The only thing tied to the name is the IP. The employees should organise and start a completely new company, why pay EA a cent more?
They did. Arcanaut Studios, currently making Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic.
Edit: Technically there’s also BioWare Austin that became Archetype Entertainment and is planning to release Exodus next year.
They already did. Almost none of the original staff from old Bioware is still with the company.
IP is still important. Original staff are not some unique geniuses, new people make great games all the time, under the right conditions and leadership. I doubt it will happen to BioWare at this point though.
Couldn’t original staff make a new game with new IP? Why exactly do we need to name a new game “Mass Effect”?
Yeah, it’s not like doing that is unprecedented. We all knew what these were supposed to be:
Why exactly do we need to name a new game “Mass Effect”?
Because people wanna fuck the blue aliens.
There is value in the world and characters that were created, it’s not just the name.
There was value. And it was sold to EA
What did we do before the world invented intellectual property? Just tell stories.
I didn’t say that people can’t or shouldn’t write original stories. I want them too. But there is a reason why people like (well-written) series and worlds and want to return to them. I also want new stories in Mass Effect universe, if they are done well. Probably won’t happen but one can dream.
You mean like Arcanaut Studios, the game company down the street making Fate of the Old Republic?
imo BioWare hasn’t been been ‘BioWare’ since gag Dragon Age 2. They royally fumbled Anthem with broken promises and the rpgs have been stale rinse repeat affairs. Let them twilight out I’m sure the talent can find better than to huddle under the BioWare magic umbrella.
Unfortunately, people care more about keeping Beloved Franchises™ alive than keeping good teams together. Even though EA already proved that Mass Effect and Dragon Age would never be the Mass Effect and Dragon Age people liked again.
