Shamus Young - BioWare is Dead

Everything in Andromeda is constructed backwards. Instead of saying, "Here are the events of the past, what sorts of situations and stories would come from that?" the writer says, "I want the player to drive up this hill and shoot all the dudes at the top. What's the simplest possible scenario I could use to justify that?"[4]

The player choices are few, arbitrary, poorly depicted, and lacking in interesting options. Dialogs are rare, linear, and lacking in player expression. The few characters you meet in the open world are shallow and bland. The villain is a sophomoric one-note bore. The worlds are, by design, a mostly empty wasteland with no history, culture, or wonder. Exploration of these alien worlds consists of driving around on pre-existing dirt roads[5] so you can gun down clusters of mooks.

The developer's perception of what made the source material interesting is so wrongheaded that this project was in trouble before it ever left the dry-erase board. This team was not equipped to tell a space story on this scale. I don't care if you're talking about details-first or drama-first, this is not a storytelling team in any form. This storyteller might do an okay job if you want a linear shooter with fixed cutscenes and no player agency, but they're completely unqualified to design a world to support dozens of hours of exploration, exposition, and player expression.

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daveyd said:

Bioware died the moment EA acquired it.

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Wisdom said:

Alright, last post on the matter from me. You can believe whatever makes it warm and fuzzy for you. If it makes you happy to think that "any day now" Bioware could just break free of the EA chains and create the best experience ever.. then great!

Any actual developer, employee or shareholder can verify any of this information. Its not wishful thinking, its fact.
Any talking head position (CEO, CFO, CMO, SSH, SSM) will let the lines blur between labels. Its intentional.

The negotiations to purchase Bioware and Pandemic started long before 2007. When EA finalized the purchase of VGH they "paid" 860m of which a staggering 420million was "goodwill". Goodwill includes the brand value and the fuzzy warm feelings you get when you see the word Bioware stamped on your screen. (Coincidentally 100% of the IP's owned by Bioware were transferred unequivocally to EA at this time.)

Your comments about it operating independently (ignoring the fact that Bioware as a legal entity had already ceased to exist) retained some validity from 2008-2011. 2010/11 was the first major restructure that absorbed the majority of remaining autonomy that Bioware was used to. It was also the last time "Bioware" filed separate earnings. Even this last filing was not the full contingent of Bioware staff, but more of a Mass Effect earnings report filed as Bioware earnings.

From 2010-2014 it bumbled along, still enjoying the goodwill from the brand, further promoted by the creation of Bioware Montreal, Bioware Sacremento, Bioware Mythic, Bioware SanFran. During the bumble period they rotated devlopers in and out of the teams including from Waystone, Victory and EA Mobile groups. (Don't forget the majority of these studios were closed or reabsorbed by end of 2014/15)

2013 they dropped part of the charade and amalgamated all the remaining studios into the EA Labels. Any "Bioware" staff working on mobile/social projects were assigned to EA All Play division, and any remaining were assigned to EA Games label (renamed to EA Studios 2 years later). It was also the start of the "One EA" internal restructure that wouldn't be named One EA until later. Essentially agile principles that removed borders between divisions. ALL IP's, trademarks etc were reassigned according to EA label but still owned wholly by EA.

From 2013 - today Bioware is considered a project team and a label that is stamped on the final consumer product to enjoy the last vestiges of the goodwill they purchased. The "One EA" principle in the last three years has been evident in any division with cross team function, outsourcing, reused code, online services, software metrics etc.

I will agree there are developers that would like to build RPGs that work on the Bioware team. I will agree that there are developers that do not like Frostbite. I will agree that official talking head positions reinforce the idea that they produce their own products.

I do not agree with the fantasy that Bioware still exists in any form comparable to 2000's Bioware. When news companies post articles about the struggling Bioware and how they yearn to be free from EA, its a mythconseption and based on wishful thinking and creative writing.

PS. Someone posted above that "online services is not a company line". I would find that debatable. 2018 financials for EA find Net Revenue from services exceed Net Revenue from Products for the first time. (Edit - I was incorrect, it didn't exceed technically, they ended up deferring 30mil of service income in the final report for 2018 or it would have exceeded. It ended up Product 2.58b Service 2.56b), it was 2017 was almost neck and neck. Products 2.6billion, Services 2.2 billion. Compare this with Cost of Revenue where Products is twice what Services is…. Its not hard to see why every single organizational goal has been redesigned to include the words "games and services". Lack of successful service is even one of their largest identified risks.

Spoiler: "Risk"

"The increased importance of live services revenue to our business heightens the risks associated with our limited product portfolio. Live services that are either poorly-received or provided in connection with underperforming games may generate lower than expected sales. Any lapse, delay or failure in our ability to provide high-quality live services content to consumers over an extended period of time could materially and adversely affect our financial results, consumer engagement with our live services, and cause harm to our reputation and brand."

Even better is their overarching value commitment

Spoiler: Live Service Commitment

Our net revenue attributable to live services comprised 40 percent of our total net revenue during fiscal year 2018 and we expect that live services net revenue will continue to be material to our business.

We expect this portion of our business to continue to grow through fiscal year 2019 and beyond as we continue to focus on developing and monetizing products and services that can be delivered digitally.

.

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joxer said:

What happened next were TW3 and KCD on PC, HZD on consoles and the final middlefinger to EA in form of Pathfinder which is BG3 using a ruleset "accidentally" of the same name as ME4 titular rank (it's just a coincidence, riiiight).

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txa1265 said:

But on a separate topic - who subscribes to Shamus’ blog? Did you read all 25 of the entries? I read most of his stuff (even on games like SpiderMan that I don’t play) … but THIS one was tiresome long before getting to the end. Mass Effect Andromeda is simply not worthy of such in-depth analysis, doesn’t offer even enough bad stuff to merit being picked apart. I generally like Shamus’ style of overthinking everything and writing sprawling articles, but I think by #20 in this series I was thinking ‘jeez, STFU and get on with something else already!’

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the writer says, “I want the player to drive up this hill and shoot all the dudes at the top. What’s the simplest possible scenario I could use to justify that?”[4]

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Morrandir said:

You really think they chose Pathfinder to show EA a middle finger?
I mean… I wouldn't mind, but imho that's nowhere realistic.

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Arkadia7 said:

Oh, where O' where have all the bioware defenders gone?

I remember when there were a few here telling us that Bioware games have remained brilliant and excellent games, and we here at rpg watch were either just too snooty or narrow minded and/or unsophisticated to appreciate these amazing modern bioware games…:lol:

It really is rude to say "Dude, you must just have really really bad taste!" (if you think that these are great games), but I was tempted a few times. I'm sorry, but some people just have (really) bad taste in games, in music, in movies, in all kinds of things…a harsh truth, best left unspoken, I guess.

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Couchpotato said:

Used to be a die-hard BioWare fanboy myself about six years ago, but my tastes and opinion have changed after the last few release. A few still post occasionally.

Just check out the Anthem, the last Dragon Age, and the BioWare article threrads from the last few moths. Me I'm more of A CD Projekt and Obsidian fanboy nowadays.

Still I have to admit I enjoyed Inquisition and Andromeda so guess I have bad tastes right ? Though I wont call them the best games ever or GOTY material at least.

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