240°

What The Hell Happened To BioWare?

It's not often we see a developer fall so far from grace. Once regarded as pioneers in narrative-driven RPGs, BioWare has completely lost its way. So, what the hell happened?

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cogconnected.com
ApocalypseShadow620d ago

Comment section over. This is the only right answer. EA happened. Just like Criterion and every other developer that was EA'd. Bought to acquire their game engines, to kill competition, to have them make their franchises while minimizing them and uplifting the EA brand.

Mobis-New-Nest620d ago

Mass Effect 1 is the best game in the series, the one I would replay if it got a remake. The BioWare team that worked on that no longer exists. I hope BioWare can be bought by company that actually cares about quality and not just DOLLA DOLLA BILLS YA'LL!!!!

jznrpg620d ago

Agreed. Love the first game

Software_Lover620d ago

The best Mass Effect Game. I still don't know how they screwed up the formula on the next 2.

619d ago
LordoftheCritics620d ago

The Doctors left.
Casey Hudson left.
Drew Karpshyn left.

Everyone else left.

I'm guessing the interns are running it now.

porkChop620d ago

Those 4 guys, especially the Doctors, were the heart and soul of Bioware. The studio could still make a comeback and start making great games again but it won't be the same Bioware.

LordoftheCritics620d ago (Edited 620d ago )

Yea Mark Darrah, David Gaider, Mike Laidlow also left and they were the og creators as well.

Many joined up to form Humanoid, and Archetype.

PapaBop620d ago

It's funny, I remember when Andromeda came out and the optimists kept on saying it was from their B team and we should wait for Anthem as that was being made by their top developers.. well we all know how that went.

MadLad619d ago (Edited 619d ago )

The original heads of Bioware legitimately wanted out of the videogame business.

The buyout was a godsend for them.

The fact that all of the creative leads exited after a few years of being under EA says a lot.

INMATEofARKHAM620d ago

Hudson shouldn't be on the list... He's part of the problem.

Him and Mac Walters changed and wrote the garbage ending to the ME trilogy.

Also Hudson came back after leaving and Bioware continued to sink.

EazyC619d ago

I'd love to draw up a massive list of these maestros that made amazing games 10+ years ago and figure out where they've all gone since.

MadLad618d ago

Most of them left the games industry as a whole.
Everyone blames EA, but part of it was also losing all of their creative leads.
They legitimately sold the company and then jumped ship, probably knowing what was coming.

ABizzel1620d ago (Edited 620d ago )

1. They got bought out by EA for $$$, and ruined their own brand.
2. They lost too much high-end talent.
3. They were forced to start using Frostbite engine because EA wanted to play Engine wars and lost.
4. They needed a publisher who nurtures talent, and instead they were left on their own.
5. Their strengths were game worlds and storytelling, & they slipped in those areas & stuck in PS360 gameplay era.

Now are an entire generation of failed attempts we have the shell of the company that exists. Honestly, Bioware and 343i have had the same fall from grace. Both had huge franchises, but lost so much talent that they're shells of the PS360 era quality that was once there....except 343i is the leftover bad Bungie apples.

porkChop620d ago

Bioware was at the top of their game during their partnership with Microsoft. As much as I wouldn't want ME to be exclusive I do wish Microsoft would have bought them at the time.

LordoftheCritics620d ago (Edited 620d ago )

Yep MS pushed KOTOR for xbox and pc, also Mass Effect 1

and then Jade Empire also xbox and then pc (miss this game)

Bioware was on fire at one point.

jznrpg620d ago

Same thing would have happened with MS . They are very similar to EA

MadLad618d ago

@jznrpg

I would love to see how you would make the connection.
Microsoft is pretty hands off with their developers and, even when they fail, they typically keep them and direct them onto other projects.
EA buys developers, micromanage them to an insane degree, and then quickly shutter them the second their own managerial decisions didn't turn a profit.

chobit_A5HL3Y620d ago

greed. sold out to ea and then all their key personnel left.

ocelot07620d ago (Edited 620d ago )

EA did a EA all over them.

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190°

Ubisoft say AC Shadows protagonists will be "romantically attracted to different types of people"

Ubisoft recently shared more details about Assassin's Creed Shadows protagonists, confirming that both of them will romantically attract and be attracted to different types of people.

Hugodastrevas16h ago

That should please everyone I'm sure...

RpgSama1h ago(Edited 1h ago)

Feudal Japan DEI LGBTQ+ Samurai, sounds very accurate for the time period. Surely a decision made only with historical accuracy in mind.

Crows901h ago

Or even modern day accuracy.....

