Vapourware LOL ELECTRONIC ARTS: The EA Thread

[Mangoose]

Do you think they had Bioware design their own MMO, or did they simply tell Bioware to code up as best a WoW clone as possible? I'm not sure, but it was most like WoW out of all of the MMOs I've played..

 

[Average Manatee]

The biggest recent problem for EA was the KOTOR fiasco, won't you say? If riticello was to blame for that, I suppose it's reasonable to kick him. I mean getting bioware to design an MMO was a pretty darn retarded move, they had never made one before and there was 0 reason to believe they had any particular competence at MMOs. Yet they pumped millions into the game.

That's exactly the kind of decision an executive that only understands business and not games would make. He'll think "Bioware has a lot of fans, so if we have Bioware make an RPG we can get all those fans to pay us money every month", ignoring the fact that having fully voiced dialogue and romanceable companions isn't going to make someone who prefers single player to suddenly start enjoying a standard grindy MMORPG.

At the same time, it's the only kind of decision he can make. You can be sure that there was "pressure" applied to him to get stock prices up and start making money hand over fist like Activision is. His options were to either A. Invent a new genre of sport to sell yearly sports games for, or B. Find something already popular and try to make an MMO out of it.

 

[Infinitron]

^ Yeah, my own pet theory with no supporting evidence is that someone in EA went "hm, an MMORPG is an RPG. So if we get these guys who are the best at making RPGs into making our MMORPG, that's gonna be great!".

Do you think they had Bioware design their own MMO, or did they simply tell Bioware to code up as best a WoW clone as possible? I'm not sure, but it was most like WoW out of all of the MMOs I've played..

I'm pretty sure the development of SWTOR began a while before EA bought Bioware, actually.

 

[Infinitron]

Yep: http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/6049/BioWare-Opens-Austin-MMORPG-Studio

BioWare Opens Austin MMORPG Studio


March 13, 2006. Over a year before the EA buyout.

 

[Raapys]

 

[Blaine]

I doubt he's too worried. He got a 24-month severance package, is already rich, and will find work elsewhere soon enough.

I don't particularly care that he's stepped down, aside from comedy value. As others have said, it's the entire organization that's fucked.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Disney would be the perfect place for a cat like him.

Big franchises. Big money. Big fuckups. Fuck yeah.

 

[Dexter]

Yep: http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/6049/BioWare-Opens-Austin-MMORPG-Studio

BioWare Opens Austin MMORPG Studio


March 13, 2006. Over a year before the EA buyout.

I wrote about this here: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/bioware-is-still-alive.76180/page-7#post-2288683
It was basically (borderline) "insider trading", he got BioWare hooked with Elevation Partners first, groomed them and helped them open BioWare Austin to then switch to EA and make a lot of money. He also hoped that the game would become EAs "World of Warcraft" and he would be celebrated as the hero EA needed or something.

 

[DwarvenFood]

http://www.streetinsider.com/Hot+Mg...rts+(EA)+CEO+Riccitiello+Resigns/8193332.html

Co-incidence ? I think not. (Probably not the only reason, but still)

 

[Oesophagus]

Didn't Ricitello resign/was thrown out of EA once already?

 

[Brotherman Bill]

So KOTOR was his idea! And he was also the one who made the plan to involve HueWare in it. Yea, kicking him was the right call, the dude is a walking capital destruction machine.

Wonder what new direction EA will take though.

 

[Infinitron]

http://www.streetinsider.com/Hot Mgmt Changes/Electronic Arts (EA) CEO Riccitiello Resigns/8193332.html

Co-incidence ? I think not. (Probably not the only reason, but still)

Uh http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...-thread-ceo-resigns.81046/page-8#post-2553501

 

[DwarvenFood]

I know that, juts wondering how much it has to do with him leaving.

 

[Hamziz]

The biggest recent problem for EA was the KOTOR fiasco, won't you say? If riticello was to blame for that, I suppose it's reasonable to kick him. I mean getting bioware to design an MMO was a pretty darn retarded move, they had never made one before and there was 0 reason to believe they had any particular competence at it. Yet they pumped millions into the game.

In retrospect, the entire idea of a publicly traded AAA publisher owning its own story-driven CRPG developer was ridiculous.

Activision doesn't make RPGs. (Diablo doesn't count)
Take Two doesn't make RPGs.
Ubisoft doesn't make RPGs. (well, at least until we see what this M&MX is)

EA was really the odd man out here and it was only a matter of time before the situation imploded.

Serious CRPGs will always be the domain of independent developers.

It's only ridiculous because it's never been done.

I find it self-servingly duplicitous on the part of publishers that their most successful franchises just happen to be the ones that are least expensive, easiest and quickest to develop: FPS. And yes, people love shooting shit, but that's not why there are so many of them on shelves. The reason EA failed RPGs was, just like their new-found commitment to quality, their interest in making good, interesting RPGs flew out the fucking window almost immediately.

