Money Talks…
Imagine my delight the other day when I learned that Bioware/Pandemic had been bought up by EA for a cool $775 million. “Finally!” I thought to myself “Two struggling development houses have been taken under the EA wing, so that they can release the inherent talent within the teams much as EA already achieved with Bullfrog, Westwood and Maxis. Perhaps now we can look forward to some decent output from Bioware!”
As you have probably already guessed by the rampant sarcasm above, these were almost the exact opposite of my feelings. Hell, I cried a bit.
I’ve calmed down since then. A little.
You see, unlike some, I don’t think that EA are actively evil. I’m sure they don’t set out to crush talented dev teams, or stifle creativity in the industry with an endless stream of mediocre sequels. But nevertheless, they are a large company, and their shareholders and directors have realised that great games aren’t necessarily great investments, especially when average sports games and FPS franchises can generate guaranteed returns year after year after year.
At the end of the day, if Bioware and Pandemic’s well crafted, innovative games that take several years to develop can’t match those returns, then either the studios will be asset stripped and closed, or forced to alter their output to something that more closely mimics the company line. That’s business. Sure, in recent interviews we’ve heard a whole lot about how the two companies will maintain their independence from EA, but the reality is that Bioware/Pandemic are now wholly owned by EA, and they can do whatever they damn well like with them. EA want them to be independent, then they stay independent. The minute EA decides that needs to change…blam.
It’s Bioware that I am particularly concerned for: I love their style of story-driven games, and I respect their ‘it’s done when it’s done’ approach to deadlines. Even if EA tries to let them do their own thing, their company cultures just seem to be diametrically opposed. Bioware is known for great treatment of staff, EA has twice been sued by its disgruntled employees. Bioware take the time to polish their releases, EA are famously inflexible on their deadlines. Perhaps most importantly, there seemed to be a genuine sense of excitement at Bioware when they finished Knights of the Old Republic and could begin developing their own intellectual properties. Not any more: their IP’s will belong to EA, who can use them however the hell they like.
It’s hard to imagine that these differences in culture won’t have an impact on moral at Bioware. That, in turn, is going to have an impact on the quality of their output, however much leeway EA tries to give them.
Bioware/Pandemic, I salute your triumphs of the past, and I really do hope that, despite the buyout, you can keep producing great games into the future. But then I also hope that Lost will sort out its horrendous tangle of plot threads and become watchable again, and that Jessica Alba will respond to my marriage proposal.
Hope aside, I’m not holding my breath for any of those three.
Gaming Wisdom of the Crafty Banana 