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Fallout From the BioWare/Pandemic Buyout
Yesterday's announcement of EA's purchase of BioWare and Pandemic took a lot of people by surprise. Today, there's some more information, reactions, and assurances from the people involved in the move. First and foremost: Mass Effect should not be affected by this purchase. The future of the series is still up in the air, but the game we've all be waiting for is still slated for a November 20th release exclusive to the Xbox 360. EA held a conference call about the buyout soon after it was announced, and answers a number of questions about specifics. FiringSquad has a feature on the reaction from the developers, and that piece has some assurances that EA's CEO John Riccitiello has the best interests of the new acquisitions at heart. Gamasutra has a Q&A with Pandemic's management team, which wants to point out that Pandemic/BioWare and their parent company drove this deal forward; this was not a hostile acquisition. Likewise Gamespot has a chat with the BioWare co-founders, who are equally excited about the deal. This may have been surprising, but if the two companies were onboard with this move it can hardly be dire, right?
Anyone else feel like you're in a zombie movie and your best friend just got bitten?
Me: Bioware? Bioware!?
Bioware: BRAAIIIIINNNSSSSSSS
Me: Nooooooo!
*cocks shotgun*
The fact that they have pampered Will Wright, and pretty much let him do whatever he wants (on two projects now - the Sims and Spore, is a good sign they know how in theory how to not destroy a creative development team. If they can extend that good practice to the entire Bioware group... maybe this won't end up being a disaster like Origin's buyout...
Does anyone know if this will affect the MMO that bioware has been working on? I have always trusted bioware but the fact EA had to find some way to acquire them shows me EA is desperate and that this MMO may suck now.
the Political Inquirer
This may have been surprising, but if the two companies were onboard with being given stacks of cash so large they require heavy machinery to move it can hardly be dire, right?
Fixed that for you.Didn't this get enough coverage yesterday?
http://games.slashdot.org/games/07/10/11/2053228.shtml
WTF cares?
Frankly, in the big "who's the most evil empire" game, I don't see EA as necessarily worse than Atari (who created huge problems with WotC game IP left and right) and Microsoft (whom we all know and loathe).
Pathman, Free (as in GPL) 3D Pac Man
The title include the word "fallout", yet nothing in the blurb justifies the use.
/. eds!
Damn sensationalist
Such naive optimism! I miss those days before my heart was a dried up little rotten apple of cynicism. Oh well, I'll give it a try. Yeah... right... this can't be that bad. It's probably even a
Oh, never mind.
EA is always looking out for others--especially their customers! Thanks for the mac versions of year-old games! When do you predict they will start working?
"the best interests of the new acquisitions at heart"...
Translation: EA and EA's bottom line.
TODO - Insert Creative/Witty Signature
I haven't heard anyone comment on this, but EA recently committed to bringing more of its lineup to the mac. so maybe this acquisition is a good thing for mac gamers?
With EA's earlier pledge to bring Games to the MAC platform this could break new ground easily for Bioware/Pandemic who might not have had the financial or technical resources themselves. This sort of move gives all parties involved a lot of leverage and with the upswing in sales of Mac it is hard for games companies to ignore the platform. As successful as the products lines from B/P have been it is a no-brain move for them to pursue EA and for EA to willingly pick them up. EA gets more proven product lines, a broader market share, and a game segment that they have not really had a lot of success in. B/P gets resources both financial and technical to bring their products to other platforms and, if represented properly, have a better chance at larger sales within the market. A good indicator of the winds of change are the slow uptake of Vista and the broader market rejection of it in the business sector. The consumer is looking for value in their dollar with current trends in the US market(s) and in hard times you will suddenly find a lot of DYI growth, which inevitably leads to... Linux. Look at AMD/ATI and what they've started to do for open source. Hardware/Software is rapidly changing from fixed goods into a serviced goods structure as I see it. ALA Google apps etc. Do you start to see the trends now? This is hardly a bad move by all parties and the only thing that can possibly foul it up is terrible ego and mis-management. Oh... EA... hrmmm... :P
Bioware/Pademic good move and enjoy your new found success!
Well EA, you've got a turning point here... best of luck and hope you do well!
Disclaimer: Economists please excuse my amateurish views and abuse of terms and concepts I don't fully understand but I felt it necessary to put business insight into the discussion instead of typical End of the World rants and raves.
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Comment removed based on user account deletion
Nope...
Every person I've worked with that was involved with EA takeover in some way pretty much took thier Cash and left.
A great number of good games could have been made had EA not done thier best to destroy them. Or release everything they make with Serious bug issues.
Microsoft back in the early days of gaming did everything they could to foster the creativity of gaming into what it is today. With big budgets, big parties, big group gatherings.
God those were the days when I was happy to be in the industry. Now I'm happy to be out of it and buy a few slect games every year.