You're not going to make record-selling FPSers by telling your audience you're including expanded storylines, dialogue trees, choice and consequence, while removing multiplayer, leaderboards and weapon packs to attract a wider audience. So why the fuck would you expect any different when you do the same thing to RPGs, only in reverse? Bullshit marketing notwithstanding, EA made it clear they never believed in RPGs as a market, because it hadn't been done before, so they kept trying to turn it in to something else. Always running after the successful yelling "me too" is their MO, because they have no vision. Give it the old college try, they did not.

 

[Spectacle]

The biggest recent problem for EA was the KOTOR fiasco, won't you say? If riticello was to blame for that, I suppose it's reasonable to kick him. I mean getting bioware to design an MMO was a pretty darn retarded move, they had never made one before and there was 0 reason to believe they had any particular competence at it. Yet they pumped millions into the game.

In retrospect, the entire idea of a publicly traded AAA publisher owning its own story-driven CRPG developer was ridiculous.

Activision doesn't make RPGs. (Diablo doesn't count)
Take Two doesn't make RPGs.
Ubisoft doesn't make RPGs. (well, at least until we see what this M&MX is)

EA was really the odd man out here and it was only a matter of time before the situation imploded.

Serious CRPGs will always be the domain of independent developers.

Square Enix makes RPGs. Atleast as much as Bioware does...

 

[Infinitron]

The biggest recent problem for EA was the KOTOR fiasco, won't you say? If riticello was to blame for that, I suppose it's reasonable to kick him. I mean getting bioware to design an MMO was a pretty darn retarded move, they had never made one before and there was 0 reason to believe they had any particular competence at it. Yet they pumped millions into the game.

In retrospect, the entire idea of a publicly traded AAA publisher owning its own story-driven CRPG developer was ridiculous.

Activision doesn't make RPGs. (Diablo doesn't count)
Take Two doesn't make RPGs.
Ubisoft doesn't make RPGs. (well, at least until we see what this M&MX is)

EA was really the odd man out here and it was only a matter of time before the situation imploded.

Serious CRPGs will always be the domain of independent developers.

Square Enix makes RPGs. Atleast as much as Bioware does...

Those also don't count.

 

[tuluse]

At the same time, it's the only kind of decision he can make. You can be sure that there was "pressure" applied to him to get stock prices up and start making money hand over fist like Activision is. His options were to either A. Invent a new genre of sport to sell yearly sports games for, or B. Find something already popular and try to make an MMO out of it.

Ironically, EA had to leave the business of making basketball games under him. When even sports franchise fans stop playing your shitty games, you have a serious problem.

From a business stand point, making a huge MMO was probably a good idea, but the execution of TOR was so bad it boggles the mind.

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

So I was checking EA stock prices and sadly they were slowly climbing above 19.00, but then SimCity hit and they started falling... and today it was a glorious fall.

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

 

[Data4]

Fun to watch: http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:EA

Floating at -4%/ -5% off their yesterday value, behold the stock value collapse. So far, in 24 hours, EA lost a dollar off its stock value.

Even funnier if you switch to 5 year view.

Yeah, or ten. Though I have to say that EA staying afloat and strong as long as it has so far with its general quality and game lineup has always baffled me.

Sports games. Never underestimate the buying power of bros.

 

[DalekFlay]

They need to kill their corporate bloat and become more limber to compete in the modern gaming climate. I doubt any CEO will do that, it isn't in their personal best interest.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

The bloat must bloat!

 

[Capitalism]

Capitalism, notice I'm specifically talking about the problems with the simulation, those are separate from the always-online bullshit and would ruin the game even if it was 100% offline single player.

Yeah, misread your post, my fault. Fuck that, this is John Riccitiello's fault, because now everyone can blame him for anything.
But in case of simulation problems, I don't think that there was no abstraction layers (I mean like adding every salesman to a salesman group and calculate something for this group an etc.), because that would be stupid, so that is Maxis' fault. But you know, there's no software on a market without bugs. It will be fixed soon.

SimCity is the greatest example of another proprietary software going completly against the customer. Always-online fraud, bugs with simulations, cut out content, server issues, etc...

 

[Azalin]

 

[Xi]

I read this earlier, thank god. That guy was a complete idiot. If software is comparable to providing a service, they were selling really shitty service. Not to mention, what do you expect to happen when you monetize every aspect of the game, waste large amounts of development resources on micro-transactions (to the detriment of the core game budget), and even spend lofty amounts of money (more than could ever be gained by selling copies to pirates) on shoddy DRM schemes that cause legitimate users headache. End result? Some of the worst service imaginable.

Good riddance executive dip-shit who got in the way of good game design. Go bleed another industry of valuable goods and leave this one alone.