Is Bioware the biggest tragedy of gaming history?

[Vidpci]

I don't know about you, but I have supported this company since the day it started. And it's reputation, up until the last few years, has been god-like. But now, even the founding owners have quit. To say that we were sold out is an understatement. This was the only developer in the industry that you could literally buy a game from without checking a review and KNOW it was going to be quality... and now, Gears of War: Judgment producer quits Epic for Bioware... http://www.gamespot.com/news/gears-o...ioware-6411016

All we have is Bethesda... and Blizzard. This entire industry is revolving around Call of Duty clones and nobody gives a damn about making quality games anymore. I seen a thread about why digital rentals should be in the next generation, and I laughed. Because I know the arrogant pricks that don't even want you to own what you purchase will never let us rent a game without paying retail. There is no passion about the art of game creation anymore. There is no love of the creativity...

It's all about greed and milking the consumer. And Bioware is literally the biggest fall from grace that I have ever seen in any industry. The god-like reputation completely ruined by greed.

That's all.

[veehro]

Blizzard is massively sliping away from what it once was. Before it cared ONLY about gameplay and the quality of a game. Now it's all about "acessibility" and getting as many subs as possible.
Look at how many "features" wow has that could be for free such as name change, xrealm, xfaction, race change, microtansactions with pets from the store etc.
Adding "multiple dificulty levels" rather then focusing on actual content.
How many months was naxramas the only instance being raided? (save for some other 1 boss instances)
How good was Trial of the crusader quality wise to any of the previous instances?
How long did people had only ICC to raid?



The focus has been moved from making excelent gameplay by a few passionate game developers, to huge companies making games to milk as much monney as they can.

Did diablo 3 REALLY need a RMAH? was it THAT better for the game? was a gold ah not enough? Have chinese gold farmers and bots sudently dissapeard because of this?

[Daeaye]

Blizzard is massively sliping away from what it once was. Before it cared ONLY about gameplay and the quality of a game. Now it's all about "acessibility" and getting as many subs as possible.

I'm pretty sure that that is a very unfair generalisation. Yeah, gameplay is important, but if they don't care if anyone buys it or plays it from the off then what's the point? They did care about subs from the start.
As for what it's become, yes the game has become easier, and the rewards are easier to obtain, but I actually believe that Blizzard is changing, and not for the worse. Everything changes in time, and to stay the same means you'll slip. As far as I am concerned, personally, Blizzard are doing fine. At least, what they do pleases me, and I've played since BC.
Subs are dropping for a number of reasons. Some people can't afford it any more, others have gotten jobs and have prioritised where necessary, others have grown tired from playing so long, and others expect every expansion and patch to be the same as the one before, forgetting that, if it didn't change and Blizzard didn't experiment, it would get stale very fast.

As for OT, the founding owners quit Bioware a while ago now. I hate CoD, to be honest, but I don't think that, just because someone who had a hand in Gears of War (note: 'producer' just means he funded it, it doesn't really mean he had a hand in any of its creation) has joined Bioware doesn't mean anything at all. I still have high hopes for the company, and I will continue to buy the games without reading reviews. If they do end up slipping and I buy crappy games, then that'll be my own fault. But I still have hope for them.

[Dezerte]

People don't live forever nor do they necessarily want to be a developer for their whole life. So I think it's inevitable that some companies "fall from their grace", because sometimes the artistic vision & attitude is not taught to those who replace the old developers.

I'm of course sad that it seemingly happened to BioWare, I used to be such a die-hard fanboy of BioWare. Simply uttering the name BioWare put me in awe. And damn I so loved the Mass Effect series, the opening cinematic of Mass Effect 2 was so epic it literally dropped my jaw. Mass Effect 3 is another story... and the rest (SWTOR & Dragon Age) haven't turned out exactly well. I'm still hoping for Dragon Age 3, but I'm cautiously optimistic about that game.

[Lazy Gecko]

Rare going from making some of Nintendo's most highly acclaimed titles to being reduced into a Kinect shovelware developer for Microsoft is probably the bigger tragedy.

Other than that, there's Interplay. Yes, they still exist, and last I heard they had a total of $3000 in their account.

[Vidpci]

Rare going from making some of Nintendo's most highly acclaimed titles to being reduced into a Kinect shovelware developer for Microsoft is probably the bigger tragedy.

Other than that, there's Interplay. Yes, they still exist, and last I heard they had a total of $3000 in their account.

Rare was amazing...

[Deleted]

Rare was amazing...

Sadly they rarely make decent games anymore

[Vankrys]

don't count bioware out yet. with dragon age 3 announced and we know they are working on mass effect 4 and a new star wars title (EA said 3 star wars games were being made from bioware, dice and visceral)

so that's 3 AAA titles on the horizon from bioware.
Plus SWTOR is still going, it may not have been the success everyone hoped for but it still alive and have millions of players (not all paying).

Quality wise however, they have to prove they can still be the top RPG company. 3 years ago, after releasing mass effect (2008), dragon age origins (2009) and mass effect 2 (2010), they were considered by many as the top story based action-RPG company in the world, and at very least in the top 3 by everyone.

a couple of game later, they now need a truly spectacular hit, a awe inspiring dragon age 3 to regain that title. I'm optimistic, they will do it.

[Vidpci]

I guess I just need to learn to accept that stupid people get in charge and ruin great things. I really have no other explanation for what happens.

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don't count bioware out yet. with dragon age 3 announced and we know they are working on mass effect 4 and a new star wars title (EA said 3 star wars games were being made from bioware, dice and visceral)

so that's 3 AAA titles on the horizon from bioware.
Plus SWTOR is still going, it may not have been the success everyone hoped for but it still alive and have millions of players (not all paying).

