• Pika@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    8 days ago

    it’s crazy that despite this happening a couple days ago, the official bioware website still says nothing about this closure. Like they didn’t even bother updating the site to say “hey btw we are closed” The optimistic side of me hopes that it’s because they want to try to go inde again and run on their own but… probably not.

  • Allero@lemmy.todayEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    That means all BioWare games should become free now, because a closed studio can’t get the money? /s

    Of course EA will have no problem getting money on their behalf, all while slashing the developers. If you waited for a call to legitimately pirate BioWare games, this is it.

    • Jarix@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      EA employees worked on BioWare games. I know because my brother is one of them.

      He worked on Dragon Age, while being an EA employee.

      So EA owns all the rights to collect money from their games for that reason and because EA owned BioWare

  • khaleer@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    And do not pretend that they didn’t told you that it’s wokeness that killed the modern game industry! /s

      • buddascrayon@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        9 days ago

        No no, you’re wrong, it was the girls. Girls ruined gaming forever. Stupid girls and their needing to be seen and not be patronized to.

  • Tollana1234567@lemmy.todayEnglish
    0·
    9 days ago

    people havnt forgiven them for destroying the CNC franchise, and they tried to money grab with CNC4, and tiberium alliance.

  • chronicledmonocle@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    I really wish we could get another great Mass Effect game, but I knew not to get my hopes up. I played Andromeda, after all.

    • GeirGrusom@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      Despite combat being better and more polished in Andromeda than it was in the trilogy Mass Effect, Andromeda felt like a fan-fiction adaptation of Mass Effect. It did not feel like it was made by the same people. I feel like tying that game into Mass Effect was a mistake.

  • 𝕲𝖑𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍🔻𝕯𝖃 (he/him)@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    In these lists of great things to remember Bioware for, people keep not including MDK2. It told an amazing story of a mad scientist, his janitor and robot dog, repelling an alien invasion and saving Earth. Deserves to be mentioned alongside their othet awesome games.

    • Jarix@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      You think it’s popular enough that anyone knows what MDK2 even means? People after lazy and won’t search that to find out. Maybe you should stop being lazy too and just woke out the actually name instead of this game you seem to think it’s unforgettable will remain entirely entirely forgotten

      • SlurpingPus@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        9 days ago

        How about you tell us the ‘actual name’, sucka? Because anyone who was a gamer in 1997-2000 knows of the mystery behind that name.

      • mechoman444@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        9 days ago

        Lol it’s the actual name of the game.

        Apparently I wasn’t lazy enough to do some leg work to figure it out (I actually knew about this game and was able to identify it by the name but that’s beyond the point.)

        You’re the reason why Netflix has to take into account people doom scrolling on their phones while they watch their media.

        It probably took less time for me to search, upload and write this message than it took you to type up that rancid pile of shit.

        So for everyone concerned: shut the fuck up.

  • expletivedeleted@lemmy.zipEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    Such a tragedy. Black Isle and Bioware were such a great combo in the late 90’s.

    Just following the fate of Bethesda and Id: kiddos, your heros will die. So it goes.

    CDPR hopefully will not make these same mistakes… or they already have.

    • Jarix@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      Just to push back on this, this is long overdue.

      EA closing down studios they buy is the expected inevitable outcome

      Anyone who lets EA acquire them deserves this. It’s not even a secret, so fuck everyone at BioWare who sold their company to this. You can be sad, but you don’t get to be surprised

      Batteries Included – Purchased in 1987 and closed that same year. Origin Systems – Purchased in 1992. Closed in 2004. Bullfrog Productions – Purchased in 1995. Closed in 2001. Maxis – Purchased in 1997. Closed in 2015. (Studio name still used by EA.) Westwood Studios / EA Pacific – Purchased in 1998. Closed in 2003. Kesmai – Purchased in 1999. Closed in 2001. DreamWorks Interactive / Danger Close Games – Purchased in 2000. Closed in 2013. Black Box Games – Purchased in 2002. Closed in 2013. NuFX / EA Chicago – Purchased in 2004. Closed in 2007. Hypnotix – Purchased and shut down in 2005. Team folded into EA Tiburon. Mythic Entertainment – Purchased in 2006. Closed in 2014. Phenomic Game Development – Purchased in 2006. Closed in 2013. Headgate Studios / EA Salt Lake – Purchased in 2006. Closed in 2017. Pandemic Studios – Purchased in 2007. Closed in 2009. J2MSoft – Purchased in 2008 and folded into EA Korea. Playfish – Purchased in 2009. Closed in 2013. Chillingo – Purchased in 2010. Began shutting down in 2017. Fully closed in 2023. Industrial Toys – Purchased in 2018. Closed in 2023. BioWare – Purchased in 2007. Closed in 2026.

