I’m Commander Shepard, and this is my favourite bigoted country in the Middle East!
Former BioWare lead writer reads the runes on EA-Saudi deal and speculates that 'guns and football' are in, 'gay stuff' is out, and the venerable RPG studio may be for the chop
Submitted 3 weeks ago by inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world
Comments
Noite_Etion@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
sadfitzy@ttrpg.network 3 weeks ago
“Bigoted” is putting it lightly and only seems to pander to a certain crowd.
Goodeye8@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
To be fair, Bioware has been on the chopping block for some time. I imagine even without going private EA would’ve gutted Bioware if Mass Effect 4 wasn’t a massive success. In my mind the possibility of Bioware getting shuttered has risen only marginally because that possibility was already high to begin with.
CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
Yeah BioWare has felt like a kind of zombie studio to me for a while. They managed to coast along on Mass Effect/Dragon Age momentum for like a decade or so, but I can’t remember the last time they had a big hit game.
Plus those type of games are the ones that take quite a lot of time and resources to do well, so I can’t see that fitting in well with EA’s new “generate endless AI slop until we pay off our debts” business model.
Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Uh…Mass Effect 4 wasn’t a massive success, and they DID gut the studio.
This would have been ME5
rustyfish@piefed.world 3 weeks ago
I actually had a sliver of hope for Mass Effect, you know?
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The team behind the only good Mass Effect game was disbanded almost immediately after its release. I had no hope for the new one.
goferking0@lemmy.sdf.org 3 weeks ago
I had small hope for Andromeda but then they put so much behind either future dlc or sequels and canceled it completely.
EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Fret not, anything they aren’t going to actively milk will likely be sold off to try and pay back the $20 billion dollar loan they took to make this purchase.
Entertainmeonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
As far as i understand this deal. No property will be sold. EA will be on the hook for the 20b just like ToysRus. EA is getting nuked and a new name and face but the ip is not going anywhere.
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
I honestly hope they just cancel the next Mass Effect. There is a 0% chance it’s not gonna be shit.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Sell the IP.
tatann@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Telltale (a decade ago) could have made a great story-focused game in the ME universe, Bioware didn’t even need to sell the IP for that
cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
BioWare needs to do what the Castlevania creator did. Konami wouldn’t give up the rights to Castlevania (or sell it — the Netflix deal was lucrative, after all) and just make their own studio “with blackjack and hookers.” Sure, the studio behind Bloodstained was problematic when it came to delivering on certain promises to Kickstarter backers, and sure, the mobile ports were abandoned and the Switch port was (apparently) never fixed… but on PC and Xbox at least, the game was fine. The best of Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow, it’s the best Castlevania game not called Castlevania, and it’s among the best Castlevania games, too. I’m not sure there is even one that is actually better at everything. They really took all the good parts of Castlevania and, instead of a gimmick like an inverted anti-castle or entering paintings, they just made the castle stupidly huge, almost unreasonably so. The architecture doesn’t make sense, but it never did.
It happened with the developers behind Fallout as well. They became Obsidian, and I think InXile got some of those developers. Obsidian went on to make Pillars of Eternity and The Outer Worlds. InXile made a bunch of RPGs too, but I can’t name any without looking them up.
BioWare needs to take its talent and go indie.
DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
They kinda are… Look up Exodus. Feels like that game will never come out though
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
That’s the issue, isn’t it?
I see this on the internet a lot. People posit things like “wouldn’t it be awesome if these fired devs got together” or “Why don’t they make good stuff anymore? Wouldn’t it be great if somone made a thing like this old beloved thing…”
…Except it’s already happening. Or happened.
And there’s just so much noise on the internet, it’s largely unknown to the folks who’d be interested.
To be clear, I’m not blaming OP, and I’ve done the exact same thing myself. But I still find it kind of… sad.
ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 2 weeks ago
I checked out Exodus. The lore behind the game looks fascinating however my concern is how the devs are going to handle time dilation and your choices.
If my character takes off for a decade, I expect some sort of noticeable change. Buildings a little grimier or nice and clean. Creating new models and maps to reflect the time dilation and the choices you make is going to add a lot of extra dev time.
whereyaaat@lemmings.world 3 weeks ago
It happened with the developers behind Fallout as well. They became Obsidian
Ok, well, let’s not forget that the only reason Fallout achieved mainstream popularity is because Bethesda took it and applied their Elder Scrolls formula.
