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Electronic Arts Purchases BioWare, Pandemic
Kotaku is reporting that EA has purchased BioWare and Pandemic Studios, having offered some $620 million in cash to the Elevation Partners group to buy up VG Holding Corp. From the press release: "'We are truly excited by John Riccitiello's new vision for EA,' said Ray Muzyka, Co-founder and CEO of BioWare Corp. 'This vision is consistent with BioWare's focus on crafting the highest quality story-driven games in the world. It will enable us to further the careers of the passionate, creative and hard working teams at BioWare Edmonton and BioWare Austin.'"
EA is doing everything they can to kill of The Sims. They've absorbed Maxis entirely at this point, you won't find the Maxis name on anything anymore. They recently just changed from Safedisc to securom on the series which has caused uncountable problems, and to sweeten it they've got a moderator on a rampage banning and screaming at anyone who dares defile the securom name, or even claim they're having a problem because of it. That despite the fact that they set up a forum specifically to talk about securom.
Back in 80s, EA attracted a number of top game developers and was (to many) synonymous with interesting, solid gameplay. MULE and Archon are two clear standouts published by EA, but a complete list of hits both big and small from "back in the days" is pretty lengthy (Bard's Tale, Mail Order Monsters, the various Construction Set games, Starflight, Seven Cities of Gold, etc.)
EA itself may not have "made" these games, but its distribution strategy and relationship with developers back then did a lot to get good games in the hands of eager players.
Depends on what you mean by the last few years. Going from 2000, the year that SSX came out, the original IP that has been published by EA has been:
Alice, Kessen, Nox, X Squad, Black & White, Cel Damage, Undying, Majestic, Motor City Online, Sub Command, Earth and Beyond, Freedom Force, Freekstyle, Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat, Ghosthunter, Loaded, Armies of Exigo, The Urbz, and Knights of Honor. That doesn't count licensed IP that was unique for the same time period. (Harry Potter, Batman, Battle for Middle Earth etc...)
The Sims came out after the buyout by EA and the expansion packs were all done by other teams inside of Maxis courtesy of EA (sorry, no reference). If you think about it, the base games show the same style as earlier maxis games while the expansions stink of EA's sequel/expansion-style franchise milking.
BioWare didn't develop KOTOR II. Obsidian did.
I liked KOTOR 2, but regardless, Obsidian developed KOTOR 2, not Bioware. Don't blame (or credit) Bioware for anything in KOTOR 2 except the engine.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
I think Mass Effect was designed as a trilogy and was to be published my Microsoft. I guess MS owns the rights to the sequels so someone other than Bioware will make the sequels - if they happen at all.
Bioware didn't develop KOTOR2. Knights of the Old Republic 2 was Obsidian's doing.
EA was already the publisher for Mercs 2 even before the aquisition. You think Lucas is a better publisher? Don't get me started...
Bioware was a lot bigger than Bethesda, and they just got bought. In fact I would consider Bioware to be probably the biggest 'independent' developer around. So I don't think Bethesda is immune. To quote Futurama, "Maybe you don't understand just how rich he is. In fact, I think I'd better put on a monocle."
Random and weird software I've written.
A few people have mentioned D&D games... Bioware is not making D&D games anymore. NWN 2 (like KOTOR 2) was designed by Obsidian, not Bioware. Bioware seems to have gotten frustrated with the limitations of using others' IP, which is why they are using their own IP for the games they are working on now, like Mass Effect and Dragon Age. Dragon Age--not some future D&D game--is their spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate and NWN.