r/masseffect • u/deanpmorrison • 8h ago

NEWS EA's Garbage Statement on the Closure

https://www.ea.com/news/building-eas-next-chapter

TL;DR

They're laying people off and canceling projects, and they're up their own ass about it

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u/IlikeGeekyHistoryRSA 8h ago edited 8h ago

i mean this sucks, it really does, and i hate to play devils advocate to fucking EA of all things, but i think people need to keep in mind that EA is a business that needs to eventually profit. BioWare has been struggling to make decent games as of recent times, and i think it makes sense to metaphorically send the old dog to a farm up north.

At least potential confirmation of SW Battlefront 3 lightens the mood somewhat

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u/JCyTe 3h ago

BioWare has been struggling to make decent games as of recent times

Recent my ass, Bioware has been struggling for more than a decade at this point. Actually way longer depending on how you look at it.

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u/meatballforlife 2h ago

It’s insane that ever since dragon age inquisition, 12 years ago, they have only made 3 games. Andromeda which is uh, yeah, a game that exists. Anthem, which is a game that doesn’t exist. And dragon age veilguard, which killed the franchise. They made one game for every 4 years and they were back to back failures. Frankly this was a long time coming for BioWare.

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u/8monsters 27m ago

Andromeda was overhated. People expected the trilogy but there was no way it would ever live up to that.

It's a decent game that people should still play. 

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u/_HGCenty 8h ago

I don't mind it if someone can buy the IP and resurrect Mass Effect and BioWare with the indie spirit that made ME1.

Whether EA sells the IP cheaply though.

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u/AutistcCuttlefish 8h ago

I'd love for Larian to buy mass effect and dragon age, but I just don't see why they'd be interested when they can work on their own IP instead.

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u/AiBestGirl95 8h ago

That and buying the IP I would assume is going to be a 9 figure deal which is a significant investment for a company the size of Larian 

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u/Magdovus 7h ago

Depends on the nature of the deal. A company like Larian might be able to arrange to pay on the back end as a profit share, with them essentially acting as a subcontractor.

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u/WIlf_Brim 53m ago

IP for a think like a game isn't worth as much as you might think. It's not like a book or a movie that may have ongoing right to sell. There isn't much of a market for Mass Effect IP, and every month that goes by it is worth less.

Sitting on game IP is a losing proposition. In 5 years most of it will be near worthless. If they are going to sell, they need to sell fast and for whatever the market will bear. 5 million today is better than nothing, which is what they will get when the company goes bankrupt (which is where it is headed)

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u/SRGTBronson 8h ago

You never know. Bethesda bought the publishing rights to fallout 3 and 4 from interplay for ~6 million dollars when they were half the size Larian is now.

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u/TheMadTemplar 7h ago

Less than half. Larian is larger than BGS is now. BGS had around 100 employees when they made Skyrim and fewer still when they bought the rights to Fallout.

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u/Odd-Asparagus7633 1h ago

Depending on how Divinity 3 goes, they might be on the Market for a series with an inbuilt fanbase. I don't see why they wouldn't be interested in another series from the same people that gave them their biggest hit to date.

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u/enigma7x 8h ago

EA was purchased by Saudi money and is now privately owned and they took on 20 billion dollars in debt. I would be shocked if they were ever profitable again.

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u/IlikeGeekyHistoryRSA 8h ago

yeah you'd think shutting down studios which cannot turn a profit and are therefore monetary bloat would help alleviate their financial situation

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u/zak55 6h ago

I mean, they could also sell the IPS for some quick turn around profit too...plus there is an amazon show coming out that could do for Mass Effect what the Fallout Show did for those games.

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u/TheMadTemplar 7h ago

It will, but most people can't think that far ahead.

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u/deanpmorrison 8h ago

Andrew Wilson has made more than 60 million dollars in two years.

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u/IlikeGeekyHistoryRSA 8h ago edited 7h ago

with all due respect im not sure how that matters to the ultimate fact that Bioware wasn't making money (which is a problem that could be fixed by making good games) and evidently didnt seem like it was going to make money

If EA cant see profitability in an IP thats big like Mass Effect is, then there has to ultimately be some reason for it besides "EA is evil and kills puppies"

like i said, it sucks that this situation has to even happen to begin with, but thats just the facts of the situation.

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u/TheRealJikker 7h ago

Given it's been 6 years (?) since the first tease and the game wasn't even past pre-production, I've wondered if EA saw on the backend the same management issues that led to the troubles of Andromeda and Anthem (and Veilguard to an extent). EA doesn't get much profit from single player RPGs in the first place and if the same warning signs were there that existed for previous BioWare titles, that could explain EA pulling the plug.

EA is not a good company and they do kill studios, but BioWare is not completely blameless here. Companies don't offer charity - if a product isn't making money, they cancel it, stop making it, cut it, etc...

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u/MissingXpert 7h ago

EA has a history of buying big, fiddling with the management and creative direction, and then jumping ship once their corporately mandated live-service garbage doesn'tt take off.

All the Studios EA has bought and shuttered, like Visceral, Westwood, BioWare, Pandemic, dozens of others, it is always EA that's the common denominator.

BioWare for sure wasn't perfect, no arguing here, but the amount of Studios dying under EA is a poor sign of quality for them.

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u/erdonko 7h ago

This sub is very much a small echochamber so a lot of opinions just get snowballed.

The sad truth is that Bioware holds just as much blame. It was them fucking up Anthem and Andromeda that made EA micromanage Veilguard and fuck it up as well. Near a decade without a decent project, it was bound to happen. No one even expected much of the new Mass Effect either due to it.

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u/chaamp33 4h ago

Maybe we’ll get some more info in the coming months because the layoffs but we can’t really know for sure if this was an EA fault or a BioWare fault.

Regardless the decision to close it is sad but not at all surprising.

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u/Harflin 8h ago

I don't have a great way to know if BioWare's performance was a product of their own issues, or issues inherited by having an EA overlord. Lacking that, I'm going to blame EA.

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u/Madfutvx 8h ago

Its the Saudis and PE guys who want the quick buck. If EA was still public company, I doubt they would’ve shut down Bioware