• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

What are your thoughts on Bioware right now?

Carna

Banned
They seriously need to turn their company around, and do a complete overhaul of their process. Otherwise they could just end up like any other way studio.
 
Bioware are trash.

You have to go back to 2009/10 for ME2 and DAO for the last truly great games they made.

Whatever skill/talent was in Bioware left/dissolved/snuffed out over the past 10 years, it's not the same team any more, it's only a matter of time before Bioware is closed down by EA after their next big AAA failure (ME remaster doesn't count).

I genuinely believe the studio called Bioware cannot make the kind of games that past Bioware did, the skill, culture, talent is all changed.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
You're as good as your most recent game, and the last few BioWare games were trash. So I expect very little of them these days.
 

Humdinger

Member
I'm skeptical, but I'm not as all-or-nothing about it as most people seem to be (i.e., "they're total trash, no talent, no hope"). I would put it more like this. They used to put out games that I'd rate a 9, but now they put out games I'd rate 5 or 6.

I have some hope that, after the backlash over Andromeda, their next attempt at the Mass Effect franchise will at least be better than that was. I don't expect a return to glory days -- I think that's gone -- but I do believe the next one will be a bit better than the last -- maybe a 7 rather than a 5.
 
I think they're still on a downwards trajectory. I think they'll struggle to get a single game out in decent order. Mostly due to incredibly bad management, zero leadership vision, and ideologically driven studio politics. Anyone not subscribing to it has long since left or remain there just to get their marks before buggering off, and the upper level dysfunction will halt any real progress. EA will scuttle this ship in a failed game or two. They're probably starting with abandoning the idea of Anthem Next.
 

Kokoloko85

Member
Like Bethesda haven’t made a decent game inawhile.
WRPG were pretty shit this gen apart from a few great ones.

I miss the days of KOTOR and Oblivion 4
 

NickFire

Member
A good analogy for Bioware is like running into a really hot ex girlfriend, and finding out she gained 90 lbs, has prematurely wrinkled skin, has a raspy smoker's voice, and three kids from 3 different fathers, only 1 of whom lives with her.
 

PooBone

Member
They need a win, bad. Thankfully it doesn't take a creative genius, great writers or innovative artists to update the Mass Effect trilogy.
 

johntown

Banned
I think this sums it up for me.

giphy.gif
 

V4skunk

Banned
They were dead to me when they made Mass Effect 1.
Hilarious how far this company has gone down the pan coming from the Baldurs Gate 2.
 

Fbh

Member
To me they are pretty much dead. I have zero expectations or hype for any of their upcoming games and am fairly certain the new mass effect and Dragon Age will be boring, badly written and woke shells of their former self with forced online components.
 
I dont have much faith in Biowares future story telling abilities. I see them as being so pro-SJW, that all their stuff is gonna be flat, safe and cringy.
 
They could cease to exist and I wouldn't even care. No, scratch that, I would care - I'd be happy, because they have fallen so far, and delivered so many disappointments over the last decade.
 

Kacho

Gold Member
Just like Blizzard the majority of talent that made them great studios have left and they’re just a name now.
 
Between Baldur's Gate II and Mass Effect 2 they were maybe my favorite developer. I even adored Jade Empire. Then suddenly, I lost all interest in them (some time after the EA deal happened - probably not a coincidence). I played Dragon Age: Origins and hated it. Played the first few minutes of Mass Effect 3, hated that instantly as well. Maybe they were a necessary evolutionary step for video games, obsolete now.
 
BioWare, as I knew and loved it, is dead. That team that brought us the best DA and ME games is dead. That talent is no longer at BioWare.

The current team is just another EA owned factory, as far as I am concerned. I have no faith in them whatsoever.

I hope they prove me wrong.

Prime BioWare was special.
The total lack of emotion of your post... You're not wrong, but I feel like the studio has broken you in their descent.
 

Ascend

Member
They're on a fail streak, that's for sure. The Mass Effect Legendary edition is pretty much their last chance to get at least some good faith back. And somehow, they are screwing it up again by causing another controversy over nothing.

They're not dead yet. But they are on their deathbed. The next few months will determine whether they get out of bed or if they die.
 

Brute

Member
They need a Rocksteady kind of comeback to surprise people. Rocksteady made shit games until the excellent Batman Arkham Asylum and so on.
Didn't Rocksteady only make just one game before the Batman series though? Urban something (the FPS).
 

