EA Louse Reveals How Management Destroyed Warhammer And Bioware

kiwi_2005 · 10-17-10, 02:16 AM

Bioware Mythic employee turned blogger speaks out.

Quote:

EA spent more than $300 million making Knights of the Old Republic MMORPG. “And you know what they’re most proud of? This is the kicker. They are most proud of the sound. No seriously. Something like a 20Gig installation, and most of it is voiceover work. That’s the best they have. The rest of the game is a joke.

Not unlike the famous “EA Spouse” who blogged about the poor working conditions at EA several years ago, an unidentified person who claims to be a BioWare Mythic employee has started up a blog called “EA Louse” where he disses the company’s management.

In the blog EA Louse admitted that he is disgruntled because “[he] found out recently that I will be dismissed from Bioware Mythic during the next round of layoffs EA coming this November. I'm sick of seeing EA outsource their art and find every excuse to get rid of us and still not achieve anything. Mythic is dying, and it’s not us who killed him but we're taking the fall.”

EA Louse then revealed why (in his opinion) Warhammer 40K Online failed. “First, the project leaders did not know what they were doing. Jeff Hickman was the saddest excuse for a producer I’ve seen. All he did was drink the Koolaid and suck up to the right people. He was the perfect yes-man, and this reached down to almost all managers.”

Another revelation made by the EA Louse is that EA spent more than $300 million making Knights of the Old Republic MMORPG. “And you know what they’re most proud of? This is the kicker. They are most proud of the sound. No seriously. Something like a 20Gig installation, and most of it is voiceover work. That’s the best they have. The rest of the game is a joke. EA knows it and so does George Lucas,they’re panicking , and so most of Mythic has already been cannibalized to work in Austin on it because they can’t keep pushing back launch.”

“We sold more than a million boxes, and only had 300k subs a month later. Going down every since. It’s “stable” now, but guess what? Even Dark Age and Ultima have more subs than we have. How great is that? Games almost a decade make more money than our biggest project.”

http://www.megagames.com/news/ea-lou...er-and-bioware

Source
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...-Dirty-Laundry

David Jaffe F-Bombs the EA Louse
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...s-the-EA-Louse

kiwi_2005 · 10-17-10, 02:30 AM

I could probably say the same thing of Activision crapping on WoW, where the game has become to causal ever since the Wrath of the Lich king expansion came out, (old school players will say more like Burning crusade expansion). Everything ingame is far to easy where that sense of achievement after grinding is no longer there.

Quit wow about a month ago sold my account and waiting for Warhammer 40k Dark Millennium MMORPG

Castout · 10-17-10, 06:09 AM

Bioware is one of my favorite game developers . . . .

The good thing now I find less reason to buy a new rig

SteamWake · 10-17-10, 08:03 AM

As an aside I thought Knights of the old republic was a good game. Yea the voice acting was good but the game was good as well.

Raptor1 · 10-17-10, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteamWake

As an aside I thought Knights of the old republic was a good game. Yea the voice acting was good but the game was good as well.

KOTOR was a very good game. Of course, this was before EA bought BioWare...

Schroeder · 10-17-10, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteamWake

As an aside I thought Knights of the old republic was a good game. Yea the voice acting was good but the game was good as well.

I second that (though the German version had only mediocre voice acting...which is still better than most foreign video games have in their German version....).

Task Force · 10-17-10, 11:27 AM

Hmm... Wish EA would make a big business mistake, and go out of business. Maby some good games would start comeing out, same thing with UBI.
Well im only looking foward to mass effect 3 when it comes to games being published by EA, then I will probably be done with them for quite a while.

Spike88 · 10-17-10, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Task Force

Hmm... Wish EA would make a big business mistake, and go out of business. Maby some good games would start comeing out, same thing with UBI.

If EA and Ubi went out of business, no one would really pick up their studios/games.

Although Bioware would probably be bought out by Activision, which would equate to Mass Effect 4, Dragon Age 3, Dragon Age 4, Mass Effect PSP/DS and Dragon Age "Dragon Ops" All being released within the next two years.

Task Force · 10-17-10, 11:54 AM

Yea... well, anyway. Gameing is *******ed ither way.

Arclight · 10-17-10, 07:47 PM

You mean PC gaming is dying..? Again?

krashkart · 10-17-10, 11:03 PM

PC gaming might see a slight decline as the over-glorified giants market more and more to the consoles. But in their wake I think we could see a re-emergence of functional software houses again. Just hope they learn from the mistakes that are being made now so as not to ever repeat them.

Weiss Pinguin · 10-18-10, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krashkart

PC gaming might see a slight decline as the over-glorified giants market more and more to the consoles. But in their wake I think we could see a re-emergence of functional software houses again. Just hope they learn from the mistakes that are being made now so as not to ever repeat them.

I think so too. If the big guys move over to consoles others might fill up that vacuum, and then in another decade or so we'll see another bunch of giants that put out crap games

Bilge_Rat · 10-18-10, 11:55 AM

I had KOTOR, thought it was a good game as well.

$300 million? imagine what Silent Hunter 5 could have been with that kind of budget.

Nordmann · 10-18-10, 12:40 PM

BioWare know what they are doing, and they have a long and well founded reputation for developing excellent games, unlike many companies these days.

"And you know what they’re most proud of? This is the kicker. They are most proud of the sound."

I really don't see why that is surprising, considering SWTOR will be the only fully voiced MMO in existence, I think they have every right to be proud. It's something no one else has done, or is currently doing, and it will take the game to a whole new level.

