DailyTech - Thoughts on EA's Big Purchase

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Blog: Software Thoughts on EA's Big Purchase
Michael Hoffman (Blog) - October 13, 2007 11:10 AM

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22 comment(s) - last by Proteusza.. on Oct 17 at 3:36 AM

Should fans be optimistic or pessimistic?

The biggest gaming news the past couple of days has to be Electronic Arts purchasing two game studios for a massive chunk of change: $860 million. That's right, BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios will now be operated under EA's wing, for better or for worse.

According to EA, the two game studios are currently developing 10 new titles that gamers can look forward to. It looks like EA plans to release at least four and five games per year over the next few years from its newest game studios. Video games created by BioWare and Pandemic have a large following, and EA hopes to cash in on loyalty shown by gamers.

As the largest independent video game publisher in the world, the company has received harsh criticism in numerous comments right here on DailyTech, including in the article we published yesterday. In fact, many gamers expressed a bit of disappointment that EA has two new companies it can potentially ruin in an amazingly short amount of time. If you doubt the significance of the purchase, more than just DailyTech readers are speaking their mind - a blog published on The Age received a lot of negative comments from readers, with most readers predicting nothing but gloom.

Did EA overpay a bit? I think paying $860 million was a justifiable action, especially if alienated gamers become excited about future EA game titles.

Considering how I believe EA's game catalog still is rather lackluster, I hope the company is able to make sure BioWare and Pandemic continue to create great titles that gamers will actually want to purchase and play. Investors with shares in EA will hopefully have something to be cheerful about over the next few years, assuming revenue does increase the way EA hopes it will.

E-mails sent to EA, BioWare and Pandemic were unforunately not returned in time for this blog.

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Check out the bioware forums

By Master Kenobi

(blog) on 10/13/2007 11:47:17 PM , Rating: 2

On the Bioware forums there are 2 threads each 15+ pages deep and 95% of it is doom and gloom. Gamers aren't stupid, EA has not been kind to previous PC studios it has acquired and ran the various franchises into the ground. The most positive comment I've seen thus far has been a "wait and see what the reviews look like on future titles". Other than that, most people are either going to wait for reviews or aren't going to bother at all as many seem to be preaching a boycott of EA titles and I don't blame them. I haven't bought an EA title recently that hasn't gone down the shit hole fast with a few patches.

BF2, C&C3. Both patched beyond multiplayer playability. Both coasters on the shelf collecting dust.

RE: Check out the bioware forums

By Proteusza on 10/14/2007 7:01:51 AM , Rating: 4

Unfortunately, there are enough uninformed gamers out there to keep such a company afloat. If games were sold on quality and originality, EA would be gone.

But, the gaming industry, like any entertainment industry, has now got its "pop". EA produces pop games. En masse. They are the britney spears of the gaming world.

People need to vote with their wallets more carefully.

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RE: Check out the bioware forums

By Spivonious on 10/15/2007 9:12:22 AM , Rating: 2

Yeah but look at Britney now - she's the laughing stock of the celebrity news. EA's day will come.

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RE: Check out the bioware forums

By 3kliksphilip on 10/14/2007 1:58:28 PM , Rating: 2

I agree. I don't know how two studios can produce 4-5 games a year... surely they take about 3-4 years each, and staggering so many in such a small time space must lead to either loads of small teams working on each, or a large team having to juggle multiple projects. Either way, they're not going to give each title the attention it deserves.

I know that EA is only a publisher, but in my opinion its choke hold leads to poorer quality games. Gone are the days of a team spending years working on a single title, for better or for worse.

In the game the Movies, I found the most successful route was to produce hundreds of poor quality movies, releasing so many that they spam the charts. Looks like EA are doing the same.

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RE: Check out the bioware forums

By Kougar on 10/15/2007 11:06:24 AM , Rating: 2

It is simple how two studios can be expected to produce 4 or 5 games a year. That was the most telling point of the article in a single sentence. They rush them out the door with nothing truly innovative, release them with not nearly enough or almost no testing for debugging, and patches will eventually come at a later date after the gamers bore the brunt of the bugs for a game they already paid for. Activision typically releasing patches a year after the launch date comes to mind.

This is nothing new, it is a business model the likes of EA have been improving on for years. I've learned to choose my games much more carefully these days thanks to the repeated release of incomplete games or rushed, rehashed sequels to meet short deadlines.

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I don't want to be too harsh, but...

By EarthsDM on 10/14/2007 2:37:57 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
... BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios will now be operated under EA's wing, for better or for worse.

I don't want to be too harsh, but how could it be better? I can't imagine it as a possibility. BioWare has a history of releasing great games (that happen to be unplayable on consoles due to their release bugs.) I don't know what EA could possibly offer them. Just my 2 cents.