      • expletivedeleted@lemmy.zipEnglish
        0·
        9 days ago

        Developers don’t decide who acquires them.

        That’s why it is sad. You have a really good team and the money hungry management sells them out. That is sad.

    • korazail@eviltoast.orgEnglish
      0·
      8 days ago

      I fully believe there’s a huge amount of money and effort in making a studio – but it seems like killing off a known brand wholesale like this just should result in a new brand that is the successor.

      ‘Friendship ended with Bioware, Now OrganicWare is my best friend’ kind of energy. We were never there for EA’s involvement. We wanted These People*.

      *First link I found, you get the point, but it might not be accurate for the whole team.

      Gaming is getting harder with economy and silicon prices – but that means we can just take the stories we want to tell and do so without 4A graphics.

  • x0x7@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    This will happen to Rockstar before GTA6 comes out. They can’t admit they don’t have a game.

  • reksas@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    When they got sold to ea, this was the only possible outcome anyway. Not sure if they sold out or ea did some corporate bullshit to force them to it, but they should have stayed away from ea if they wanted to keep making games.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      The founders and original lead developers - Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk - created over a dozen games before they sold the company.

      Idk what else you’d want. They did their thing and then they cashed out to live their lives doing other things.

      Bioware wasn’t even supposed to be a video game company. It was originally founded to pioneer medical technology and only pivoted when their side project - Shattered Steel - outperformed expectations.

      Sometime people need to stop being mad because one participate Treats Train has finally ended it’s run. Be glad for the games you got, not sad because it’s over

      After all, you’ve still got Larian and Paradox and Owlcat and a thousand other indie studios making equivalent games.

      • draeath@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        0·
        9 days ago

        The problem is that EA will still squat on the IP for the indefinite future, so nobody gets to do anything with it later.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          9 days ago

          I mean, the IP is pretty generic.

          Mass Effect isn’t the first game to use space cops and robot aliens fighting over the fate of the galaxy. The Expanse did Mass Effect’s storyline much better.

          That’s before you consider how played out the Mass Effect IP already is. Just like Halo, they peaked at game 3. That was the apex of the story.

          • brucethemoose@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            8 days ago

            Mass Effect is a wonderfully constructed world; I disagree on you there.

            I’d also argue ME3 is not the peak. The best gameplay, sure, but a more questionable campaign IMO.

            You are not wrong about the story trajectory though. They wrote themselves into a corner with the Reaper arc, and that is done now. But I do think “Shepard-free, smaller story spinoffs” were the correct move, rather than trying to pick up a story that should be done (like Halo did).

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
              0·
              8 days ago

              But I do think “Shepard-free, smaller story spinoffs” were the correct move

              Sure. But then it’s just a generic scifi.

              You don’t need to own IP to make Mass Effect minus the title characters

              • brucethemoose@lemmy.worldEnglish
                0·
                8 days ago

                No it’s not. They can use the entire world they constructed, its history, and (for the players) all the nostalgia. And selectively bring back characters.

                I mean, that immediately drew me into this trailer.

                Halo is an entirely different beast. They could not let the MC/Cortana go like they are stuck to them with a chain, but side stories in that world would have been interesting too.

                • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  0·
                  8 days ago

                  They can use the entire world they constructed, its history, and (for the players) all the nostalgia

                  Or they can write up something new, just like the Mass Effect guys did.

    • TeaWithDani@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      Bioware also had a large number of employees in Edmonton. Maga goons (Jared Kushner and Lourenco Goncalves) are just laying off Canadians to hurt the economy.