BioWare - EA Appoints New Boss

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VentureBeat has news that Matthew Bromberg who was General Manager of BioWare Austin has been appointed Head of the whole BioWare label.

Electronic Arts has named Matthew Bromberg as head of its BioWare Label, elevating him from his role of general manager of BioWare Austin.

The job has been open since the founders of BioWare, Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka, left last year after decades of developing games. The post is an important one because BioWare has some of EA’s most successful game franchises — Mass Effect and Dragon Age — and also some of its biggest budget games such as Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Bromberg will now be the group general manager of the BioWare label. He will retain leadership of the BioWare Austin division and extend his responsibilities to include BioWare Canada (Edmonton and Montreal), as well as the Victory studio in Los Angeles and the Waystone Studio in Redwood City, CA.

Reporting to Bromberg will be Aaryn Flynn (for BioWare Canada); Jon Van Caneghem (for Victory and Waystone); and Jeff Hickman, who will become the new general manager of Bioware Austin.
Thanks go to alrik for sending in this story.
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It looks like he has no experience with making RPG's just online games. He is more of a suit instead of a developer also. Thanks for adding that link rjshae.:thumbsup:
 
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Wow a former AOL guy, I expect to see more ridiculous press releases and blaming of fans than ever.
 
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100% suit. I wouldn't expect more from him than resume boasting about his success with the "young male demo."
 
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This is…unfortunate, but not unexpected. It certainly is a stark contrast to the Bio-docs. Say what you will about those two and the direction they eventually steered Bioware, but they certainly had at least some degree of passion for RPGs and cared about what the company created. Hiring a pure "suit" with absolutely no passion for gaming or respect for Bioware's legacy to take their place is a very bad sign.
 
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I can't shake the feeling that replacing the docs with this guy is a big step down, but he might prove me wrong. Time will tell.
 
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Upper management typically don't have a lot of input and surely they can't sink any lower.....can they?
 
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Yeah the sports franchise guy being the leader is not good news on that front. Dragon Age 2014!

Which honestly I don't think is generally that bad a way to make games if they cut the amount of cutscenes and stuff and did real work on the gameplay, but it will probably just translate to more rushed games the shorter they make dev cycle.
 
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@Alrik: Nope, Bromberg is a village name.

I'm not convinced. For pure economic decicision they don't need a label and a label head, I think. If he's also responsible for the creative strategy of the label and its studios, I'm not comfortable with this decision.
 
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Thank you for your products, I'll pay in napalm.
 
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Upper management typically don't have a lot of input and surely they can't sink any lower…..can they?

I think it depends on how many layers of management they have. If it's more than 3 or 4, say, then yes the CEO probably only has a hand in the big picture issues. Hopefully the BioWare management as a whole can learn from the behaviors that gave them a bad rep and turn things around. If not… well tough nuggies: they'll be just another failed gaming company.
 
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All of the long time Bioware employees who been through it all are probably pissed off now. If you want to piss off a team, hire a leader for them from the outside. If you want the team not to respect this guy, make sure he's nothing like them. Of course, from a business perspective it makes sense... except it doesn't.
 
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You guys make good points. Upper management certainly don't normally make things better but they can certainly make things worse :( At least it sounds like they are moving in the right direction with DA:I - but I guess they still have a lot to prove.
 
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