RE: I don't want to be too harsh, but...

By Ringold on 10/14/2007 9:40:01 PM , Rating: 3

quote:
I don't know what EA could possibly offer them.

Between a buyer and a seller, the buyer usually offers money. Once the seller has sold, mountains of crisp, freshly printed greenbacks often ease moral qualms as to what may or may not occur next with the previously owned asset. ;)

If I had a development house and someone was offering me a retirement check worth several hundred million...

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RE: I don't want to be too harsh, but...

By therealnickdanger on 10/14/2007 9:52:18 PM , Rating: 3

Not only that, you can just go ahead and take that money and start up a new dev house, while the shell that was once your creation pumps out crap under its new label. I'd take the money and run, too.

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RE: I don't want to be too harsh, but...

By throughhyperspace on 10/16/2007 6:48:11 PM , Rating: 2

I'd imagine the agreement included a non-compete clause and possibly contracts to keep the main developers in-house.

Thats not to say after that time frame that they couldn't develop something other than video games. See Skype.

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RE: I don't want to be too harsh, but...

By GaryJohnson on 10/15/2007 5:29:33 PM , Rating: 2

Could this be the end of Atari publishing Bioware games?

No more paper sleeves and SecuROM?

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There is still hope

By pmonti80 on 10/15/2007 6:04:56 AM , Rating: 2

There may still be a light at the ¿beggining? of the tunnel. Check this article at firingsquad http://www.firingsquad.com/features/ea_buys_biowar...
it paints a not so bad image of the situation, let's hope this is the right one.

RE: There is still hope

By Proteusza on 10/15/2007 6:17:00 AM , Rating: 2

I think the light at the end of the tunnel is EA's 200 ton gravy train carrying its execs, ready to flatten any creativity left in Bioware/Pandemic.

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RE: There is still hope

By pmonti80 on 10/15/2007 7:24:12 AM , Rating: 2

Please read go and read the link before posting.

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RE: There is still hope

By Proteusza on 10/15/2007 9:02:31 AM , Rating: 2

I did read it actually, but I've seen too much of EA's work, the article doesnt convince me.

EA is the worst thing to happen to gaming. They kill originality, and pump out sequels, absorbing some of the best studios and turning them mediocre.

I was going to buy Crysis, but I wont, because of EA. Because of them, I can expect frequent patches. I dont support them or their business practices. I think we should all do the same, we need to topple this giant.

At least Microsoft and Sony have QA - EA is content to publish half finished games (CnC3 anyone?).

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RE: There is still hope

By pmonti80 on 10/15/2007 7:24:56 AM , Rating: 2

Please go and read the link before posting.

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oh well

By Murst on 10/15/2007 2:10:05 AM , Rating: 2

People don't realize it could have been much worse. Imagine if they bought Blizzard.

RE: oh well

By Spivonious on 10/15/2007 9:17:28 AM , Rating: 1

Blizzard has only made two games: Warcraft(Warcraft, Warcraft 2, Starcraft, Warcraft 3, World of Warcraft) and Diablo (Diablo, Diablo 2). It wouldn't be much of a loss IMO.

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RE: oh well

By DEVGRU on 10/15/2007 11:11:09 AM , Rating: 2

Yeah, and of those "two" games, how many people around the world spend massive amounts of time and money playing them all the time?

This from someone who HATE's WoW.

The only scenario worse than EA aquiring Blizzard would be Sony "Entertainment" Online doing it.

(P.S. You left out Starcraft 2)

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RE: oh well

By Murst on 10/15/2007 12:59:39 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
Blizzard has only made two games: Warcraft(Warcraft, Warcraft 2, Starcraft, Warcraft 3, World of Warcraft) and Diablo (Diablo, Diablo 2). It wouldn't be much of a loss IMO.

Are you trying to be funny or serious here? I can't really tell. Certainly, from EA's point of view, Blizzard has made two games.

But from someone who's played every Blizzard game to date (except for a couple expansions), it would be strange to say that WC1 is anything like WC3 or SC. WoW has really nothing to do with the previous WC games, except some characters and setting - and certainly nothing to do w/ SC.

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RE: oh well

By Proteusza on 10/17/2007 3:36:52 AM , Rating: 2

From EA's point of view, Blizzard arent milking their franchises correctly.

Their games arent broken out the box, they havent made any sports or racing games based on their IP, and they dont release yearly updates to their games and charge full price. Not EA's style at all.

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At Least They're Trying

By Andrew Campbell

(blog) on 10/14/2007 2:42:03 AM , Rating: 2

It seems like EA might be trying to let its hair down a bit. Upcoming title, "Dead Space" is a sci-fi survival horror that is so intense they require age verification to view the promotional page!

As far as the $860M price tag, Wall Street seemed to approve as the stock was up 4.62% last Friday on the news.