1. #1

    Writer of IA Storyline, Alex Freed, leaves BioWare.

    twitter.com/AlexanderMFreed/status/254249187422662656

    Quote Originally Posted by Alexander M. Freed
    Big news! As of today, I'm departing BioWare to go freelance. It's been a wonderful six years, but time to move on. More next tweet. #SWTOR

    Sad times for TOR, and BioWare.

  2. #2
    Deleted
    A lot of people have been leaving Bioware over the past weeks/months. Above all both founders and a lot of capable developers. Even the SWTOR lead designer iirc.

    Bioware today has a much in common with the famed Bioware that brought us Baldur's Gate 2/Mass Effect 1/Dragon Age: Origins as modern Blizzard has with the developers that brought us Diablo 2.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Katsuragisama View Post
    twitter.com/AlexanderMFreed/status/254249187422662656




    Sad times for TOR, and BioWare.
    IA story is the main reason to play swtor. (one of. I love that class, okay? This is kind of like... ugh)

    If we can't expect the same quality post 50 for for IA then... Well. Oh well.
    (Warframe) - Dragon & Typhoon-
    (Neverwinter) - Trickster Rogue & Guardian Fighter -

  4. #4
    doesnt mean he cant help write some more stories for them you know hes going freelance not giving up on the industry

  5. #5
    Immortal SirRobin's Avatar
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    There were a variety of things I was going to say but with everyone Austin has already lost? This seems pretty "meh..." in comparison. Mythic shed staff for years once EA started its purge. It will probably be the same with BioWare Austin.
    Sir Robin, the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot.
    Who had nearly fought the Dragon of Angnor.
    Who had almost stood up to the vicious Chicken of Bristol.
    And who had personally wet himself, at the Battle of Badon Hill.

  6. #6
    Deleted
    Sadly, from the last 4-5 months of leaving/lay-offs there is no BioWare anymore. EA has once and for all, gutted the company, as it has done so many times before =(

  7. #7
    The Unstoppable Force Kelimbror's Avatar
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    To be honest, looking at this quote from him way back from Dev Posts, I can see that EA does have a stash of content already stored away and is 'trimming the fat' to maximize their profits. Basically they sucked a lot of great people dry and plan to use their ideas to make more money. This could at once be an argument to how terrible EA is, but also explain the costs associated with development that everyone likes to throw around:

    We've known since the start that we would need to have major characters (Players, companions, certain NPCs) returning to record new content for many, many years. From a business end, yes, this is planned for. We have no desire to change voice actors for existing characters, nor any intention of "writing out" a character because the actor becomes unavailable.
    From a practical standpoint, of course, unexpected occurrences do happen. This is where a bit of foresight helps--we're writing dialogue long before that dialogue ever shows up in-game, so we've usually got a pretty good window during which we can do VO recording. In other words, if a voice actor is unavailable for six months due to an emergency (or something planned!), well... if we're ahead far enough, we can still make that work. We'll adjust the schedule, record everything else we need and bring that actor in toward the end.
    I'm placing my bets that at bare minimum they have a year of streamlined content, pushing to 2-3 years of terrible and industry standard update schedules. EA is trying to get one over on everyone. And it is probably going to work.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Telila View Post
    Sadly, from the last 4-5 months of leaving/lay-offs there is no BioWare anymore. EA has once and for all, gutted the company, as it has done so many times before =(
    EA is like the villain from the first highlander, Kurgan.
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  9. #9
    I am constantly amazed at how many people are clueless to how corporations work.....

    I wish I sucked as bad as EA....LMAO....I'd retire with millions

    Get real folks...this is business..and this is the 21st century....deal

  10. #10
    High Overlord Korrina's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steelyorc View Post
    I am constantly amazed at how many people are clueless to how corporations work.....

    I wish I sucked as bad as EA....LMAO....I'd retire with millions

    Get real folks...this is business..and this is the 21st century....deal
    That may be how corporations work, but that doesn't mean it's good business. Sure, the execs and shareholders get their fat checks, but they butcher their own company and infrastructure to get that short term profit. So many companies are doing that these days, and look where it has got the economy.

    Back on topic though, when you decide to go freelance after working for a developer, I doubt they'd get funding approval to outsource the writing to him. When he's gone, so is his writing. And once they've burnt through what they've milked out of him, then his particular flavor will end.

  11. #11
    This game is bleeding developers, writers and co-founders almost as fast as it is bleeding subs.

    Alexander Freed's work on the Imperial Agent storyline was absolutely phenomenal. Whoever takes over will have big shoes to fill.

  12. #12
    Deleted
    You know, the original wow developers aren't developing current wow either.

    At the same time there are alot of complaints of how bad everything is... maybe it'll turn out for the better? Just wait and see.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Marverick66 View Post
    You know, the original wow developers aren't developing current wow either.

    At the same time there are alot of complaints of how bad everything is... maybe it'll turn out for the better? Just wait and see.
    They didn't all leave the company within a year of release, and many are still with the company working on other projects.

    It's kinda bad to see how much of the key members of the development staff have left/are leaving since launch. I'd assume he's already written a TON of the stories that will be used for IA and other storylines, so his work will probably still be coming out for quite some time.

  14. #14
    Deleted
    WOW just wow; Mythic much. They did exactly the same to Mythic.

    I am surprised Bioware is alive by the end of the year. Texas is deserted apparently

  15. #15
    This is shocking, wonder what is going on the heads of Bioware/EA managment to fire this guy, he has talent.

    Quote Originally Posted by Alexander M. Freed
    Thank you both; the Agent was a labor of love (for me and many world designers, cinematics folk, et al).
    Agent was my 1st char at the first I found and still find the Operative(agent) mechanics cluncky but it was the agent storyline that kept me going so I stuck with it and became my main.

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