduring part of the company, and not Baldur's Gate

pretty glib article

Originally Posted by Gorath
Bioware didn't sell to EA.

so..the $680-800million dollars was real money? I know the dollar has been dropping but…

My understanding is that both Bioware and Pandemic were owned by a private equity firm called Elevation Partners. Elevation is the one who sold the company to EA. It isn't clear that the Bioware founders even had a say in the deal. But by all means let's keep beating up on them.

Originally Posted by Lucky Day
so..the $680-800million dollars was real money? I know the dollar has been dropping but…

Let me spell it for you. They did not sell to EA. And they did not sell for 600-800M$.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
Players / Gamers demand that they, the Doctors, "owe them more games" ???

In what kind of world do we live ? Where consumers demand things to be produced for them, or else … ???

Yeah, seriously. My gut response to a demand like that would be "make me, jackass" followed by retirement.

Originally Posted by khaight
My understanding is that both Bioware and Pandemic were owned by a private equity firm called Elevation Partners. Elevation is the one who sold the company to EA. It isn't clear that the Bioware founders even had a say in the deal. But by all means let's keep beating up on them.

Pretty sure they orchestrated the deal

Originally Posted by Gorath
Let me spell it for you. They did not sell to EA. And they did not sell for 600-800M$.

was not sure if you were just being technical, trying to be silly or both. putting the dollar sign after the value, that's being silly indeed.

The currency sign at the end is the normal way of writing money values in the German speaking countries.

I think it's quite a difference to sell for (300M - Pandemic) to a private equity firm as opposed to selling to EA for almost 3 times that amount.

Originally Posted by Lucky Day
Pretty sure they orchestrated the deal

They didn't have too. Riccitiello was CEO of EA when it happened and Riccitiello was one of Elevation Partners "creator". He pretty much made a deal with himself.

Whatever happened, the corporate involvement has had a sterile effect on PC games over the past decade. Things are starting to look a bit brighter now, but maybe some of the old dogs have had their day.

Originally Posted by Roq
Whatever happened, the corporate involvement has had a sterile effect on PC games over the past decade. Things are starting to look a bit brighter now, but maybe some of the old dogs have had their day.

True, but the rise of Indie developed games along with the help of things like Kickstarter has helped bring back some of that old developer magic.

Originally Posted by azarhal
They didn't have too. Riccitiello was CEO of EA when it happened and Riccitiello was one of Elevation Partners "creator". He pretty much made a deal with himself.

right. it was all part of the process.

Originally Posted by Gorath
The currency sign at the end is the normal way of writing money values in the German speaking countries.

this i am aware of

I think it's quite a difference to sell for (300M - Pandemic) to a private equity firm as opposed to selling to EA for almost 3 times that amount.

I have no idea what you are trying to say here

But I just remembered the English expression for all this. Its called "mincing words" and it sounds delicious!

People are funny. I guess they never imagine the absurdity of complete strangers being upset with them should they ever someday change their career. It's a bizzaro-world level of entitlement out there…

Dry facts can't prove it, but it seems sensible to assume that the doctors had a significant role in the passing of their BioWare stock to EA. Even though it was not a direct transaction, and Johnny R was not an influential figure in Elevation Partners.

I hope the doctors are enjoying their wealth - BioWare as a company had boatloads of goodwill, a firm, niche product where they were an almost undisputed leader, and a cult-like devoted customer base. BioWare could reasonably have gone on without EA. Now the employees who helped create some of the most inspirational code have a future as EA spouses making cheap Skyrim and Halo clones.

Originally Posted by TheMadGamer
People are funny. I guess they never imagine the absurdity of complete strangers being upset with them should they ever someday change their career. It's a bizzaro-world level of entitlement out there…

Bizzaro world indeed.
When I read things like that and the few times I visit BSN I have this strong urge to shout "Get a Life" to some people who enjoys (or do they?) the games that we tend to play and bicker over.

I like beer, I´ll drink to the hopes that he makes good beer.

/C

Originally Posted by TheMadGamer
People are funny. I guess they never imagine the absurdity of complete strangers being upset with them should they ever someday change their career. It's a bizzaro-world level of entitlement out there…

I don't think this is what's happening at all - maybe its the exclusive group at Bioware that he only chooses to listen too.

However, I have expressed in the past that I think he would better serve everyone going back into medicine. But who am I to say that to anyone.