BioWare - BioDoc Rumours

German site GamersGlobal is running the rumour that Zeschuck and Muzyka might be leaving BioWare and/or BioWare Austin might be coverted to EA Austin. The basis of the rumour is thin at this point, so please take this with a huge grain of salt. Here's a translation of the original German source:

Star Wars - The Old Republic is suffering from a shrinking subscriber base. An optional switch to F2P in autumn is supposed to turn things around. And in May, for the second time, several employees of Bioware Austin have been let go in a "restructuring effort". Another bad news could be that Bioware founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka might have left Bioware or could be in the process of leaving – possibly because of the limited success of the MMO that started as a challenger of WoW.

A trustworthy source has been told by an employee of Bioware Austin yesterday that neither Greg Zeschuk nor Ray Muzyka have been present at a Bioware Company Meeting in Austin, Texas, just a few days ago. The employee claimed that this has not been the case before at such a meeting. The six others members of Bioware Austin's leadership have been there. Also, Greg Zeschuk has not been seen for several weeks now, the Bioware Austin employee claims.

There are supposed to be internal rumours at Bioware Austin that Ray Muzyka (pictured left) and Greg Zeschuk have left Bioware. According to our source, some employees at Bioware Austin fear that the company will be transformed into EA Austin.

Please note that this news is a rumour without any official confirmation.

More information.

I wouldn't be that surprised if it were true. Given EA history I think many did see the end of Bioware (in spirit at least) when Bioware became apart of the EA family.

EA eats another souls!

Afaik, BioWare Austin is only one of their studios. It doesn't represent Bioware as a whole.

Lots of flake usually directed at EA, but would they actually do that?
Branding is everything nowadays and the docs are a big part of the Bioware brand, I find it hard to think that EA would force them away.

C

Hmm might be a good thing, if they go and form a new independent studio and get back to making good RPGs again - without the pressure of EA wanting everything to be a huge mass-market console title. One can dream…

BioWare wanted everything to be a huge mass-market console title long before EA came along. It's funny how people retrofit reality; it's the BioDocs that first wanted big, AAA games and embraced consoles and the desire to make a WoW-killer MMO.

@ Dhruin

You're right of course, but it is often a truth that we tend to bury.
C

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAf0QnLFS7Q

EA's appetite can never be satisfied. Old Bioware has been long gone though and as far as I can recall biodocs, themselves wanted bioware to change direction. Maybe this is also part of their grand plan.

Originally Posted by Dhruin
BioWare wanted everything to be a huge mass-market console title long before EA came along. It's funny how people retrofit reality; it's the BioDocs that first wanted big, AAA games and embraced consoles and the desire to make a WoW-killer MMO.

Fair enough - I probably haven't followed BioWare's press activity or statements closely enough to comment on that accurately. I just have seen the shape their games have taken in recent years.

In any case, it would be cool if they are re-examining their goals and maybe finding that chasing after the mass-market isn't totally fulfilling.

Well if true I see it as Karma. Look at there history from the beginning to now. A sad shell of the company that fell far from the ideals of its creation. Just watch the youtube video I posted on a previous topic.

What the hell here you go again. I will post the link since the video explains what is happening. The docs are just middle management on the EA ladder.

Link-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6TmT…layer_embedded

IMO the biodocs have appeared to be in over their heads for quite some time. This is particularly true for Muzyka who was given the task of running multiple studios. (Consider, for example, how multiple times he has said the company was taken by surprise by various negative events — even though the number one rule of corporate management is "no surprises".)

It's actually quite common for entrepreneurs to build excellent start up companies and then find themselves incapable of managing the company. As it turns out, management skills that are needed to successfully run and grow a relatively large size enterprise, are quite different from entrepreneurial skills that are needed to build a company from scratch. It's rare for anyone to have both sets of skills (Bill Gates being a very notable exception to the rule). In the normal course of events the entrepreneurs simply can't make things work after a company reaches a certain size.

IMO the biodocs were good entrepreneurs and hands-on game directors. But managing large numbers of people in a large enterprise likely wasn't/isn't a good match for their skill sets, and probably didn't/doesn't "turn them on" in turns of personal satisfaction. Simply put, different people are blessed with different capabilities and are driven to accomplish different tasks.

__

Bioware… you saw that coming when you sold your soul to the devil that is EA.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Well if true I see it as Karma. Look at there history from the beginning to now. A sad shell of the company that fell far from the ideals of its creation. Just watch the youtube video I posted on a previous topic.

What the hell here you go again. I will post the link since the video explains what is happening. The docs are just middle management on the EA ladder.

Link-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6TmT…layer_embedded

Wow that was really a cool vid, very interesting!

That article lost me in the second sentence. What the hell is 'F2P'? People that write this stuff take some serious liberties with abbreviations, IMO.

Originally Posted by Sir Markus
That article lost me in the second sentence. What the hell is 'F2P'? People that write this stuff take some serious liberties with abbreviations, IMO.

F2P = Free To Play

It's a well known abbreviations in the online gaming world.

I don't really like multiplayer games at all, and watching all these companies trying to replicate the success of World of Warcraft is pretty funny, especially with all the free online games on the market.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Well if true I see it as Karma. Look at there history from the beginning to now. A sad shell of the company that fell far from the ideals of its creation. Just watch the youtube video I posted on a previous topic.

What the hell here you go again. I will post the link since the video explains what is happening. The docs are just middle management on the EA ladder.

Link-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6TmT…layer_embedded

That video does capture a large part of the dilemma defining BioWare's current existence. Although the end portion suggests that BioWare might be able to somehow slip the shackles of EA, I say that possibility can be aptly summed up in a single word. Forgetaboutit.

The BioWare of the past is gone. Things change. Shit happens.

Which leaves us where? What is the BioWare of the future? An empty name? A new age soap opera game channel? Maybe BioWare becomes BioHazard. Or maybe there's something else.

As I see it the BioDocs were/are trying to establish a Hollywood model for games production. Big studios that churn out good and sometimes great games on a regular basis. Bring in the actors, shoot the film, send it to editing, then to marketing, then to a local theater near you, or in some cases to the new HBO of the future. Possible? Yes. But it would take more than the Biodocs to pull it off IMO. It could still happen with the right near-genius management and talent. But I don't see that talent and management at BioWare currently.

What I'd love to see is for them to put some effort into making some "B Movie" types of games, along with the AAA's. From Wikipedia:

"A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature."

Spend a little less. Focus more on fun and less on polish. Blood and gore, sexy womens and mens, break all the writing and game rules, but everybody have fun,
dammit. Give me a B!!

That probably ain't gonna happen either… But it would be better than soap opera games, which I fear are inevitable if one tries to extend any RPG series out too far.

__

I had only the highest respect for the good doctors when BG1 was released. Ray occasionally posted to the usenet csipg.rpg group at a time when that was never done at least as far as I was aware. They made a couple of great games but time has passed and the inspiration has also passed I think.

I'm not sure I care what they do but maybe the best thing would be for them to leave EA and start up a new company. Perhaps their souls will be filled again after having EA suck it dry and they can inspire some designers to make something cool the RPG lovers of the world.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Well if true I see it as Karma. Look at there history from the beginning to now. A sad shell of the company that fell far from the ideals of its creation. Just watch the youtube video I posted on a previous topic.

What the hell here you go again. I will post the link since the video explains what is happening. The docs are just middle management on the EA ladder.

Link-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6TmT…layer_embedded

That is a very well made and incisive commentary. I also watched the guy's Elder Scrolls video (most recent) and it was similarly well made.