EA to Buy BioWare/Pandemic

[Aidan]

Here is the link:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6180818.html

[xKamikazex]

Hah, you beat me too it. Was coming on here to make sure no skewed info gets put in. Honestly, even the Bioware Employees were kept in the dark until today because of stock and legal issues.

My honest opinion about this is I'm cautiously-optimistic. This does mean more money in the end for Bioware and also a main benefit to EA to get into better standings with RPG gamers and Bioware fanbois.

I do forsee alot of flames headed towards Bioware for signing this.... This worries me on how this will effect the image of Bioware and it's later release of their games.

[Defender]

It depends on the quality of the games produced in the future by the company. Will the money and support of EA fund their creative desires to continually produce good games, or will EA eat them up, suck them dry, and spit out the corpse?

Personally, I don't see this as a good move. Maybe financially for certain people and for development as a whole, it's kinda like signing your soul to the Devil, but the Devil is EA.

EA canceled the Battletech MMO in Beta (which I hate them with a passion for), Earth and Beyond later on, and I believe it was them that ate and dissolved Westwood. EA just left a bad taste in my mouth, but honestly, over time, the company has produced many good games on multiple systems. Specifically, in terms of MMO development, they have failed numerous times. They gobbled up Mythic so they could leech offa WAR, but I can see them butchering WAR 1.5 years into release.

Now, instead of coming up with their own ideas, they pretty much just buy and fund people who do, suck them dry, then spit them out. A hollowed shell of the former, or stronger and better.

Wasn't it Bungie, who just left M$?
I hope they can produce too.
I bet they made a killing to support their future by making that deal with Halo.

It'll be funny if Bungie leaves M$ and goes to EA.
I'd laugh on the inside.

[xKamikazex]

Reason why the BT MMO was caneled was because of M$. Don't forget they still hold the trade mark rights to anything electronically made in terms of battletech and MechWarrior. All of that IP belongs to them.

[Iron Hands]

It depends on the quality of the games produced in the future by the company. Will the money and support of EA fund their creative desires to continually produce good games, or will EA eat them up, suck them dry, and spit out the corpse?

Personally, I don't see this as a good move. Maybe financially for certain people and for development as a whole, it's kinda like signing your soul to the Devil, but the Devil is EA.

EA has got to be the worst publisher on the earth. Both SoE and MS have more soul than anyone at EA. I would sware under oath that Satin resurrected Hitler and now they both own and operate EA. Almost every game I have ever played that was published by EA has created a community with no support. When people post on the office SoE boards, John S. will personally address an issue. When MS publishes a new game, Bill Gates will brag about it on live TV. When people complain about an EA game, the Gestapo show up at your door.
I dont blame BioWare so I aint guna flame them. EA has the kind of money to make an offer that something like BioWare just cant refuse.
EA has a nice long record of release awesome games with a few minor, sometimes game breaking issues. They  dont give a damn if PB kicks you even if you dont hack and they dont give a damn if people hack and dont get caught by PB. They dont care if your account gets nuked, and they dont care about any problems that persist after the mandatory 2 or 3 patches.
The only in house people at EA who care what you think and not just what you buy are the developers them selfs. At EA, those peoples opnions arnt worth shit.

[madact]

Ummmm, hate to be the one to break it to ya, but...

http://www.ea.com/crysis/

http://www.crytek.com/games/crysis/overview.html
...
Crysis™

PUBLISHER

Electronic Arts

www.ea.com

[Iron Hands]

Ummmm, hate to be the one to break it to ya, but...

http://www.ea.com/crysis/

http://www.crytek.com/games/crysis/overview.html
...
Crysis™

PUBLISHER

Electronic Arts

www.ea.com

THX dont remind me.

[Criminal]

This is actually a good thing. Don't forget this is one of the first major buisness moves that the new CEO of EA is making.

"
Probst


Riccitiello
 
Electronic Arts topper Larry Probst unexpectedly gave up his CEO post Monday but is staying atop the world's No. 1 videogame publisher by taking the new title of executive chairman.
John Riccitiello, Probst's former prexy and chief operating officer who left the company in 2004, presumably out of some frustration that he hadn't ascended to the primo post, is returning to take the CEO role.

Shift essentially lets Riccitiello return to EA under Probst, but with a higher title and more responsibility.

Probst was formerly chairman of the board, but as exec chairman, he remains a corporate executive with daily responsibilities atop the company.

Move comes as EA has just made it through a console transition with the launch of the Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 3 and is poised for what it hopes will be several years of growth as the devices are widely adopted.

The past year has been a slow one, with little growth for EA (or other publishers, for that matter) as many gamers saved their money to buy a new console and spent less on games as a result.

Probst has been a sales exec at EA since 1984, two years after the company was founded, and became CEO in 1991. In that time, he has overseen the company's transition from a small videogame distributor that promoted its developers like rock stars to a Fortune 500 company best known for managing franchises such as "Madden NFL" and "The Sims," as well as high-profile licenses such as "The Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter."

Riccitiello's background reflects the publisher's focus on brand management. Before joining EA as prexy and COO in 1997, he was chief exec of Sara Lee's bakery division and led Wilson Sporting Goods.

His departure from EA in 2004 to become a partner in Elevation Partners, a media-focused private equity fund, was widely interpreted as a sign that he was frustrated that he hadn't ascended to the CEO position.

At Elevation, he oversaw an investment of more than $300 million in the combination of independent vidgame developers Bioware and Pandemic.

EA recently made a deal with Pandemic to publish its upcoming game "Mercenaries 2," bringing the execs back in contact.

While Riccitiello was gone, EA never named a replacement to the prexy-COO post, which is still unfilled.

Probst recommended to the board of directors that Riccitiello take his place as CEO.

Riccitiello will start his new job on April 2."

[Rot]

In the end it will just be EA and M$ lol.

[Shotglass]

In the end it will just be EA and M$ lol.

and MyIS