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EA : Pandemic Closed - Bioware next?
Tykey
Member Posts: 19
Sorry for the Bioware doom gloom catch title its not as bad as it sounds... yet. 
"There is no direct connection with RPGs here but industry watchers will be interested to know that EA will close Pandemic Studios, with the founders already let go last week. Our interest comes, of course, because BioWare and Pandemic "merged" some time back after venture capital group Elevation Partners purchased them both to form a "super studio". Later, EA bought the parent company, VG Holdings, thus acquiring both studios.
While there is absolutely no indication of any effect on BioWare, critics will no doubt observe EA's long history of buying, then closing studios."
www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php
Comments
why the hell would they close Bioware ?
lol they have just had great success with (what I hear is) an epic RPG game and the MMORPG they are working on has got many many many many many MANY players and professionals excited.
If they had shares available, I'd be the first to buy some lol
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
Bioware is a well known company in RPG genre. They always made decent games. Of course, SWTOR might have a huge impact on their future but I doubt EA will ever touch Bioware that hard.
I think they will perhaps close more "small studios" but they will never ever touch Bioware because it is one of the "high Qulity" Studios which had allways good prducts in their Line. So, that will never happen. Especially not with" SwotoR" on the Horizon and the just released "Dragon Age Origins" which is awsome and has planned content for the next 2 years, which they already announced as well.
Aerowyn's Video Compilation of ALL things Guild Wars 2
People need to stop living in the past and calm the hell down - EA is actually a decent company these days.
The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
EA is a corperate whore they need to stop dissolving the small indie studios and closing them down and just die the games they release have nowhere near the quality and polish they should have for a £40 price tag. Westwood dying was the first big hit to the games industry and since then every command and conquer has been horrible.
Its just a mather of time.
I give EA 2 years from now to close Bioware
Depending on the performance of TOR. If it "fails", than most likely in the name of cost cutting, Bio will be affected also...
RIP Orc Choppa
Uhh....the program of them bringing in indie companies allows them to survive and actually release a product, as opposed to dissolving before a release even hits. EA uses its connections to bring the games to market, via physical locations/online/ads, etc...; the polish of the game has nothing to do with them other than perhaps timelines (based on cost). There is a reason companies like EA have been around so long....they know when to cut their losses, as opposed to the idealist indie developer.
Why the hell would Bioware be next? Mythic is next.
You have to realize that the only reason EA bought those studio's is to tarnish their name and eventually close them down to increase their chances of monopolizing the video games industry. Its all too obvious.
Look they don't care about product what they see is profit command and conquer was a big game had a massive following they took it over and look what happend to the series its gone downhill since, EA are a corperation they are solely focused on 1 thing and 1 thing only to eventually own the video gaming business the quality of games that come out of them is horrible their not even worth £10, Fifa is released every year theirs no innovation anymore except maybe they released all round movement instead of 6 directions that makes a huge difference not
they control madden, nba, all big profit games for avid sports fans who buy them every year. But if a game takes a year to make their is liturally no developement at all the same engine gets used just modified and people pay for this every year without fail and that isnt quality control whenever i watch an EA press conferance all i see is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ no quality $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
Pandemic doesn't make good games...
Pandemic "was" a great studio with a good 'history' but its last few high profile games were horrible...absolute rubbish. It was only a matter of time before EA decided to cut off the dying gangerous limb and keep the franchises from that company that were actually good. Hopefully they stay good or we'll see the end of those games along with the company.
The only way Bioware who was JUST purchased is going to get 'axed' is if they suddenly see staff cuts due to crappy releases adn bleeding money. Bioware has suffered no staff mass cuts and no poor releases infact Dragon Age was a huge success in EA's favor....they're not going to cut off a limb thats perfectly healthy. If anything goes it'll be Mythic after they shoddly handled Warhammer...they had a good six months to improve the game and did nothing except release new content which was the worst thing they could of possibly done. They should of fixed what they had and made the RVR zones more viable and more exciting.
