Topic: EA acquires Bioware, Pandemic -- Update: KOTOR MMO Announced by Bioware

[MysterD]

Oh, say it ain't so....

EA to purchase BIOWARE.

EA to Acquire BioWare/Pandemic [October 11, 2007, 4:30 pm ET] - Viewing Comments
EA To Acquire BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios (thanks Nick) has word that EA has entered into an agreement to acquire BioWare/Pandemic in a deal that will involve up to $620 million in cash and $155 million in equity, as well as a loan of some pocket change totaling $35 million. Here's a bit:

    REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS - News) today announced an agreement with Elevation Partners to acquire VG Holding Corp. -- the owner of both BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios. This acquisition gives EA a strong competitive position in key genres in interactive entertainment: action, adventure and role-playing games. The two studios have been recognized for creating some of the highest-quality games in the industry.

    BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios have ten franchises under development, including six wholly owned games. BioWare Corp. is currently developing the highly anticipated Mass Effect, which will be published by Microsoft in November, and is in the early development stages of a massively multiplayer online game. Pandemic Studios is redefining open-world games with its upcoming Mercenaries 2: World in Flames(TM) and Saboteur(TM), in addition to several unannounced projects.

    Pandemic Studios and BioWare Corp. employ roughly 800 people across four studios located in Edmonton, Canada; Los Angeles; Austin; and Brisbane, Australia.

[idolminds]

Le sigh...

[MysterD]

Barely beat you to this one...

[idolminds]

haha, yeah. I saw you on and was like "Quick! Post it first!"

[MysterD]

I say merge the two!

I am NOT happy AT ALL by this horrible news.

Fuckin' EA.

[idolminds]

Merged. Took me a minute to figure out.

[MysterD]

Merged. Took me a minute to figure out.

Good job!!!

Anyways, I hope EA leaves Bioware's staff the fuck alone.
And I hope EA don't push any Bioware games out the gate WAY TOO early, either -- especially Dragon Age.

[Pugnate]

WTF? WTF WTF WTF?

[MysterD]

WTF? WTF WTF WTF?

That was my first reaction, pretty much.

[Xessive]

FAAAAAAACK!!

[Jedi]

Hahahaha....  is allI have to say since all the other good lines have been taken.

[MysterD]

Oh, it gets worse....

Although the implication is that the BioWare MMORPG is an original IP, [EA's CEO John] Riccitiello and his associates steered clear of saying so specifically. He did say that the deal will make EA the owner of the Mass Effect, Jade Empire, Mercenaries, Full Spectrum Warrior, and Saboteur properties. The executive also said that EA "expects to bring 10 franchises to market in the next few years; six of which are wholly owned." No mention was made of Dragon Age, BioWare's little-seen fantasy title.

So, now EA owns The Jade Empire IP and Mass Effect IP?

SHIT!!!!

We don't yet if part of this deal, EA will get Dragon Age IP or not...I sure as hell hope not....

[sirean_syan]

Well hell. I bet Microsoft is kicking themselves pretty hard right now. They've had pretty good relations with Bioware for a while and now this... it's not like they'll stop making games for the Xbox, but I doubt they'll be so exclusive from now on.

[gpw11]

Yeah, it would probably have been a lot better for both the staff at Bioware and their fans if it was MS buying them instead of EA.  Mass Effect looks awesome, but to be perfectly honest, my impression of Bioware has always been that they've been overrated.  Jade Empire was fun, KotOR was fun, but Bioware tends to make the same simplistic, cliche ridden rps over and over again from what I've seen.

Mass Effect could change that and I'd be pretty let down that they're now evil, but I'll wait and see on that.

[MysterD]

NWN: OC was their major flop, if you ask me.

I thought Jade Empire and SW: KOTOR and both were very good.

I think BG II: Shadows Of Amn is one of the best RPG's ever made.

Not only that, but I would also say that I think BG II: Throne Of Bhaal is probably one of the best expansion packs ever made, too.

NWN: Hordes is another great expansion from Bioware. 

I hope Mass Effect turns out great.

And I am hoping Dragon Age turns out great, as well.

[Quemaqua]

Mass Effect could change that and I'd be pretty let down that they're now evil, but I'll wait and see on that.

