WHAT PLAY YOU!? Version 3.0

[Cousin Jim Bob]

3 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

I think the finger pointing is fair in this case - as @The King Of Swing said, they seem to have been hampered enormously by executive interference; I'd use Dragon Age: The Veilguard as an example. It started off as a live-service game before it morphed into what it became. Anthem was another attempt to chase live-service cash - I'd categorise BioWare as being in a similar position to Arkane and Rocksteady - single player specialists with orders from above to develop games they simply weren't well suited to make - the kind of games I strongly suspect they weren't wanting to make in the first place.

By all accounts from Bioware, they pitched Anthem as a live service game to EA, not the other way round.

Edited 1 hour ago by Cousin Jim Bob

[RedTwoster]

19 minutes ago, Cousin Jim Bob said:

By all accounts from Bioware, they pitched Anthem as a live service game to EA, not the other way round.

That's true - but here's an account from a former producer that gives a bit more context. In short, the person making the pitch was essentially telling EA what they wanted to hear. And then he left. 

The pressure across the board was for companies to produce games that create ongoing revenue, and that led to a lot of live service pitches - many of which entered production but never saw the light of day. The logic essentially was, I think, that all it took was for one of these games to stick, and their earnings would outstrip that of several traditional single player games, so companies could absorb the flops. 

I don't know anyone at BioWare, but I do know people in the industry who were affected by that kind of remit and also people who have lost their jobs - I'll freely admit to being biased as a result, but I still think it's hard to dispute that it's become an industry that places virtually no value in the people who actually drive it forward.

[Merzbow]

2 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

but I still think it's hard to dispute that it's become an industry that places virtually no value in the people who actually drive it forward.

I'd imagine that's why so many big name veterans have practically left videogames as a whole over the past 15 years or have gone on the independent path outside of major publishers.

Even Hideo Kojima nearly didn't survive, he's lucky he has such a cult of personality that it was a no brainer for Xbox to grab him, even just as a statement.

[Cousin Jim Bob]

55 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

That's true - but here's an account from a former producer that gives a bit more context. In short, the person making the pitch was essentially telling EA what they wanted to hear. And then he left. 

The pressure across the board was for companies to produce games that create ongoing revenue, and that led to a lot of live service pitches - many of which entered production but never saw the light of day. The logic essentially was, I think, that all it took was for one of these games to stick, and their earnings would outstrip that of several traditional single player games, so companies could absorb the flops. 

I don't know anyone at BioWare, but I do know people in the industry who were affected by that kind of remit and also people who have lost their jobs - I'll freely admit to being biased as a result, but I still think it's hard to dispute that it's become an industry that places virtually no value in the people who actually drive it forward.

 

That guy pitching was Casey Hudson, director and producer of the Mass Effect trilogy and Star Wars KOTR. Bit unfair not to mention that. I think he genuinely thought early on he could make a great live service game, he had the resume to tell EA that Anthem should be a single player experience if he wanted to. Him leaving the project, and tbh leaving the whole company for awhile was a huge blow. 

It's been a rocky road for BioWare for over a decade now. I don't like EA at all, and I agree they were meddling to much, but the studio was not doing great. They basically were down to one shot of needing a new Mass Effect game. And it had to be amazing and sell huge numbers.  I'm convinced they were still capable of that.

Edited 10 minutes ago by Cousin Jim Bob

[RedTwoster]

1 minute ago, Cousin Jim Bob said:

That guy pitching was Casey Hudson, director and producer of the Mass Effect trilogy and Star Wars KOTR. Bit unfair not to mention that. I think he genuinely thought early on he could make a great live service game, he had the resume to tell EA that Anthem should be a single player experience if he wanted to. Him leaving the project, and tbh leaving the whole company for awhile was a huge blow. 

I don't doubt that he did - I didn't mention it because it was all in the link, not for any nefarious reason to be clear! 

2 minutes ago, Cousin Jim Bob said:

It's been a rocky road for BioWare for over a decade now. I don't like EA at all, and I agree they were meddling to much, but the studio was not doing great. They basically were down to one shot of needing a new Mass Effect game. And it had to be amazing and sell huge numbers.  I'm convinced they were still capable of that.

I think they were too. There was definitely talent drain, but not to the extent that they were a bust, particularly given that there is a Mass Effect TV show on the horizon - you'd have to imagine every effort was being made to ensure that new game delivered. 

Also worth highlighting that EA has cut staff from a number of companies (link to Eurogamer) as part of this. It's clearly linked to the buyout, and it absolutely sucks.