FiringSquad’s Inside Track on Bioware Buyout
I hate EA.
In the grand scheme of things I hate, EA falls squarely between “idiots on Xbox Live” and the Detroit Red Wings. The reasons are many. Ruining the Sports Game genre. Treating employees like slaves. Grinding great game series under the iron heel of their boots.
Maxis, Bullfrog, Westwood, Origin, DICE, Trauma Studios, Criterion, and those are just the companies I can think of off the top of my head. Well, you can add Bioware and Pandemic to this list of developers that have been bought and then milked dry of any creativity.
However, Jakub Wojnarowicz, a writer for FiringSquad.com, has spent some time at the Edmonton office of Bioware and has, shall we say, a less reactionary response to the Buyout news.
Jakub didn’t name any names, but states:
Despite the heavy proportion of ex-EA employees in the company, the reaction was generally muted and contemplative. What might have been an otherwise depressing and angry day at BioWare was salvaged by the man at the heart of this story: John Riccitiello.
Jakub explains that Riccitiello has been the mastermind behind the attempted shift away from sequels and licensed IP’s to brand new properties like skate. and Army of Two. Apparently, he is also behind the relative independence of Bioware. Something that has worked wonders for Bungie, even if it didn’t turn out as planned for Microsoft.
FiringSquad also makes this point:
The downside, however, is that John has arguably bet his own personal political bank at EA on BioWare and Pandemic. Should they not deliver to expectations, their failure could be an excuse for traditional EA elements to remove Riccitiello and return to EA
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While it’s easy to hate EA for buying up every good developer out there, I have to actually direct my anger at Microsoft. We all know that they have pretty much the deepest pockets out there, so the question is, why aren’t THEY buying these great development studios. I’m starting to think the executives at MS are sitting on their collective asses, and letting the lead in this generation slip from their fingers. MS has NO real first party development other than Bungie, and their gone (I’m not counting Rare for obvious reasons). So, I’m pissed at MS, and I don’t blame EA for taking advantage of this. Bungie may be next, and MS will deserve whatever they get.