Mass Effect will not continue.
To the surprise of nobody. Who thought Saudi’s and Kushner bought EA because they you to 'ship a same sex NPC.
Another studio joins the EA graveyard. EA is such an awful company. Bioware made Baldur’s Gate, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, KOTOR, Neverwinter Nights, and Jade Empire. What a great studio it was. RIP o7
Honestly, this is one where I can’t put all of the blame on EA. Bioware has been in a decline since My Face Is Tired, and a complete freefall since Anthem. Veilguard was their last chance and they blew it. The Bioware we’re nostallgic for (Baldur’s Gate, KOTOR, DA:O) hasn’t existed for years, and “Bioware magic” turned out to be a fart in the wind.
(edit) And let’s be real, Anthem wasn’t EA’s doing. Most of the game’s failures were Bioware’s fault, mostly incompetent management. https://kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong-1833731964
EA bought BioWare in 2007. Sometimes enshittification has a long tail.
Yep. They bought Bioware after Mass Effect. Dragon Age Origins was already late in development, so that was essentially unaffected.
It’s the games that followed where the writing was on the wall. Mass Effect 2 was mostly fine, but it was one of the first games to introduce the model of “Buy new for the complete experience, pay extra if you buy used.”
Dragon Age 2 tried to be more action-y by deviating from what people liked about the first one. It was just fine in retrospect, but I don’t think it was what anyone was looking for.
Mass Effect 3 had one of the most egregious examples of on-disc DLC, coupled with its very controversial ending that was honestly never really fixed, but just carried by the rest of the game. It was also one of the games of that era to jump on the obligatory “shoehorned multiplayer mode” bandwagon.
Dragon Age Inquisition at least won awards, but I think it was boosted by being an early next-gen title in an otherwise slow year, not having to compete with GTA5 the year prior or The Witcher 3 the year after. I just remember a lot of the “singleplayer MMO” discourse when it came out, and I don’t think it managed to top ME3’s numbers.
Every game that follows can speak for itself.
I came late to the party and played Inquisition first, and thought it was really enjoyable, and played Mass Effect 3 before the first 2, and thought it was great. I think sometimes gamer expectations are just impossible to meet, and on some level I’m happier to see a studio try something different, rather than shovel the same old grain into the feedbag.
They bought Bioware after Mass Effect
In that case also they were effectively done with the game, but it wasn’t out yet.
I stand corrected, looks like EA bought them just 1 month before Mass Effect’s release. But yeah, by that point the game was already being printed on discs, with Microsoft as the initial publisher.
Yup, it used to be great. Another great will rise, the cycle shall continue.
It’s been shit for years, mass effect 2 was the last great title they did, 16 years ago
EA published several Commodore 64 games I liked
Aw shit I forgot about Jade Empire. Fuckkk EA.
some of my favorite games ever made. what a travesty.
Pretty interesting that both Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka (the two remaining co-founders by the time of the EA acquisition) both bailed at the same time in 2012. After quite a number of lead developers and writers jumped ship.
So, it took 5 years of trying to tough it out under corporate ownership before they were like ‘this is bullshit, let’s go’.
And BioWare, who made so many great titles, didn’t produce anything particularly noteworthy after that.
Staying was probably in their contract. Its pretty common when a company is bought out that selling ownership stay for X amount of years after so the company doesn’t just instantly nose dive.
Yup, and there’s a little quid pro quo, too: You have to stay but they make you president in the corporate structure over the acquisition and probably get stock offerings. Kind of expected, but I’m sure it’s nice to be able to say you’re a senior VP or whatever in a much bigger company.
They were just counting down the days for when their contracts were up.
Kind of a shame but also understandable. You put your life, blood sweat and tears, all the overtime, every waking moment, to build something and if the opportunity to cash out arrives they almost always take it. Otherwise they’re just riding the wolf by the ears until they crash from burnout.
When I was in college there was a girl I knew who ranted and complained when BioWare was bought by EA. She was right.
That was my first exposure to understanding what EA is.
A lot of us predicted this would happen after Veilguard not meeting expectations. EA would eventually make BioWare take the fall for EA’s bad management choices.
Honestly, the surprise was that it took them this long to do it.
Canadian studio based out of my home town of Edmonton. Fuck you, EA.
I feel like they need to drop the ‘Arts’ from their name.
Or prepend it with an F
That’s been true for maybe 30 years. 20, anyway.
As soon as they started talking about accelerating innovation, creating new “intellectual property”, and increasing shareholder value, the “Arts” were definitely over. And probably before then.
Think I’d blame the downhill turn which has mostly continued on Riccitiello
It’s E.A.!
I remember falling in love with Kotor and Jade Empire on my original Xbox.
Was super disappointed we didn’t get sequels on the Xbox 360. The first Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins made up for it though. Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 2 were a let down. More action then RPG.
I have so many memories about the hype for Dragon Age: Origins. Reading about it in high school, drooling over screenshots. All via Games for Windows magazine. I was probably the only person subscribed to it lol.
Mother fuckers.
I guess, players refused to play games which lack contrast and expose them to the same politics they are already experiencing in their daily lives. Maybe all the newer games needed for success was an integrated mini game about the character doing their taxes.
EA making sure I boycott them by cancelling any games I am interested in and enshitifying the rest (Looking at you Skate 4 and the upcoming Fight Night game)
If you weren’t already boycotting them I have a tough time believing you’ll stick with it now
Electronic Arts hasn’t made a good game since “Mail Order Monsters”
If u don’t put respect on NFS underground I don’t think we can be friends