Given that it's the only proper CRPG from a major developer in years, and possibly the last gasp of the isometric, (quasi-)turn-based genre, I'm far more concerned with the fate of Dragon Age.
Bioware staff are locking all threads about the buyout on the DA forums and refusing to answer any serious questions.
If you've ever been to Bioware Edmonton you would see that, no, people aren't really that discontented. Besides, Bioware is one of the best companies to work for in Canada, and everyone I know who works there all enjoys nice long hours during the end of the development cycle...like...probably-should-be-illegal long hours... and still love their jobs.
Besides, even if everyone at Bioware quits over the next 5 years, the number of graduates in Comp Sci in western canada is more than enough to fill their roles, and frankly, ever kid with a Comp Sci degree here WANTS to work for Bioware, they just end up writing digital thermometre coding for a career instead because they don't hire very often!
We discussed this in our podcast last night. Tis a double edged sword. If the extra $ translates over into great gaming experiences; furthermore, experiences that EVERYONE can participate in--ala, having the financial backing to publish multi-platform--, then the consumer wins. The fear is that the big company looses it's focus and puts out a lesser product. More important, is if they don't care since they know they'll see a return for their investment. Perhaps this has been done with certain titles, where there's no competition--Madden, cough, cough...--, but over all, the casual consumer seems to think EA is doing a good job. People vote with their $ and for the past 'I don't know' how many years, the people have voted EA the #1 software publisher. Lot of stupid people buying video games though... --GC
Transgaming Inc, the company behind the technology that allowed EA to port their Direct-X based PC games to Mac, now has had a successful implementation of their conversion engine on a large scale. This could be used to port ANY DirectX game to an x86 Mac. I know for a fact that all four of the Mac games released work perfectly fine on Intel macs, as I have run them all myself - are you running a g4 or g5? If so, that's why it's not working.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
I dislike EA products as much as the next guy, but sometimes they do get things right (SSX 1-3). They may eventually destroy them (SSX 4), but there are some gems.
Skate, for instance, is a really good game so far.
Just a thought... I ventured over to http://www.transgaming.com/ , the company that EA worked with to do their Mac ports, and discovered that their front page is advertising EVE now being available for Mac and linux. Maybe we'll see future Bioware/Pandemic games, or any IP acquired by EA in the merger, ported to these systems as well? That could be neat.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
I know for a fact that the performance sucks compared to the windows version, as I own 2142 for both mac and windows. I also have a 2.4GHz MBP, so it's certainly not beyond the capability of the computer.
Additionally, I've used transgaming's linux releases (Point2Play, etc) before, and was not impressed--especially by their licensing model.
I don't consider "success" to be 50-60% performance in a port. I'm beyond the CAN they do it, and am questioning the HOW WELL they did it.
TODO - Insert Creative/Witty Signature
GZ: We can't predict the future. We'll see what happens. The key thing is we now plan on making thirteen thousand Mass Effect games, and we've got a great story arc.
Fixed
"Do you like my hat? It's made of MONEY!"
The last thing I need is Madden announcing when I roll a 20 for a critical hit.
How many companies are under EA now? If EA ever go down, won't we see a huge void all of the sudden as all the creative game labs also go down with it?
as if millions of Sims cried out in pain... and then were silent.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Remember that this is the second time Riccitiello has bought Bioware and Pandemic. The first time was as a partner in Elevation Partners, the private equity firm that has owned the studios for the past two years. I don't remember seeing an exedus when Elevation bought them. A big part of the reason is that PE folks are very wary of key employees jumping ship and taking the value they just bought with them, so they give them $$ incentives to stay. The same will stay true here; employees won't be cashing out. The deal includes $155M of equity in EA to go to the acquired company, which is most likely earmarked for employee incentives.
Also, to respond to the initial post, if people were surprised by this move, they haven't been paying attention. When Riccitiello left Elevation to re-join EA, it was only a matter of time until EA bought these studios. Private equity shops don't buy companies to hold onto them for the long haul; they either cobble together critical mass, or sell out. And given Riccitiello's affiliation, did anyone see his old partners selling to anyone else?
Sadly, it's a lesson I learned the hard way. As a result, I don't believe a single word any executive (especially at the CxO level) utters in any public forum.
Here's why: the CEOs main duty is to his/her stockholders. Anything they say that depresses stock value is a reason for the board to can them. Not only that, but anything that depresses stock value results in a massive hit to their wallet. As a result, CEOs are at best circumspect when they talk. At worst, they outright lie. They're especially prone to lying when no comment is as telling as an explicit comment, or when there is no way to sugarcoat, obfuscate or otherwise mitigate the issue.
John Ricotello might talk a good game, but that is completely irrelevant. The only thing that matters is track record and current actions. And on that.... I'll just go with the Zombie theme of the first poster: BRRAAAIIIINNNNNNNS
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
I could hurl expletives at EA for destroying yet another decent development house - and who seriously entertains the possibility that BioWare's talent is going to be left to continue life as usual? However, what strikes me as more unbelievable is that so many damn studios keep selling to them.