F_State@midwest.social 3 weeks ago
BioWare has lost alot of it’s talent in the last several years. There’s almost no one left that played any hand in the Success of Dragonage or Mass Effect 1-3
Jarix@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Dead Cells which eventually got Castlevania official support is very good
addie@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
InXile did Wasteland 2/3 and Torment: Numenara. All fine RPGs.
Completely agree that the talent needs to go elsewhere - this deal is the death knell for creative works at EA. I’d be careful about what you promise on Kickstarter, though. Signing up to lots of stretch goals is likely to burden your game with lots of tickbox features that don’t make any sense.
In fact, I’d say that Bloodstained (while generally excellent) would be improved by cropping out some stuff. The crafting, cooking and crop farming could just be chopped out whole, and put all the upgraded gear in the place where you find items. Would swap out some of the enemy and boss count for a bit more variety. And ‘hard mode’ could have done with some playtesting and a general rebalance, or just be renamed ‘infrequent crazy difficulty spike’ mode. But someone paid for those tickboxes and so we’ve got them.
Letting RPG designers run completely free from publishers can be a recipe for disaster, too. Pillars of Eternity? Excellent. PoE2? Unbelievably unfocussed and sprawling, disrespectful of your time, goes nowhere fast. Could possibly have made two games out of it if someone had told them to chop it in half and then polish the bits, but was a bit of a studio killer instead, could never sell enough to cover the costs.
Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
InXile was most famously the Wasteland series, the spiritual successors to the original fallout designs (1 and 2). But they also did Tides of Numeria and Bards Tale (I think, but don’t quote me)
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
They could buy the rights to the Freespace franchise from Interplay. It’s the same story, after all.
Glide@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
and the Switch port was (apparently) never fixed…
What’s the supposed issues on the Switch port? I only owned the game on Switch, and I didn’t have any issues playing through it.
Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Guns and football seem pretty gay to me…
wetbeardhairs@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
I’m a MAN. I’m a MAN who likes to watch MEN play with OTHER MEN. I especially like it when those MEN TOUCH EACH OTHER. It makes me cheer! Sometimes they have to RAM THEIR HOT SWEATY BODIES INTO ONE ANOTHER. Yeah I love that!
Justas@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Wait, is that why I don’t care about sports? Because I’m too straight?
NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I like it when they get rough with each other. So masculine.
utopiah@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
“read the runes” … people need to stopping money is money. Money is money AND string. It’s totally different to get 1 EUR from a friend vs 1 EUR from a brank vs 1 EUR from VC vs 1 EUR of public subsidies. Money NEVER comes without string so one must be cautious they are not getting a noose around their neck while signing a contract.
yakko@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
Bad money chases out good, they say.
utopiah@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Fascinating, digging into en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gresham's_law then, thanks for bringing that up!
ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
Mass Effect but now Cerberus is unequivocally the good guy.
pprem@plantex.top 3 weeks ago
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Les extrémistes religieux vont venir nous faire chier partout où ils le pourront... C'est logique, mais ça casse les couilles !
MaggiWuerze@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
Religious extremists will come and piss us off wherever they can… It makes sense, but it’s a pain in the ass!
The problem is that we allowed these idiots to amass so much wealth, that they can just buy and ruin everything they don’t agree with. If the US had anything close to an actual anti cartel agency, they would not allow these kind of takeover to protect free speech and american values
TurkishKebab@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
American values like what? Imperialism? It is funny Americans (or Europeans for that matter) still act like their countries have free speech😂you only have free speech as long as that speech doesn’t go against your interests.
(no, i am not defending saudi, they are literally an american puppet)
yermaw@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
I really cant wait for this generation of kids to grow up and start dealing with bills and shit. The moment they learn the true value of money this whole trend of buying lootboxes and packing players will die on its arse so fast.
I just hope theres some fly on the wall footage of the boards faces when they realise.
ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 3 weeks ago
You don’t grow out of an addiction.
viking@infosec.pub 3 weeks ago
You think? That generation will have kids who buy the same crap and won’t listen to their parents, just like the kids now don’t listen.
yermaw@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Im hoping so. We don’t have the receipts to show them. Were just grandpa’s who yearn for the good old days and we just dont get it.
mohaas@news.sathani.com 3 weeks ago
They’ll just graduate to sports gambling.
jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 3 weeks ago
I know plenty of adults who are really bad at money and paying bills.
Tm12@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
You rang?
Joeffect@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Yeah no… the fucked thing is they don’t care … everything is fucked… spending a bit of money on cheap plastic brings you a little bit of joy… why worry about money if you don’t even have much? You can’t get ahead so at least you can be happy… thats where we are…
ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 3 weeks ago
Gotta keep the bread and circuses going.
Akrenion@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
I know adults who boost their ego with lootboxes. Beating the peasants by spending money that others use for groceries is how they feel superior.
MyNameIsAtticus@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Unfortunately they don’t grow out of it. I have a friend who still spends upwards of hundreds of dollars on games, especially Gacha games. It’s an addiction that i worry won’t be stopped
dubyakay@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
They will just become packers at Amazon.
whereyaaat@lemmings.world 3 weeks ago
That’s kind of an upgrade, at this point.
Bioware has essentially existed to pander to a very small minority for the past decade. I don’t think they’re capable of making a good game anymore, but at least they won’t get any support from anyone for their mediocrity.
SereneSadie@lemmy.myserv.one 3 weeks ago
BioWare created the first canonically gay character in Star Wars.
Take your bigoted shit out.
dubyakay@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
canon
Doubt.
HubertManne@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
how can football be in and gay stuff out? unless you mean european, like soccer.
M0oP0o@mander.xyz 3 weeks ago
Naw, still too gay. Its gotta be nothing but scenes from the first top gun from now on.
ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 3 weeks ago
For the first gif when Tom Cruise throws the football back and the people behind him fall back.
That’s when next song and dance starts. Top Gun is a musical right?
mhague@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
It’s EA. They could make gay stuff in games without them. But instead they make a deal with the devil and hope they come out on top? They want all the resources of a soulless giant but then they think they’re somehow escaping the taint?
It’s like musicians making deals that (unfairly, almost amorally) guarantee their songs play across the country… but then they think they’re still a normal artist.
TheSambassador@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I mean, it’s EA. They’ve been in full on corporate profit mode forever, and any good games that they’ve put out are in spite of that. I doubt that there are a ton of “artists trying to make art” left at the decision making level of EA.
mostlikelyaperson@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Yeah a lot of the comments I have seen are outright bizarre, EA won’t change in any noticeable form. It’s maximum profit extraction now and it will remain maximum profit extraction after.
Glide@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
The last Bioware game I genuinely enjoyed was Dragon Age: Origins, which was the last thing (mostly) developed before the EA buy-up. I’m sure it’s scary for the employees, but I suspect this is good for Bioware in the long term.
F_State@midwest.social 3 weeks ago
I liked Inquisition alot though the behind the scenes scoop was that the development process was a dumpster fire that only came together into a good game cause they got lucky.
ripcord@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Why do you suspect this is good?
whereyaaat@lemmings.world 3 weeks ago
Maybe they get shuttered or are given more creative freedom thanks to the Saudi’s ignorance of RPGs and their perception among executives in the business.
I guarantee you, Saudis really only care about FIFA. Everything else is superfluous.
Glide@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Because if they’re shuttered, the company/people that make the company have the opportunity to go somewhere else and do something better. I’ve disliked everything they’ve produced since they were purchased by EA, so I’ve come to think the publisher holds them back.
Quacksalber@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
They would never, but they should sell the rights of their rpg franchises
Kolanaki@pawb.social 3 weeks ago
Maybe BioWare can make a game featuring guns that shoot footballs…
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
This makes me think of the Ellisons buying Star Trek and Avatar.
Why wouldn’t they shutter or castrate two notoriously ‘woke’ franchises?
sadfitzy@ttrpg.network 3 weeks ago
I’m interested to see the fan response to this.
Cheems@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I almost certainly will never play another NFL or NCAA game again. Cod can go fuck itself. I’m almost definitely not in the demographic to which they’re trying to sell games to anymore. But God damn I know I’m not the only one in this field.
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Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
As if I needed yet another reason to not purchase EA games.