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Electronic Arts Purchases BioWare, Pandemic

Posted by Zonk on from the depths-of-horror dept.

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.'"

29 of 232 comments (clear)

  1. Let me be the first to say... by bigstrat2003 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Shit. This ain't good.

    (Pardon me for being cynical, but I can't help but be afraid that a company like EA, known for mediocrity, is going to drag down Bioware, known for excellence)

    --
    "16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
    1. Re:Let me be the first to say... by JonTurner · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Agreed, it may be a money-maker, but it's not good for those who love great games and look forward to more being created in the future. Can anyone here name just one company that got better in terms of product quality and service AFTER a merger? I certainly cannot, and am not aware of any.

      So, to summarize this business deal: EA= Big Daddies, Bioware = Little Sisters, and if history is any guide to how EA treats their people, bioware's programmers/artists = corpses being robbed of their mana. And where do the customers factor in? We're the fellow passengers on the airplane that crashed during the Bioshock opening scene -- literary filler which exists only because it can't be logically avoided.

    2. Re:Let me be the first to say... by Oliver+Wendell+Jones · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Now, they're a shambling zombie force that sucks the life out of anything they touch, and causes their newly assimilated zombie-children to spew foul darkness onto the marketplace.

      I tend to think of EA more like "The Borg" - they are out to assimilate every other game company, suck the individuality out of them and turn them into themselves - lifeless automatons.

      --
      A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing -- Emo Phillips
    3. Re:Let me be the first to say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      BioWare didn't develop KOTOR II. Obsidian did.

    4. Re:Let me be the first to say... by bigstrat2003 · · Score: 3, Informative

      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
    5. Re:Let me be the first to say... by Jiles · · Score: 4, Informative

      Bioware didn't develop KOTOR2. Knights of the Old Republic 2 was Obsidian's doing.

  2. Anybody at Bioware-Austin by the_skywise · · Score: 4, Funny

    Still have your Resistance is Futile shirt? :D

  3. EA Games... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny



    Purchase Everything

    </whisper>

  4. Game over! by decipher_saint · · Score: 5, Funny

    Game over man, GAME OVER!

    --
    crazy dynamite monkey
  5. Re:Subject Field. by DJCouchyCouch · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think you meant Bioshock.

    I mean Bioware.

  6. It's not the first of april by eddy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And this joke isn't funny even if it were.

    --
    Belief is the currency of delusion.
  7. Re:Another one bites the dust... by Conception · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm sure they are feeling none too smart... them and their HALF A BILLION DOLLARS.

  8. This sums things up nicely: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Fuck

  9. Re:Why? by j00r0m4nc3r · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Good games make their bad games look worse.

  10. Terrible news... by vorpal22 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I, for one, have never seen anything *good* come of an EA acquisition. Anyone remember the Ultima games? EA bought Origin Systems, and the series promptly went from the brilliance of Ultimas III through VII Part 2 to the flops and incredible series ending disappointments that were Ultima VIII and IX. Both were buggy, lacking in plot, and virtually unplayable. It was terrible to have such a wonderful, complex continuing story terminate with a muffled whimper.

  11. There's hope for Bioware by nuzak · · Score: 3, Interesting

    EA gives Maxis quite a bit of free rein, and they're loath to kill off that golden goose. I should hope Bioware gets the same treatment.

    Pandemic on the other hand is basically borg-fodder.

    --
    Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
    1. Re:There's hope for Bioware by crossmr · · Score: 3, Informative

      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.

    2. Re:There's hope for Bioware by vonPoonBurGer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, EA gives *Will Wright* a lot of free reign, because he's Will fscking Wright, and you can bet he'd be able to jump ship and land on his feet somewhere else if EA ever held him back. As for the rest of Maxis, they've been swallowed up by the EA hive collective, and are now drones in charge of cranking ever more irrelevant sequels, ports and expansion packs to The Sims.

  12. EA: We Ruin Games by RichPowers · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Some of EA's finer moments:

    Imagine SimCity, only take out the simulation elements, dumb it down, give it a lame 3d engine, and hire the mediocre studio behind the failure that is Caesar IV to design it. That's exactly what EA is doing with SimCity Societies. One of the most venerable PC game series of all time is reduced to the uninspired, inoffensive, mildly-likable crap that EA specializes in. If Maxis were still around, I doubt we'd be seeing this.

    Then there's the Westwood. EA dissolved the studio and released C&C: Generals. It had no live action cut scenes, no creative and silly weapons, and no enigmatic bald men bent on world domination. It was a generic RTS featuring the USA, China, and some Arab quasi-nationstate fighting across desert landscapes dotted with mosques - the same setting used by every Clancy knockoff.

    (Just because you build a city doesn't make it SimCity. Likewise, just because you command a modern army doesn't make it C&C.)

    And let's not forget the Battlefield series. DICE revolutionized online FPS gaming with BF1942. To this day, it's still one of my favorite games. Battlefield 2, however, is a system hog that could teach Vista a thing or two. Post-release support is abysmal and the game is still riddled with bugs. BF2142 is for all purposes a half-assed futuristic mod based on the same crummy BF2 engine...and it features in-game ads.