Lexreborn21h ago

You have no idea what you are talking about, bet you didn’t know nobunaga was bi-sexual. Or ran maru his is often depicted as androgynous was a “beautiful boy”.

So yeah, feudal Japan had tons of lgbtq and kawaii enough… A BLACK SAMURAI! All without the need of offending a Caucasian because the world is diverse.

VenomUK1m ago

This story has cracked me up so much! So last week everyone the upset was that in the long-awaited first Assassin’s Creed: Japan game the protagonist is black. But NOW he is also LGBTQ+ ! It’s like the Ubisoft creative team sat around a table and said “How can we best impress our Kotaku/IGN/Polygon friends and antagonise gamers? Let’s make it woke x 100!’ And then they all silent clapped!

CrimsonWing692h ago

Geezus, just make a good game… holy sh*t this is becoming insufferable.

Crows901h ago

Oh yeah!!!! What about being inclusive???

I'm sorry
..please replace the word inclusive with stupid.

Hofstaderman16m ago

You asking UbiSoft to make a good game? This is not 2002.

darthv721h ago

Is that genuinely a selling point for people?

RpgSama1h ago(Edited 1h ago)

They sure as hell want to see if it is, time and time and time again.

VincentVanBro1h ago

You have to understand they’re incapable of writing a good story so this is the best they could come up with

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70°

Unannounced Valve 6v6 Shooter MOBA Footage Leaked

ESTNN writes: "A leak for Valve's 6v6 3rd-person shooter MOBA has supposedly been released ahead of time. And if the reports are true, fans of the genre have much to be excited for."

XiNatsuDragnel1d 10h ago

Deadlock looks like bioshock and Moba had babies

JunonZanon1h ago

Valve really cannot count to 3.

Number1TailzFan0m ago

They should've had a new L4D like 10 years ago, it can be expanded upon a lot more but they just left it collecting dust.. it was a good game for its time but L4D2 doesn't have nearly enough content these days to keep players engaged, and it needs a serious graphics upgrade

190°

Atari has acquired the Intellivision brand, ending the first ever console war

Atari has acquired Intellivision. The company announced today that it had acquired its long-time rival, ending one of the original console rivalries, dating back to the 1970s.

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videogameschronicle.com
darthv727h ago

Wow.... two of my earliest gaming platforms. All they need is Coleco to round things out.

This is like Nintendo buying SEGA.

OtterX5h ago

YES! Colecovision was my start! I came to know Mario there in Donkey Kong before the NES was even a thing. :)

Golfcoachh2h ago

Yes such fond memories. My first was the odyssey, but I really started gaming on my colecovision. Had atari and intelivision but coleco was by far the best of the bunch to me.

Kratos_Kart20072h ago

Yes...a gamer from my era...LMAO

Coleco was good...LOL

anast7h ago(Edited 7h ago)

Good piece of history here.

edit: I wanted to read it but the cookies pop up is stopping me.

badboyz097h ago

This was just before my time. I do remember my mom's friend having one all dusty in her apartment back in the day.

[R.I.P.} Ms. Irene

Abear217h ago

People forget that console wars are part of the history of this industry. The console wars were started by competitive companies all the way back then and continued through Sega vs Nintendo, Jaguar/3DO/NeonGeo, and PlayStation vs Nintendo and Xbox.

These companies are across oceans and competing for the same business. These companies created the console wars, not crazy fanboys.

anast4h ago

Console wars are fun. It's fun to be a fanboy too. I don't get what's wrong with any of this as entertainment.

darthv724h ago

Young kid school yard banter was fun. 30-40+ year olds still doing it is just disturbing. Many my age (50+) grew out of that a long time ago. We may still have our preferences, but we also embrace a more central position because there is a lot to enjoy on a wide range of genres and systems.

You'll understand one day and then things will forever change.

Petebloodyonion2h ago

The only thing back then was that the game would still appear on competing platforms.
Remember the Coleco Vision could play Atari2600 games via an Expansion modude.

jznrpg6h ago(Edited 6h ago)

I had both. Snafu on Intellivision was addicting as hell. Also had Colecovision which had Time Pilot. Combat was probably my favorite Atari game and both Atari and Intellivision had similar games like Pitfall and Jungle Hunt. It’s been so long I don’t really remember which game I liked bettter out of those but I did play my Intellivision a bit more than Atari though I’m not sure why besides Snafu. That was 40+ years ago damn I’m old lol

Dagexon5h ago

Ahh you're making me all nostalgic! Not old enough to have played these on original hardware but my first console was a bootleg console from Costco that had a bunch of intellivision and atari games. Then had a lot of fun with intellivision and atari collections on ps1 and 2.
Snafu was one of my favourite games and me and my partner still occasionally play it to this day

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