Quality wise however, they have to prove they can still be the top RPG company. 3 years ago, after releasing mass effect (2008), dragon age origins (2009) and mass effect 2 (2010), they were considered by many as the top story based action-RPG company in the world, and at very least in the top 3 by everyone.

a couple of game later, they now need a truly spectacular hit, a awe inspiring dragon age 3 to regain that title. I'm optimistic, they will do it.

I honestly don't think they care about making rpgs at all anymore, especially with the good doctors leaving and them hiring this gears of war guy.

[jdfrost]

Pay Gaming is dying slowly. So many Free to play games are taking away from console and PC companys. WoW has the most Pay Subs and IMO Bioware has had alot of good games in the last 5-7 years.

Far as I can see there is no Game Company on the rise, they all seem to be getting siphon to the free market! SWToR was the hit Bioware was hoping for it to stay, but MMO scene seem to be dying itself. There are to many out there and the community is split.

ME3 ending ruin the whole game, I never care for Dragon Age(have 1&2) then SWToR came out. I like SWToR but it wasn't enough to hold me. That's 3 big hits in a short time. The bulb may be still lit, but it is going out!

[Vankrys]

I honestly don't think they care about making rpgs at all anymore, especially with the good doctors leaving and them hiring this gears of war guy.

it's better to be optimistic and disappointed later than the other way around IMO.

a disappointment is generally short, localised and forgettable negative feeling, while optimism can get your endorphin going for long period of time. You'll live happy longer going in life with an optimistic attitude.

[Sanitius]

Nope, thats THQ.

[Deleted]

Rare going from making some of Nintendo's most highly acclaimed titles to being reduced into a Kinect shovelware developer for Microsoft is probably the bigger tragedy.

Other than that, there's Interplay. Yes, they still exist, and last I heard they had a total of $3000 in their account.

Atomic BOMBERMAAAAAAN

[Rotted]

don't count bioware out yet. with dragon age 3 announced and we know they are working on mass effect 4 and a new star wars title (EA said 3 star wars games were being made from bioware, dice and visceral)

so that's 3 AAA titles on the horizon from bioware.
Plus SWTOR is still going, it may not have been the success everyone hoped for but it still alive and have millions of players (not all paying).

Quality wise however, they have to prove they can still be the top RPG company. 3 years ago, after releasing mass effect (2008), dragon age origins (2009) and mass effect 2 (2010), they were considered by many as the top story based action-RPG company in the world, and at very least in the top 3 by everyone.

a couple of game later, they now need a truly spectacular hit, a awe inspiring dragon age 3 to regain that title. I'm optimistic, they will do it.

Dont forget Star Wars - Knights of the old Republic as well,

[Srg56]

/snip

The biggest fall from grace? Nah. One of the biggest? Yes:

[Victoriaautmors]

Imo untill Dragon Age 2 Bioware was the top RPG developer but CDprojekt Red blew them out of the water with the Witcher series and Inquisition needs to be really awsome to compete with the Witcher 3 and the Cyberpunk game CDprojekt is making.

Mass Effect 3 wasnt bad imo but Dragon Age 2 basically gutted the DA series at least for me... Everything good about the original was removed.

[Nekosom]

Not even close OP. First off, I don't know that Bioware is really falling apart in the way that you characterize. Dragon Age II was bad, sure, but Mass Effect 3, for all of its flaws, was still a wonderful game, and TOR...well, it didn't fail for lack of trying. It was just a miscalculation really. Had they focused on making it KOTOR 3 rather than being waaaay overambitious with their MMO strategy...well, woulda coulda shoulda, point being, was that ever really a sign of decline?

From what I've seen of Bioware, they're still capable of making very good games. There's still some very creative people there, so I'm not sure that I'd write them off yet.

[Deleted]

Westwood and Cavedog were pretty tragic as well.

[vipers]

after bioware joined EA it was just downhill on quality

[Durandro]

Rare going from making some of Nintendo's most highly acclaimed titles to being reduced into a Kinect shovelware developer for Microsoft is probably the bigger tragedy.

Yeah, Rare is the biggest tragedy out of the lot. Bioware might go down that route, but they are clinging on for dear life right now.

Say what you like about Dragon Age 2 and SWTOR, but Mass Effect 3 wasn't 'bad'. It was rushed and clearly unfinished. There are elements of pure gold in the game, but its all strung together in a very linear un-Bioware like manner. If the entire game was of the same quality as Tunchunka, I'd have very few complaints.

But the worst thing about Bioware? Their PR. Its horrendous! Alternating between cold silence and then over the top boastful claims about how many 'perfect scores' ME3 got and then frankly rather rude comments on twitter and their forums before they finall 'throw us a bone' with some really cobbled together 'free' patch - before then overcharging us on the second and third main DLC to make up for it. My face palmed so damn hard.

Suffice to say, I don't believe their hype anymore. They are going to have to awe me with Dragon Age: Inquisition, and then even moreso with the next Mass Effect game (which apperently we're not supposed to call Mass Effect 4 since it deminishes what it is - despite the fact they won't tell us what it is or give us a name, so what the hell are we supposed to call it?).

I suppose that's what happens when you get completely in bed with EA. EA as a publisher isn't too bad, but when they own the studio... Uh oh.

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Westwood and Cavedog were pretty tragic as well.

Well at least Westwood didn't start making bad games before being killed off. They were killed off after making Red Alert 2 - one of the best RTS's ever made. But its still tragic.

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after bioware joined EA it was just downhill on quality

Weirdly they did okay with Mass Effect 2. There are signs of decay (namely, the story is completely pointless), but the character writing, music and combat were all good enough to cover that up just fine. Infiltrator was 'okay', apperently, but nothing special.

Mass Effect is still my favourite of the series though. Its just magical.