However, I can’t even be disappointed that the studio has closed. To me the studio has been dead for a long while now since EA’s acquisition and the co-founders leaving.
To me the studio has been dead for a long while now since EA’s acquisition and the co-founders leaving.
I’ve seen people mention this a lot today… But those two events are really quite far apart, even if it was only 5 years. The founders leaving definitely seems to have been the turning point, but honestly EA purchasing Bioware didn’t seem to make a difference.
EA acquired Bioware in 2007. Meaning the entirety of Mass Effect and Dragon Age were created under EA. I think it’s a pretty hard thing to try and claim that EA was the issue when both of those series were handled under their ownership.
Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk left Bioware in Sep/Oct 2012, after Mass Effect 3. And both of them left the industry entirely, not just the company, going into completely unrelated things. But even after their departure Bioware released Dragon Age: Inquisition in 2014 which was still good. One could argue I suppose that it was still initially developed under their management, and just finished after they left.
It wasn’t until 2017 with Mass Effect: Andromeda that we really started to see a shift from Bioware. Anthem was 2019, and Dragon Age: Veilguard was 2024.
So it clearly was the departure of the founders that resulted the downfall of Bioware from glory, EA doesn’t seem to have been a primary cause.
For me the coffin was made when the acquisition was made because even at the time, people were already seeing these types of acquisitions by EA, like Westwood and see what and how the games developed changed pretty drastically and one of the many reasons why it was voted the worst company in the world by the consumerist in 2012, and damn isn’t that a blast from the hyper fast internet past. The enshitification by being bought by EA was long in the making if you were looking.
Like you said, purchase of the studio was in 2007, DA:O was released shortly afterwards but development happened years before the acquisition and then you had the big ol’ WTF was DA:2 that was rushed out the door and such a huge departure from the original and even then I figured it was because EA leadership was responsible for that crap being made and later was confirmed that yup, that was the case. Right there that was another big indicator that the old Bioware was slowly changing and dying at least to me when I played that junk and really cemented to me at least that the slow agonizing entification of the company had begun. As a fan of their original CRPG’s, I knew that I’d never see that again.
Same for Mass Effect, the development was started before the acquisition and they both enjoyed the culture of independence and taking time to develop and subsequent release you could see the little things that made things feel just a bit cheaper, just a bit off. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed the ever loving crap out of Mass Effect 1 - 3 even with the “not my final entification form” that was 3 and its stupid executive leadership driven galactic power system that required multiplayer to not be a shittier single player experience.
When the founders left, that was just the final nail for that coffin and subsequent games being produced kinda proved that out that the magic had been fading and corporate entification was rooted.
That’s why I and probably others say that the acquisition was the beginning of the end.
Nope, no one indeed.
However, I can’t even be disappointed that the studio has closed. To me the studio has been dead for a long while now since EA’s acquisition and the co-founders leaving.
I’ve seen people mention this a lot today… But those two events are really quite far apart, even if it was only 5 years. The founders leaving definitely seems to have been the turning point, but honestly EA purchasing Bioware didn’t seem to make a difference.
EA acquired Bioware in 2007. Meaning the entirety of Mass Effect and Dragon Age were created under EA. I think it’s a pretty hard thing to try and claim that EA was the issue when both of those series were handled under their ownership.
Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk left Bioware in Sep/Oct 2012, after Mass Effect 3. And both of them left the industry entirely, not just the company, going into completely unrelated things. But even after their departure Bioware released Dragon Age: Inquisition in 2014 which was still good. One could argue I suppose that it was still initially developed under their management, and just finished after they left.
It wasn’t until 2017 with Mass Effect: Andromeda that we really started to see a shift from Bioware. Anthem was 2019, and Dragon Age: Veilguard was 2024.
So it clearly was the departure of the founders that resulted the downfall of Bioware from glory, EA doesn’t seem to have been a primary cause.
For me the coffin was made when the acquisition was made because even at the time, people were already seeing these types of acquisitions by EA, like Westwood and see what and how the games developed changed pretty drastically and one of the many reasons why it was voted the worst company in the world by the consumerist in 2012, and damn isn’t that a blast from the hyper fast internet past. The enshitification by being bought by EA was long in the making if you were looking.
Like you said, purchase of the studio was in 2007, DA:O was released shortly afterwards but development happened years before the acquisition and then you had the big ol’ WTF was DA:2 that was rushed out the door and such a huge departure from the original and even then I figured it was because EA leadership was responsible for that crap being made and later was confirmed that yup, that was the case. Right there that was another big indicator that the old Bioware was slowly changing and dying at least to me when I played that junk and really cemented to me at least that the slow agonizing entification of the company had begun. As a fan of their original CRPG’s, I knew that I’d never see that again.
Same for Mass Effect, the development was started before the acquisition and they both enjoyed the culture of independence and taking time to develop and subsequent release you could see the little things that made things feel just a bit cheaper, just a bit off. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed the ever loving crap out of Mass Effect 1 - 3 even with the “not my final entification form” that was 3 and its stupid executive leadership driven galactic power system that required multiplayer to not be a shittier single player experience.
When the founders left, that was just the final nail for that coffin and subsequent games being produced kinda proved that out that the magic had been fading and corporate entification was rooted.
That’s why I and probably others say that the acquisition was the beginning of the end.