EA has a bad history but honestly the companies they've been closing up and shuttering were releasing some of the worst products on the market. Atleast in recent history anyway...in the past they absorbed perfectly good companies...thats not been the case the last couple of years. They're dismantling the ones that went bad.
btw Tin Foil hats right here 10 bucks each...get your name scribbled in pen on the side for 20!
EA wont simply cut mythic they will merge them with bioware...ohh wait that pretty much already happened.
and since as of now the BIoware name is in good standing with the consumer it will simply become Bioware.
Obviously you don't understand anything about business. And to whoever said that EA is just looking for a monopoly isn't quite right either. EA is looking for profit. They shut down Pandemic because they were not profitable. EA's top games consistently are games like Madden, Spore, Need For Speed, and the Rock Band Series (games earning 10% or greater or gross revenuesfor fiscal years ending 2007 and 2008). None of those games were made by Pandemic. Back to Bioware. As stated before Bioware is a well recognized name in the RPG industry. Hopefully Dragon Age will join those games I mentioned previously with SW:TOR to follow. If it ever does come to the point when Bioware is not profitable, however, Bioware will not close. Instead, EA will most likely rely on its name to bring in a sale of the division to some other company. Bioware is not going anywhere for a long time. They will not die, but simply be reborn.
Obviously you don't understand anything about business. And to whoever said that EA is just looking for a monopoly isn't quite right either. EA is looking for profit. They shut down Pandemic because they were not profitable. EA's top games consistently are games like Madden, Spore, Need For Speed, and the Rock Band Series (games earning 10% or greater or gross revenuesfor fiscal years ending 2007 and 2008). None of those games were made by Pandemic. Back to Bioware. As stated before Bioware is a well recognized name in the RPG industry. Hopefully Dragon Age will join those games I mentioned previously with SW:TOR to follow. If it ever does come to the point when Bioware is not profitable, however, Bioware will not close. Instead, EA will most likely rely on its name to bring in a sale of the division to some other company. Bioware is not going anywhere for a long time. They will not die, but simply be reborn.
I agree with you except on 2 points:
1. Pandemic wasn't shut down because it was non-profitable. It was non-profitable before the EA sale. It was cut because EA didn't want Pandemic in the first place, but they had to buy it to get Bioware. I guarantee it.
2. If Bioware were to somehow become a liability or simply not perform to EA's standards ( which change as often as the CEO changes his underwear ), they will not sell Bioware. They will dismantle it and spread any IPs, hardware, etc., through the other divisions of EA.
Pandemic released the Starwars: Battlefront abortions, which were fun games poorly supported and crappily (is that a word... well it is now) implemented online play. If you could get past the asinine glitchy server browser then you could actually play for a while before the game shut down for no reason at all.
Personally I saw those two games as having massive potential, and they were both poorly supported, very glitchy, and left to rot like a pile of something best left hidden. If I see a SW: Battlefront 3 WITHOUT Pandemic's name on it... I will be more inclined to buy it now.
"There is only one thing of which I am certain, and that's nothing is certain."
Obviously you don't understand anything about business. And to whoever said that EA is just looking for a monopoly isn't quite right either. EA is looking for profit. They shut down Pandemic because they were not profitable. EA's top games consistently are games like Madden, Spore, Need For Speed, and the Rock Band Series (games earning 10% or greater or gross revenuesfor fiscal years ending 2007 and 2008). None of those games were made by Pandemic. Back to Bioware. As stated before Bioware is a well recognized name in the RPG industry. Hopefully Dragon Age will join those games I mentioned previously with SW:TOR to follow. If it ever does come to the point when Bioware is not profitable, however, Bioware will not close. Instead, EA will most likely rely on its name to bring in a sale of the division to some other company. Bioware is not going anywhere for a long time. They will not die, but simply be reborn.
I agree with you except on 2 points:
1. Pandemic wasn't shut down because it was non-profitable. It was non-profitable before the EA sale. It was cut because EA didn't want Pandemic in the first place, but they had to buy it to get Bioware. I guarantee it.