AFAIK this wasn't a forced takeover. So why are so many development houses willing to feed their brainchild to the evil empire? It's getting ridiculous. It seems like the goal is to rise to fame on the backs of your customers until you look tasty enough for EA to offer you a big fat check for the whole thing. Shame on you BioWare!
Was money tight for BioWare? Were the bills piling up and EA bailed them out with a mountain of money and an offer they couldnt' refuse? It may sound self-serving, but I would much rather that the studio went bankrupt and closed its doors like Working Designs than have it's good name sullied and dragged through the mud by the Borg of Videogamedom that EA has become.
Whether you like their games or not, EA is the bane of all videogamedom because it represents the philosophy of profit before creativity. Eventually, supporting EA will destroy everything that you hold dear about gaming. It stifles and kills creativity for crunches and quarterly earnings. When it wants to do something new and creative it no longer has the ability so instead it consumes some other studio and leaches off of the fresh talent until all the life has been sucked out and all that the once-talented workers are good for is making Madden games and nickel-and-dime downloadable content.
EA tends to buy game companies and run 1 or 2 titles forever. Doesn't even sell off any of the titles they aquire. Seriously, EA would be better off just buying the rights to specific games with the design team than buying a whole company. The method they currently use discourages the overall growth and diversity of gaming.
EA seems a little too eager to become to the largest monopoly in gaming. The problem is, they push their games too fast toward their ship dates which are set too soon. Games like Battlefield 2142 and NFS Pro-Street could be much, MUCH more awesome and much less glitchy. The problem with the entire NFS collection is the lack of realism in any regard. It's less like a driving similator and more like an arcade game. I don't like that. As for Battlefield, there's a huge market for hacking in that quadrant of the gaming world. Exploits are easy, glitches are too easy, and hacks are too readily available. If they spent more time on their games, maybe EA wouldn't NEED to purchase up every single gaming company in existance because it would turn into the most-loved company, and easily too. tl;dr: EA is an ever-growing monopoly and needs to be stopped.
Riccitiello just handed his old pals at Elevation Partners and VG Holdings (and probably himself in some circuitous fashion) a big, fat 840 million dollar gift. Think about it:
- Elevation Partners bought both Pandemic and Bioware in 2005 for 300 million dollars.
- just 2 years later, the two companies are bought for 2.7 times that amount.
- Riccitiello was part-founder of Elevation Partners.
- Riccitiello was CEO of VG Holdings.
- Riccitiello left the position of CEO of VG Holdings and partner at Elevation Partners in 02/2007 to be CEO of EA.
- of the $840 million, mgmt retention bonus is $155 million.
- the total revenue of all Pandemic and Bioware games EVER COMBINED was about $950 million.
- total headcount of both companies is about 800 people.
So let me get this straight - the guy who was responsible in 2005 for the merger of Pandemic and Bioware and shelled out 300 million bucks for that task, is now handing out nearly three times that amount to his old buddies for the pleasure to outright buy them? Not to mention the fat retention bonus to certain VGH managers? Not to mention that the buyout price is ridiculously close to the total revenue that both Pandemic and Bioware grossed together in their entire lifetimes?
This is the definition of a gravy train, and somebody just got ridiculously rich because some CEO is buddies with somebody. The more I look into the deal, the more ridiculous it is. This can't possibly have been about economics, because the economics aren't there. This had to be a back-room, back-slapping, palm-greased deal.
Goodbye Bioware. You'll bear the consequences of this atrocity. I hope the people who made Bioware awesome get out while they can and start something new.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
The old need for speed was amazing... I remember talking to a product manager once. Asking him "will you ever release Porsche Unleashed again?" His response to this was "that game was harddddd". I had to chuckle in that it was probably the best overall realistic racing game that the Need For Speed series ever released. After that, it wasn't as much fun. It was just lame arcade physics beyond that which pretty much stopped me from buying Need for Speed all together.
Forza 1, Forza 2, Dirt, GT1, GT2, GT3, GTHD, Rallisport 1-2, colin Mcrae series. Those have all pleased me far more than the most recent of the Need For Speed series.
Seriously, give me a car that actually responds to throttle lift.
Bioware has something that EA hasn't had since Bard's Tale - creativity. Things may go smoothly for a while, perhaps a good MMO and a few good single player games will emerge. But eventually things will go bad. EA is in the business of selling sequels and that can't last. They will eventually over extend themselves on high-cost sequel like Madden or Major League and have to suck out all of Bioware's resource out to meet the bills or they will take Bioware creations and run them into the ground (Knight of the old Mass Effect XXXIV).
You son of a bitch. You don't include "fallout," "bioware," and "pandemic" in an article title like that, ever. Now I have to change pants, and all for naught.