What rpg development company will EA buy next?

[villain of the story]

Ok, so as we know Bioware's days are numbered. Within 2 years or so Bioware as we know it will have joined the graveyard that holds the corpses of Westwood, Bullfrog, and all the rest.

Except those other companies actually developed good games. Unlike BioWhore.

What company is next on the list? I propose the following:

-Bethesda

Not gonna happen. Bethesda is a Neocon construct, under the big brotherly wings of ZeniMax. ZeniMax would sooner acquire EA than the other way around.

The idea of TES series going to EA is amusing, though. Imagine a TES title every year. Possibly multiple titles.

-Square-Enix (yes it might have seemed impossible just a few years ago, but multiple bombs later SE doesn't seem very strong. I could be wrong true, I haven't seen and financial figures and am just speaking out of my ass but still)

-CD Projekt

This is probable.

 

[Phineas]

Square-Enix (yes it might have seemed impossible just a few years ago, but multiple bombs later SE doesn't seem very strong. I could be wrong true, I haven't seen and financial figures and am just speaking out of my ass but still)

That would be implying that Square Enix makes RPGs.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Square-Enix (yes it might have seemed impossible just a few years ago, but multiple bombs later SE doesn't seem very strong. I could be wrong true, I haven't seen and financial figures and am just speaking out of my ass but still)

That would be implying that Square Enix makes RPGs.

- So what the fuck does Sqaure Enix make now?

 

[empi]

Golden Era Games , since the first beta was released Cleve has just been perfecting the romance system

 

[Phineas]

Square-Enix (yes it might have seemed impossible just a few years ago, but multiple bombs later SE doesn't seem very strong. I could be wrong true, I haven't seen and financial figures and am just speaking out of my ass but still)

That would be implying that Square Enix makes RPGs.

- So what the fuck does Sqaure Enix make now?

Action games where you walk down hallways and watch cutscenes.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Square-Enix (yes it might have seemed impossible just a few years ago, but multiple bombs later SE doesn't seem very strong. I could be wrong true, I haven't seen and financial figures and am just speaking out of my ass but still)

That would be implying that Square Enix makes RPGs.

- So what the fuck does Sqaure Enix make now?

Action games where you walk down hallways and watch cutscenes.

- I asked what SQUARE ENIX does, not EA or Activison.

 

[Phineas]

Square-Enix (yes it might have seemed impossible just a few years ago, but multiple bombs later SE doesn't seem very strong. I could be wrong true, I haven't seen and financial figures and am just speaking out of my ass but still)

That would be implying that Square Enix makes RPGs.

- So what the fuck does Sqaure Enix make now?

Action games where you walk down hallways and watch cutscenes.

- I asked what SQUARE ENIX does, not EA or Activison.

Yeah, all three companies make those types of games. The difference is that EA & Activision only publish them and assure that they're in the first person.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Great, next FF or so is going to be a FPS.

 

[Telengard]

Great, next FF or so is going to be a FPS.

In case you missed it when the news tidbit was making the rounds, there was this interview at Destructiod:

In the past, Mr. Kitase, you have said Final Fantasy XIII was partly inspired by first-person shooters*, which you said you are a fan of. Have you ever considered going back and making another Final Fantasy game in the style of Dirge of Cerberus?
Kitase: No one can be that certain of the future of any game or IP, so there is always a possibility that we may end up with a first-person shooter FF. Having said that, XIII and XIII-2 are much faster action-adventure-inspired games. RPG elements, such as strategical actions, still need to be there, so we'd need to create a good fusion between these opposite elements. We can't predict how the FF experience will seek out such a fusion in the future. I can't visualize it being completely an FPS shooting game. The strategic element needs to be maintained in any future project, because otherwise, it wouldn't be FF anymore.

*Translation: FF XIII is (in)famous for having really long narrow corridors with action-gameplay and long cinematics (whether or not those cinematics are interactive yet, I dunno).

 

[DragoFireheart]

Great, next FF or so is going to be a FPS.

In case you missed it when the news tidbit was making the rounds, there was this interview at Destructiod:

In the past, Mr. Kitase, you have said Final Fantasy XIII was partly inspired by first-person shooters*, which you said you are a fan of. Have you ever considered going back and making another Final Fantasy game in the style of Dirge of Cerberus?
Kitase: No one can be that certain of the future of any game or IP, so there is always a possibility that we may end up with a first-person shooter FF. Having said that, XIII and XIII-2 are much faster action-adventure-inspired games. RPG elements, such as strategical actions, still need to be there, so we'd need to create a good fusion between these opposite elements. We can't predict how the FF experience will seek out such a fusion in the future. I can't visualize it being completely an FPS shooting game. The strategic element needs to be maintained in any future project, because otherwise, it wouldn't be FF anymore.

*Translation: FF XIII is (in)famous for having really long narrow corridors with action-gameplay and long cinematics (whether or not those cinematics are interactive yet, I dunno).

- This gaming industry really needs to die in a god damn fire right about now.

 

[Rahdulan]

I'm not sure if RPGs actually fit EA's portfolio profile anymore. They as a company rely on BIG HITS aka first-person shooters. third-person shooters and sports games with huge console marketing campaigns, if last year's investors meeting is anything to go by, in order to maximize profits in the first 2-3 weeks after release. RPGs don't exactly gel well with that mindset and business plan unless you have a really established franchise or unless you lobotomize the game beyond repair with a short development cycle which backfires in the long run.

And, well, there's that small matter of EA going the way of the dodo unless a miracle happens.

 

[Infinitron]

I suspect that RPGs as a genre (and that includes action-RPGs, popamole RPGs, etc) are becoming a no-go for large, publicly traded corporations. It's just a genre that they have no good reason to touch. The numbers they want simply aren't there.

 

[Gurkog]

RPGs require more attention than 4 hour corridor shooter campaigns, and DA 2 proved that they can't just recycle map packs with cosmetic changes.

RPGs are an alien language to the corporate whore mind.

 

[Hobo Elf]

EA is in the shitter right now and all those other companies are doing much better than them. Despite the lame games developed by SE, they are doing pretty well as a publisher.

 

[pistletoe]

Hopefully none.