2. If Bioware were to somehow become a liability or simply not perform to EA's standards ( which change as often as the CEO changes his underwear ), they will not sell Bioware. They will dismantle it and spread any IPs, hardware, etc., through the other divisions of EA.
Why did they have to buy Pandemic to get Bioware?
Obviously you don't understand anything about business. And to whoever said that EA is just looking for a monopoly isn't quite right either. EA is looking for profit. They shut down Pandemic because they were not profitable. EA's top games consistently are games like Madden, Spore, Need For Speed, and the Rock Band Series (games earning 10% or greater or gross revenuesfor fiscal years ending 2007 and 2008). None of those games were made by Pandemic. Back to Bioware. As stated before Bioware is a well recognized name in the RPG industry. Hopefully Dragon Age will join those games I mentioned previously with SW:TOR to follow. If it ever does come to the point when Bioware is not profitable, however, Bioware will not close. Instead, EA will most likely rely on its name to bring in a sale of the division to some other company. Bioware is not going anywhere for a long time. They will not die, but simply be reborn.
I agree with you except on 2 points:
1. Pandemic wasn't shut down because it was non-profitable. It was non-profitable before the EA sale. It was cut because EA didn't want Pandemic in the first place, but they had to buy it to get Bioware. I guarantee it.
2. If Bioware were to somehow become a liability or simply not perform to EA's standards ( which change as often as the CEO changes his underwear ), they will not sell Bioware. They will dismantle it and spread any IPs, hardware, etc., through the other divisions of EA.
Why did they have to buy Pandemic to get Bioware?
Because Pandemic and Bioware were both owned by VG Holdings. EA didn't buy Bioware or Pandemic, they bought VG Holdings to become the parent company of Bioware ( Pandemic was just a "necessary evil" ), therefore negating the need to negotiate with Bioware on purchasing terms, which means they had to give less concessions to Bioware than if they bought Bioware by itself..
Obviously you don't understand anything about business. And to whoever said that EA is just looking for a monopoly isn't quite right either. EA is looking for profit. They shut down Pandemic because they were not profitable. EA's top games consistently are games like Madden, Spore, Need For Speed, and the Rock Band Series (games earning 10% or greater or gross revenuesfor fiscal years ending 2007 and 2008). None of those games were made by Pandemic. Back to Bioware. As stated before Bioware is a well recognized name in the RPG industry. Hopefully Dragon Age will join those games I mentioned previously with SW:TOR to follow. If it ever does come to the point when Bioware is not profitable, however, Bioware will not close. Instead, EA will most likely rely on its name to bring in a sale of the division to some other company. Bioware is not going anywhere for a long time. They will not die, but simply be reborn.
I agree with you except on 2 points:
1. Pandemic wasn't shut down because it was non-profitable. It was non-profitable before the EA sale. It was cut because EA didn't want Pandemic in the first place, but they had to buy it to get Bioware. I guarantee it.
2. If Bioware were to somehow become a liability or simply not perform to EA's standards ( which change as often as the CEO changes his underwear ), they will not sell Bioware. They will dismantle it and spread any IPs, hardware, etc., through the other divisions of EA.
Why did they have to buy Pandemic to get Bioware?
I think what he meant is from VG Holding Corp as a bundle deal...
RIP Orc Choppa
Bioware isnt going anywhere. With SW:TOR and Mass effect 2 coming out they'll be fine!
(AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH raises plunger in salute to Bioware)
All my opinions are just that..opinions. If you like my opinions..coolness.If you dont like my opinion....I really dont care.
Playing: ESO, WOT, Smite, and Marvel Heroes
Have a feeling they will buy Blizz next...
RIP Orc Choppa
EA couldn't afford Vivendi Studios ( Blizzard's owners ) asking price.
Pandemic hasn't released a good game for years now so EA did the right thing in closing that POS company.
shutting pandemic down before the saboteur was released also means EA gets all profits from the title