That's exactly how I'm feeling.  I was going to buy Mass Effect outright, but after this... it's too much of a downer.  I don't know if I can fucking take it.  This sucks.

[MysterD]

An Interview here w/ Pandemic on them and Bioware going to EA...

I think I'm gonna be sick now...

[Pugnate]

NWN: OC was their major flop, if you ask me.

One of the best selling PC games of all time. It was a big hit among newer fans, but not those who were expecting BG2 style gameplay.

But yes, this news is really depressing.

[MysterD]

One of the best selling PC games of all time. It was a big hit among newer fans, but not those who were expecting BG2 style gameplay.

I didn't mind having a smaller party -- party of 2 is fine. Worked well in Beyond Divinity. But, I think the NWN problem was the NPC AI wasn't that great; very wonky. You couldn't really upgrade your NPC party characters too much. The whole "Ancient alien race" storyline was so rushed and half-baked. Many quests, you didn't have more than one way to finish them, unfortunately....zzzzzzzzz....

NWN: OC -- Chapter 4 Spoilers

(click to show/hide)

I thought the best fight/boss battle in the game was w/ Aribeth, after Fenthick got executed. I would've rather fought Morag first, then took down Aribeth, myself.

The battle w/ Morag was a good battle, but I wish there was a lot more to the whole Morag story and character; it felt thin.

A lot of my gripes w/ NWN: OC were pretty much gone by NWN: Hordes. I think Hordes was great, for an expansion pack especially.

But yes, this news is really depressing.

The whole NWN2: MOTB fiasco w/ the patching process is sad. Especially since I really want to play this thing like...NOW.

Though, I really want to play The Witcher more than anything right now.

And I'm defiintely not happy w/ Bioware being sold to EA, of all companies....bleh...

EDIT:
You guys should see the Bioware boards...OMG, it's crazy....
Thread #1
Thread #2
Thread #3
Thread #4

EDIT #2:
An interview w/ Bioware on the whole ordeal from Gamespot -- which does indicate that Dragon Age and their top-secret MMO are already actually playable

[gpw11]

Haha, I like how people are talking about boycotting bioware games.  The games they love so much.  It's sad when people don't really understand how what they're doing is totally counter productive. 

[MysterD]

The boards are nuts, to say the least -- hehe!

I really hope EA don't screw Bioware and the game consumers over, like they've done many times in the past by doing some of the things they've done in the past.

[Pugnate]

Now why did I have to read those threads...

why?

[MysterD]

Now why did I have to read those threads...

why?

Bored, Puggy...?

[Xessive]

I just hope EA leave the creative direction in Bioware's hands. I know that's unlikely since they have a history of interfering, but we can hope.

[Pugnate]

The problem is EA are already looking to push four of their own games on Bioware aside from what Bioware is already working on. Does Bioware have the resources to develop those as well, and give them the same level of quality etc?

[MysterD]

Here's more, in regards to Mass Effect's future -- from 1Up.com

Given the situation, basically -- 1Up speculates that given what has been said, it all sounds like the GoW incident; where Epic owns the GoW IP, but M$ owns the publishing rights....to an extent, for now. They think it's possible that in the future, Mass Effect will be ported by an EA Team to another platform later (such as probably the PS3), while Bioware works on the true-blue sequel...

...Kind of like how Epic did GoW X-360, while GoW PC is being later ported over by People Can Fly. And how Bioware let someone else port Jade Empire to the PC, while Bioware went on to make Mass Effect for the X360. It's also like how for w/ Valve and EA, Valve made for PC and X-360 The Orange Box themselves, while they have some other EA team working on porting Orange Box over to the PS3.

We'll see what eventually happens, but their speculation makes a lot of sense to me...

[MysterD]

And Bioware looks at recent rumors about that the unknown Bioware MMO might actually be based off KOTOR

I dunno -- after KOTOR problems w/ LucasArts for Bioware "wanting to let loose a SDK" and w/ some of the battles Bioware had w/ Hasbro on NWN: Witch's Wake module and NWN: Hordes for wanting to do more "risque content," you'd figure Bioware would be done w/ that and would stick w/ making their own IP's; such as Dragon Age, Jade Empire and Mass Effect.

