USGamer - The Steady Decline of Bioware

[Bofferbrauer2]

JamesGarret said:

https://www.usgamer.net/articles/the-steady-decline-of-bioware

Bit of a long article, but here are some parts:

Once regarded as one of the very best RPG studios in the business, BioWare's games have drawn more and more criticism over the years. Star Wars: The Old Republic had problems with its endgame; Mass Effect 3 had problems with its ending; Dragon Age: Inquisition had problems with being shallow, and Mass Effect: Andromeda... well... Mass Effect: Andromeda just had problems. Even Mass Effect 2, still regarded by many as Peak BioWare, drew its share of grumbles from old-school RPG fans for emphasizing action over depth.

EA, being the easy target that it is, tends to catch most of the blame for BioWare's troubles. But that's only part of the story. The truth is that BioWare was already on its current path when EA entered the picture.

Behind the scenes, BioWare has suffered a talent drain as some of its longest-serving developers have departed for greener pastures. Founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk went into semi-retirement; writers Mike Laidlaw and David Gaider departed after Dragon Age: Inquisition, and Mass Effect 3 director Casey Hudson left and then returned. Changes like these would have a negative impact on any studio.

More than ever, BioWare needs to reset, refocus, and get back to basics with a smart, focused RPG of the type that it used to make. In a perfect world, that would be Knights of the Old Republic 3, or whatever Dragon Age 4 ends up being (assuming it gets made). Sadly, Anthem's slow start combined with EA's intransigence makes that seem unlikely, and that leaves the future of one of gaming's great studios very much in doubt.

@bolded 1: Really? What, are you, Author? Like, 25?

@bolded 2: In a perfect world, Black Isle would have survived, they were vastly better than Bioware even at their highest. Fallout, Planetscape: Torment, Icewind Dale... But they were to good to last...