Bioware worked themselves into a Destiny like trap that you think they would have learned about after SWTOR. They basically stopped work on everything, sent any story talent to the new Bioware, to work completely on Anthem. At least SWTOR was developed by real Bioware guys originally. They bet the farm that they could get Anthem going and it would be a hit. Destiny was a hit and it still was impossible to keep up with costs, bring in money and keep going. If Destiny has to die what chance did Anthem have (obviously it wasn't clear at the time that Destiny was circling the drain). But every bit of Bioware was geared into Anthem, no side development teams, no one writing up new ideas with current IPs, and no other new IPs being worked on at any level.
After Anthem you have a team that doesn't know how to write a normal Bioware game. No developers that were competent in the old tools. Nothing left but people that had been working nearly a decade on a game that wasn't anything like previous Bioware products. They hurried a DA game out, basically now admitting that while they announced a ME game that hadn't actually touched it because they were just worried about getting a game out that would keep EA happy. It had none of the old Bioware magic because they had drained themselves of anybody important that was a part of that in the past.
It wasn't because Anthem was difficult. Or because it didn't do well. The only reason we even had the DA and ME announcements was because of Anthems failure. If Anthem succeeded they were just going to be a Anthem seasonal release company and not Bioware that we knew. The fact that they are dead here is completely because it turns out it would have been unlikely to be profitable and even if it did. They were going to sink or swim on its back.
Makes me glad that Anthem flopped like a wet fart on launch day.
You dont sacrifice your flagship IP's to try and get a passion project off the ground, because you're chasing the Fortnite lootershooter crowd for the sweet sweet micro transactions lootbox money. Because gamers are just crayon eaters who'll eat up any old slop right?
It's quite literally "dont put all your eggs in one basket," type advice and BioWare ran head first off a cliff with their eyes open becauss they saw a pot of gold.
Yep. I know they were just feeding off EAs request at the time and why EA gave them a bag to get it made. But it really was their choice, their attempt to become the next Bungie or Blizzard at the cost of their userbase. It's sad what it means for the IPs we love. But I am not so sad about Bioware themselves. They got greedy and and threw caution to the wind to go whale hunting. They earned what they got.
Exactly! I know that BioWare was given the go ahead with EA's blessing for Anthem, but they have no one to blame but themselves. Am I sad that BioWare is shutting up shop? Yes, but Im not crushed because the BioWare I loved died long before Anthem was even a thing. It died right after Gaider left the studio, issuing a warning about how the studio heads "dont like their writers," (again I refer to my gamers are crayon eaters comment) after the completion of the Dragon Age Tresspasser DLC.
As you said, it's hard to feel sorry for BioWare because rhey did it to themselves.
I am sorry for the people who now have to find employment in the current job market, but not sorry for the management or CEO's.
The thing with Bioware bleeding talent over such a long stretch of time is that we got people spilling the tea on the studio's gradual downfall so many times over the years. For instance:
Bioware worked themselves into a Destiny like trap that you think they would have learned about after SWTOR.
I remember that they took a bunch of the devs from BW Austin (the ones from SWTOR) to go work on Anthem, and when that whole thing was over, some of those devs said that every time they tried to suggest changes based on their experience with an online game they were shut down. And it shows.
Andromeda was a symptom of the problem not the cause of. They created a new studio, let people who weren't into Anthem go to it and said have at it. The Bioware we know of was all in on Anthem and just handed off ME (and would have DA if Andromeda didn't do so bad they shut that studio down).
The guys at the top thought they had a good one idea and threw away everything. Andromeda was developed with what was left of the people who cared and those guys weren't welcome in Bioware any more.
Yep, I knew that the preference for Anthem, and trying to push it forward as brand new IP while ignoring their established Flagship IPs (which included taking devs away from Mass Effect Andromeda and early development of Dreadwolf Rises (now Veilguard)) would severely cripple and eventually kill their studio.
As Gaider said as he left the studio at the end of Dragon Age Tresspasser DLC (paraphrased) "the executives at BioWare executives hate writers and dont like the fantasy genre at all."
All because the studio saw games like Fortnite, Overwatch and other lootershooters making bank with lootboxes and skin sales and wanted in on that peice of rhe market, got greedy and decided ro ignore the games that made a name for their studio.
Theyre reaping what they sewed IMHO.
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u/FuzzNuzz180 7h ago
BioWare never really recovered from the development hell of Anthem then to follow it up with Veilguard was another nail.
Good bye BioWare, KOTOR and Mass Effect will always be so important to me!
BioWare now goes to the graveyard, but at least they’ll be in the good company of WestWood, Bullfrog and Pandemic.