Personally, I wouldn't trust the opinion of someone who just lost his/her job, it's bound to be negative. In any case, if a game like Star Wars Galaxies can still pull in subscribers, I have no doubt that SWTOR will be both popular and successful.

Takeda Shingen · 10-18-10, 02:59 PM

Okay, after many years of contemplation, I am ready to step out of the shadows and present myself as the heretic that I am; I do not care for BioWare or it's games. I find them limited and shallow, and am more of a Bethesda man myself. Please don't hurt me.

That being said, should EA somehow die, BioWare and it's franchises have garnered such a following that they would certainly be picked up by a rival company. And so long as the computer continues to be more powerful and versatile than the console, developers will continue to publish their games for it.

The bottom line is that BioWare continues to sell a ton of copies for the PC. They know it and EA knows it. PCs are a constant; they do not have the issue of becoming outdated when the next generation console emerges. So long as those two things remain constant, PCs will continue to be a major factor in the game market.

10-17-10, 02:30 AM	#2
kiwi_2005 Eternal Patrol Join Date: May 2004 Location: Aeoteroa Posts: 7,382 Downloads: 223 Uploads: 1	I could probably say the same thing of Activision crapping on WoW, where the game has become to causal ever since the Wrath of the Lich king expansion came out, (old school players will say more like Burning crusade expansion). Everything ingame is far to easy where that sense of achievement after grinding is no longer there. Quit wow about a month ago sold my account and waiting for Warhammer 40k Dark Millennium MMORPG __________________ RIP kiwi_2005 Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others.

10-17-10, 06:09 AM	#3
Castout Silent Hunter Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Jakarta Posts: 4,794 Downloads: 89 Uploads: 6	Bioware is one of my favorite game developers . . . . The good thing now I find less reason to buy a new rig __________________ My blog: http://exposingsingapore.wordpress.com/

10-17-10, 08:03 AM	#4
SteamWake Rear Admiral Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 13,224 Downloads: 5 Uploads: 0	As an aside I thought Knights of the old republic was a good game. Yea the voice acting was good but the game was good as well. __________________ Follow the progress of Mr. Mulligan : http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=147648

10-17-10, 11:27 AM	#7
Task Force Rear Admiral Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: SPACE!!!! Posts: 10,142 Downloads: 85 Uploads: 0	Hmm... Wish EA would make a big business mistake, and go out of business. Maby some good games would start comeing out, same thing with UBI. Well im only looking foward to mass effect 3 when it comes to games being published by EA, then I will probably be done with them for quite a while. __________________ Task Force industries "Taking control of the world, one mind at a time" Last edited by Task Force; 10-17-10 at 11:50 AM.

10-17-10, 11:54 AM	#9
Task Force Rear Admiral Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: SPACE!!!! Posts: 10,142 Downloads: 85 Uploads: 0	Yea... well, anyway. Gameing is ******ed ither way. __________________ Task Force industries "Taking control of the world, one mind at a time"*

10-17-10, 07:47 PM	#10
Arclight Navy Seal Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Land of windmills, tulips, wooden shoes and cheese. Lots of cheese. Posts: 8,467 Downloads: 53 Uploads: 10	You mean PC gaming is dying..? Again? __________________ Contritium praecedit superbia.

10-17-10, 11:03 PM	#11
krashkart Navy Seal Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 5,292 Downloads: 100 Uploads: 0	PC gaming might see a slight decline as the over-glorified giants market more and more to the consoles. But in their wake I think we could see a re-emergence of functional software houses again. Just hope they learn from the mistakes that are being made now so as not to ever repeat them.

10-18-10, 11:55 AM	#13
Bilge_Rat Silent Hunter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: standing watch... Posts: 3,856 Downloads: 344 Uploads: 0	I had KOTOR, thought it was a good game as well. $300 million? imagine what Silent Hunter 5 could have been with that kind of budget. __________________

10-18-10, 12:40 PM	#14
Nordmann Commodore Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: England Posts: 628 Downloads: 62 Uploads: 0	BioWare know what they are doing, and they have a long and well founded reputation for developing excellent games, unlike many companies these days. "And you know what they’re most proud of? This is the kicker. They are most proud of the sound." I really don't see why that is surprising, considering SWTOR will be the only fully voiced MMO in existence, I think they have every right to be proud. It's something no one else has done, or is currently doing, and it will take the game to a whole new level. Personally, I wouldn't trust the opinion of someone who just lost his/her job, it's bound to be negative. In any case, if a game like Star Wars Galaxies can still pull in subscribers, I have no doubt that SWTOR will be both popular and successful. __________________ "I must confess that my imagination refuses to see any sort of submarine doing anything but suffocating its crew and floundering at sea." - H. G. Wells

10-18-10, 02:59 PM	#15
Takeda Shingen Navy Seal Join Date: Mar 2000 Posts: 8,643 Downloads: 19 Uploads: 0	Okay, after many years of contemplation, I am ready to step out of the shadows and present myself as the heretic that I am; I do not care for BioWare or it's games. I find them limited and shallow, and am more of a Bethesda man myself. Please don't hurt me. That being said, should EA somehow die, BioWare and it's franchises have garnered such a following that they would certainly be picked up by a rival company. And so long as the computer continues to be more powerful and versatile than the console, developers will continue to publish their games for it. The bottom line is that BioWare continues to sell a ton of copies for the PC. They know it and EA knows it. PCs are a constant; they do not have the issue of becoming outdated when the next generation console emerges. So long as those two things remain constant, PCs will continue to be a major factor in the game market.