When they got sold to ea, this was the only possible outcome anyway. Not sure if they sold out or ea did some corporate bullshit to force them to it, but they should have stayed away from ea if they wanted to keep making games.
The founders and original lead developers - Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk - created over a dozen games before they sold the company.
Idk what else you’d want. They did their thing and then they cashed out to live their lives doing other things.
Bioware wasn’t even supposed to be a video game company. It was originally founded to pioneer medical technology and only pivoted when their side project - Shattered Steel - outperformed expectations.
Sometime people need to stop being mad because one participate Treats Train has finally ended it’s run. Be glad for the games you got, not sad because it’s over
After all, you’ve still got Larian and Paradox and Owlcat and a thousand other indie studios making equivalent games.
Mass Effect isn’t the first game to use space cops and robot aliens fighting over the fate of the galaxy. The Expanse did Mass Effect’s storyline much better.
That’s before you consider how played out the Mass Effect IP already is. Just like Halo, they peaked at game 3. That was the apex of the story.
Mass Effect is a wonderfully constructed world; I disagree on you there.
I’d also argue ME3 is not the peak. The best gameplay, sure, but a more questionable campaign IMO.
You are not wrong about the story trajectory though. They wrote themselves into a corner with the Reaper arc, and that is done now. But I do think “Shepard-free, smaller story spinoffs” were the correct move, rather than trying to pick up a story that should be done (like Halo did).
No it’s not. They can use the entire world they constructed, its history, and (for the players) all the nostalgia. And selectively bring back characters.
I mean, that immediately drew me into this trailer.
Halo is an entirely different beast. They could not let the MC/Cortana go like they are stuck to them with a chain, but side stories in that world would have been interesting too.
But there’s nothing wrong with building on a good, existing constructed world, too. They can do both. You mentioned publishers that did that quite successfully, at the top of this thread: Owlcat, Paradox, and especially Larian.
It’s also quite practical from a development perspective. It’s easier to pitch to get funding, they already have lore experts on the team, mechanics they don’t have to invent from scratch.
I’m just not buying that Mass Effect is a “dead end.” It’s a great setting, there’s tons to explore, and they’ve already broken away from the main trap of being stuck with Sheperd. Halo is a bit different not because they wrote themselves into a corner (which ME aid also guilty of), but that they utterly refused to leave it, amongst other things.
I will say that I think BioWare just deteriorated.
…There’s no getting around that, whether they start from scratch or not.
I have the same opinion of Halo. I vividly remember forming it upon playing Halo 4, with how cheesy it felt.
I think theres a large group of people that are committed to the sunken cost fallacy. Just because a lot of effort went into something, and it was enjoyed for a long time, doesnt mean it needs to continue on forever.
Especially when we are talking about art, if we never let go of things there will not be room for new art and artists.
More like $12.99 for core functionality that should have been released with the game (cities skylines is the worst for this). I’m all for reasonable pricing to cover the costs of development, but chaining together a dozen expansions and making a $40 game cost an additional $160 is bonkers. Its deceptive pricing, and it shouldn’t be excused just because you like small studios making better games. It would be better to release games when they are fully ready and have a roadmap of full cost available.
Though it does look like they’ve now offered a subscription service to essentially rent the expansions for $8 a month, at least that provides choices.
Bioware also had a large number of employees in Edmonton. Maga goons (Jared Kushner and Lourenco Goncalves) are just laying off Canadians to hurt the economy.
When they got sold to ea, this was the only possible outcome anyway. Not sure if they sold out or ea did some corporate bullshit to force them to it, but they should have stayed away from ea if they wanted to keep making games.
The founders and original lead developers - Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk - created over a dozen games before they sold the company.
Idk what else you’d want. They did their thing and then they cashed out to live their lives doing other things.
Bioware wasn’t even supposed to be a video game company. It was originally founded to pioneer medical technology and only pivoted when their side project - Shattered Steel - outperformed expectations.
Sometime people need to stop being mad because one participate Treats Train has finally ended it’s run. Be glad for the games you got, not sad because it’s over
After all, you’ve still got Larian and Paradox and Owlcat and a thousand other indie studios making equivalent games.
The problem is that EA will still squat on the IP for the indefinite future, so nobody gets to do anything with it later.
I mean, the IP is pretty generic.
Mass Effect isn’t the first game to use space cops and robot aliens fighting over the fate of the galaxy. The Expanse did Mass Effect’s storyline much better.
That’s before you consider how played out the Mass Effect IP already is. Just like Halo, they peaked at game 3. That was the apex of the story.
Mass Effect is a wonderfully constructed world; I disagree on you there.
I’d also argue ME3 is not the peak. The best gameplay, sure, but a more questionable campaign IMO.
You are not wrong about the story trajectory though. They wrote themselves into a corner with the Reaper arc, and that is done now. But I do think “Shepard-free, smaller story spinoffs” were the correct move, rather than trying to pick up a story that should be done (like Halo did).
Sure. But then it’s just a generic scifi.
You don’t need to own IP to make Mass Effect minus the title characters
No it’s not. They can use the entire world they constructed, its history, and (for the players) all the nostalgia. And selectively bring back characters.
I mean, that immediately drew me into this trailer.
Halo is an entirely different beast. They could not let the MC/Cortana go like they are stuck to them with a chain, but side stories in that world would have been interesting too.
Or they can write up something new, just like the Mass Effect guys did.
Look. I’m all for a new world.
But there’s nothing wrong with building on a good, existing constructed world, too. They can do both. You mentioned publishers that did that quite successfully, at the top of this thread: Owlcat, Paradox, and especially Larian.
It’s also quite practical from a development perspective. It’s easier to pitch to get funding, they already have lore experts on the team, mechanics they don’t have to invent from scratch.
I’m just not buying that Mass Effect is a “dead end.” It’s a great setting, there’s tons to explore, and they’ve already broken away from the main trap of being stuck with Sheperd. Halo is a bit different not because they wrote themselves into a corner (which ME aid also guilty of), but that they utterly refused to leave it, amongst other things.
I will say that I think BioWare just deteriorated.
…There’s no getting around that, whether they start from scratch or not.
I have the same opinion of Halo. I vividly remember forming it upon playing Halo 4, with how cheesy it felt.
I think theres a large group of people that are committed to the sunken cost fallacy. Just because a lot of effort went into something, and it was enjoyed for a long time, doesnt mean it needs to continue on forever.
Especially when we are talking about art, if we never let go of things there will not be room for new art and artists.
Paradox just added a expansion for your comment. To unlock please pay $12.99…
$12.99 for… another 200 hours of content? Wtf! In this economy?!
More like $12.99 for core functionality that should have been released with the game (cities skylines is the worst for this). I’m all for reasonable pricing to cover the costs of development, but chaining together a dozen expansions and making a $40 game cost an additional $160 is bonkers. Its deceptive pricing, and it shouldn’t be excused just because you like small studios making better games. It would be better to release games when they are fully ready and have a roadmap of full cost available.
Though it does look like they’ve now offered a subscription service to essentially rent the expansions for $8 a month, at least that provides choices.
They sold out to a private equity firm, who in turn sold them to EA.
Bioware also had a large number of employees in Edmonton. Maga goons (Jared Kushner and Lourenco Goncalves) are just laying off Canadians to hurt the economy.