But, on the other hand -- Bioware is now w/ EA. So, SW: KOTOR MMO would make sense to me, $$-wise -- EA, LucasArts, and Bioware all in bed for an MMO to make tons of money off of like it would be the next WoW.

I guess we'll see what's up in due time...

What cha think...?

[Jedi]

EA, LucasArts, and Bioware all in bed for an MMO to make tons of money off of like it would be the next WoW.

Hahaha yeah that's so true.

[Pugnate]

Why an MMO on KOTOR? Why not just shoot for another Star Wars MMO?

[TheOtherBelmont]

A KOTOR time period MMO would be cool, everyone would just play Jedi though, like in Galaxies.  I would like to see a Star Wars MMO that takes place after Return of the Jedi, there's a lot of cool stuff in the books that happens after ROTJ.

[MysterD]

Why an MMO on KOTOR?

From a business stand-point, KOTOR was a cash-cow.
So, when you find a cash cow, you make a sequel.

Why not just shoot for another Star Wars MMO?

There was already SW: Galaxies.

[Pugnate]

Yes but this isn't really a sequel. It is a spin off.

Well I guess it involves the same thought process, so you are right.

[MysterD]

Yes but this isn't really a sequel. It is a spin off.

Point taken in the game-style regard, since we'd be going from SP games -> now a MMO.

But, we also don't know when the storyline for KOTOR MMO will take place --  if KOTOR MMO will be after KOTOR 2, before KOTOR 1, take place during concurrently with one of these games, or exactly what. So, we dunno storyline-wise, if it's a sequel, prequel, side story, or what yet.

Well I guess it involves the same thought process, so you are right.

Okay, to be technical, KOTOR MMO would still be under the KOTOR brand.

[gpw11]

I'm guessing they'd do it because it would get around the whole thing with Galaxies being overrun with Jedi when it really wasn't susposed to be.  They probably also figure more people will pick it up if you can just be a Jedi right off the bat. 

That said, I personally think doing so kind of takes away from the only really cool thing in starwars; the fact that there are very very few jedi and everyone else is basically just normal.

Anyways, Bioware should stick to their own IP because it's a lot fresher.  Starwars can make for some good games, but apart from that, if they're going to get back into D&D and whatnot, I expect more boring as hell design wise north american RPGs with very little imagination.   

[TheOtherBelmont]

I'm guessing they'd do it because it would get around the whole thing with Galaxies being overrun with Jedi when it really wasn't susposed to be.  They probably also figure more people will pick it up if you can just be a Jedi right off the bat. 

That said, I personally think doing so kind of takes away from the only really cool thing in starwars; the fact that there are very very few jedi and everyone else is basically just normal.

That was exactly what turned me off from Galaxies after about 3 months, Jedis were extremely overpowered, overplayed and only a handful of good players knew how to barely take them down in PvP or bounty hunting and SOE would not make any large changes to balance the Jedi because that was a large majority of their money. Whenever I would bounty hunt, even with my lvl 90 bounty hunter with THE best gun in the game, some awesome armor, and the fact that bounty hunters got to surprise attack, I would maybe have a 1 in 10 chance of taking down a Jedi if I was lucky because they had so many overpowered abilities, so everyone would pick Jedi because they were practically invicible in that sense.  If they made a game after ROTJ, there would be more Jedis in that time period than Galaxies but not as many as there were in KOTOR, so it would be a good mix for everyone.

[Pugnate]

Initially didn't they make it really really difficult to become a Jedi?

[TheOtherBelmont]

Initially didn't they make it really really difficult to become a Jedi?

Yes, you had to do these very difficult quests that you could lose exp on if you fucked up which meant repeating some of them.  Initially, when the game first came out, no one knew how to unlock the force sensitive slot.  When a new patch came out where you could be Jedi from the start, all the Jedis who worked to become Jedi, had the title Master Jedi and could transform into blue spirit form.

[Pugnate]

I think that's b.s.

To be a Jedi should be extremely difficult in the game.

[MysterD]

KOTOR MMO confirmed by LucasArts and BioWare.

No release date given, but we can probably expect it probably in 2009.