    I could go on and on, but you get the picture. I've been playing PC games ever since SimCity 2000 in 1993 and have witnessed EA steadily bastardize so many PC games I know and love. They make boatloads of cash from their exploitation games (Madden, The Sims) and then buy out respectable studios. Am I cynical for thinking that BioWare and Pandemic will go to shit? Based on my experience with EA, it's only a matter of time.

    1. Re:EA: We Ruin Games by jollyreaper · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I could go on and on, but you get the picture. I've been playing PC games ever since SimCity 2000 in 1993 and have witnessed EA steadily bastardize so many PC games I know and love. They make boatloads of cash from their exploitation games (Madden, The Sims) and then buy out respectable studios. Am I cynical for thinking that BioWare and Pandemic will go to shit? Based on my experience with EA, it's only a matter of time. I think that their success in part parallels the rise of the non-geek gamer. I have NEVER owned a football game for any system I've owned. I think the last one I even rented was for the Sega Master System since I was trying to find a game my stepdad might be interested in. I'm sure a lot of geek gamers feel the same way. Well, it doesn't matter: sports games are huge sellers. Someone is buying them. When geeks were all about Doom, Myst was by far the top-seller of all time. Some geeks like it and many disliked it. The important part was that a whole lot of non-geeks really liked it. Barbie and Monopoly games sell more than traditional geek games.

      With gaming going so mainstream, there are a lot of people now who accessorize with games rather than geek out over them. Consider the breakdown between music geeks and mainstream -- music geeks will get all into their favorite band, go obsessive over it, and geek out -- non-geeks who don't really care will just buy what their friends listen to so they can fit in. As far as the industry is concerned, a happy geek pays just as much for a CD as a mallrat so they're pleased.

      The point I'm getting at, there are people who buy the latest football games because that's what their friends play. There are also people who just get whatever the flavor of the month game is popular and only play it superficially. Then they sell it back to the store and move on. Also, don't discount the parent factor. Here's a Harry Potter game, I'm getting it for the kid. Do I care what the reviews say about it? It's Harry fucking Potter, maybe this will shut the brat up.

      Back in the day, it was marginally harder to push out a crappy game because the market was smaller and a lot geekier and thus harder to satisfy. With gaming going more mainstream, the acceptable quality threshold is lower. The same thing goes for movies. I tend to be picky as hell and bag on most of them. Most people I see them with tend to be happy so long as the film doesn't break. "There were lots of lights and fast, shiny objects. I enjoyed myself." My dissatisfied ticket made the studio just as much money as the other guy's genially uninformed ticket. Studio 1, Me 0.

      My only hope is that the talent within the company accepted the buy-out offer with the intent of jumping ship to form a new development studio and continue to make good games. Cuz God knows, Bioware is already history.
      --
      Kwisatz Haderach
      Sell the spice to CHOAM
      This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
  13. Re:Carry The Torch? by ObiWanStevobi · · Score: 4, Funny

    Shut up you fool! EA is listening.

  14. This is GREAT news! by Huntr · · Score: 5, Funny

    Baldur's Gate would have been a much better game if it had more basketball and football in it.

  15. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  16. Re:No. No No No No No. by great+throwdini · · Score: 5, Informative

    EA never made good games. They purchased companies that did, and the quality improved for a year or two until their creativity burned out too.

    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.

  17. Re:Obligatory SW Reference by Pearson · · Score: 3, Funny

    I had a Star Wars reference too:

    As the truth begins to emerge...
    Bioware: "That wasn't part of the deal! You said you would leave us alone!"

    EA: "I am altering the terms of our agreement. Pray I don't alter them any further!"

    --
    I...I'm attacking the darkness!
  18. What does HK-47 say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Statement: Master, would you like to make a trip to EA headquarters? Clarification: For research purposes of course. Unrelated Query: Have you seen my blaster rifle?

  19. I wonder if Bioware will stay as its own Studio. by LordZardoz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If Bioware stays as its own studio, and EA just acts as their backer, that may not be such a bad thing. Relic is owned by THQ, but as far as I know, they are still an independant entity. This could then just mean that Bioware ends up getting more reliable funding, and ends up churning out games in a more regular fashion. In addition, Bioware is not exactly known for extravagant salaries, so this may end up getting a bunch of them better pay. On top of that the Austin studio will get much better backing for the MMO.

    If EA intends to get heavily involved in Bioware's day to day operations, than Bioware as an independant studio may not exist for too much longer. EA already has studio's in Vancouver and Montreal, and do not really need extra floor space. If that happens, I expect that alot of Bioware's core employees will just quit and form a new studio. Many of them have lived in Edmonton a long time and probably have some pretty deep roots in the community. Plenty may want to leave for milder weather in Vancouver though.

    What will be really interesting is to see what Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk end up doing. If they stay with their Studio in Edmonton and stay in control of day to day operations, things should be fine. If they take their money and run, well they earned it.

    END COMMUNICATION

  20. Re:Why? by servognome · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Can't EA stop destroying good games and companies?
    Can good game companies stop selling out?
    It's just like asking musicians to stop selling out to the RIAA, at the end of the day most of us will go for the money.
    --
    D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
  21. Unskippable by Lurks · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now I think we can look forward to the next Bioware games having unskippable corporate spinning logos for 5 minutes before the game starts up. Yay.