ToTTenTranz

Banned
I don't really believe in brand names, I believe in people.
And from what I can see, the people that made the Bioware games that I really enjoyed, from KOTOR to Mass Effect 3 (ending excluded) have been gone from the studio for the last decade or so.
Dragon Age was at some point my favorite gaming franchise, but I couldn't even bring myself to finish Inquisition due to those F2P-esque waiting time mechanics and some narrative/character/design choices they made.

That's not to mean I'd refuse to buy a game from them in the future. I'll buy all their games that are good and I want to play, but none other than those. And Bioware hasn't delivered a really good game in almost a decade.




Besides, where's Destiny Ripoff ahem Anthem 2.0? Is that still going to happen?
 
Last edited:

kyussman

Member
I feel like their best years/games are behind them.....doesn't mean they can't still make something great though....fingers crossed for the next Mass Effect.
 

AJUMP23

Member
One of the big thing I think Bioware lost when the doctors left was vision. they were the idea guys and inspired something better through their leadership. When they sold to EA they lost some ability to lead, because they had to answer to EA. Then they were separated and one was sent to work on the SW KOTOR MMO. Losing that leadership is really what set the stage for ME4 debacle and the ultimate downfall of Anthem. Kill Anthem, let the talent focus on ME and DA. The other thing they need is someone with a vision and know how to get there. That is one thing Drukman does is he has a vision and he get get a team to to it. That is good leadership, even if you don't like his politics. I wonder if Bioware could hire Jade Raymond, she did some good work at Ubisoft, but I doubt she wants to work for EA again.

The DRs were right to take the money and run though. They built something amazing and were rewarded.
 

Daymos

Member
I don't really believe in brand names, I believe in people.
And from what I can see, the people that made the Bioware games that I really enjoyed, from KOTOR to Mass Effect 3 (ending excluded) have been gone from the studio for the last decade or so.
Dragon Age was at some point my favorite gaming franchise, but I couldn't even bring myself to finish Inquisition due to those F2P-esque waiting time mechanics and some narrative/character choices they made.

That's not to mean I'd refuse to buy a game from them in the future. I'll buy all their games that are good and I want to play, but none other than those.

A great point! I won't get into a whole 'where are they now' list, but there are many people who were involved in the creation of baldurs gate, dragon age, jade empire, kotor, etc, etc. who are still in the games industry working for various other companies both small and large. If your favorite game is mass effect, you might be more likely to see a spiritual successor that's better than mass effect 4 come from somewhere else. (archetype entertainment is founded by ex-bioware people for instance)

Gamers hold on to company names far too much and follow game directors and other creators far too little.
 
Last edited:

desertdroog

Member
The original Founders, Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuck, are no longer involved, so I don't think about Bioware anymore. The company is a attempting to run on their great history with mediocre output as of late.
 

KingT731

Member
Honestly I think they should try to get a better development schedule going. I felt with both Anthem and Andromeda (which is actually liked) that they pushed those games out to meet a release date rather than when the product was actually complete. I also think they should get FAR away from the Frostbite engine.
 

OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
One of the best developers ever has lost their way. The unfinished Dragon Age 2 is a masterclass game compared to recent output. I liked Inquisition but it was bloated af. Andromeda felt like b team filler. Stayed far away from Anthem.
 

Ammogeddon

Member
Basically turned into an EA paint by numbers game studio. Nothing truly creative is likely to come out of them, just an amalgamation of trendy ideas made by committee.
 
Didn't Rocksteady only make just one game before the Batman series though? Urban something (the FPS).
Your right. They made one game before batman and were founded in 2004.

Rocksteady has been able to put out great games since 2009. Where as biowares last good game was mass effect 3 in 2012.
 

Khyle

Neo Member
BioWare is gone.

The Doctors are gone. James Ohlen is gone. Drew Karpyshyn is gone. Casey Hudson is gone. Mark Darrah is gone. David Gaider is gone. Mike Laidlaw is gone. The only name that still rings a bell is Mac Walters.

Yeah, some of these guys had their fair share of screw-ups too recently, but the talent was there. They weren't infallible but they succeeded once/twice/3 times for a reason and that was enough for me to give them another chance.

But it's 2021 already, and BW is just a shell, just a name. It holds no value on its own anymore if the people that made it great aren't there. They need to rebuild their reputation from the ashes. I'm not looking forward to anything from them aside from remasters of the games they did when they were still good.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom