The doors are closing for Bioware... but very slowly.

[Starfox]

Electronic Arts announced officially the not so stellar sale performance of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. It appears that the game (that sold about 1.5 million copies since its release) fell well under the expectations that EA had for it and by "well under", I mean that EA expectations were almost twice this number. In fact Veilguard performed even poorer than Inquisition. Poorer to the point that it went on sale about a month (and just during the holidays period) with a 20% and sometimes even 35% discount (which was the first sign that things were going really wrong with Veilguard sales; you just don't discount a recently released game if it's a success, you ride the wave instead).

When I first read that announcement my first question was "OK, what happens to Bioware now?". Two days ago, we got the beginning of an answer, right from Gary McKay, current manager of Bioware. And if the whole thing seems like something you already saw and/or heard before, it's because a very similar announcement was made a year and a half ago while Veilguard was still in development (very helpfully Gary provided a link to this old announcement in the new one).

But let's get to the deciphering of the BS.

Now that Dragon Age: The Veilguard has been released, a core team at BioWare is developing the next Mass Effect game under the leadership of veterans from the original trilogy, including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, Parrish Ley, and others.

Wow, look at this list of names. I'm pretty sure it was all he could muster. I'm sure if you ask him to provide a fifth name, that question would be met with a blank look, followed by a: "Sorry I'll have to consult the roster to see who is really left".

In keeping with our fierce commitment to innovating during the development and delivery of Mass Effect, we have challenged ourselves to think deeply about delivering the best experience to our fans. We are taking this opportunity between full development cycles to reimagine how we work at BioWare.

Well, I told you. Same crap as the old announcement, different game. They re-imagine their company like they re-imagined it in 2023. And here's the main course:

Given this stage of development, we don't require support from the full studio. We have incredible talent here at BioWare, and so we have worked diligently over the past few months to match many of our colleagues with other teams at EA that had open roles that were a strong fit.

Read: we are letting people go because the development of Mass Effect doesn't require them. It was discovered yesterday that most of the people concerned are in fact not going to work in other EA divisions, they are looking for a new job, entirely. As I said it's basically the same announcement than last time but much shorter. And here's the kicker, because what's a good news without a side splitter:

Today's news will see BioWare become a more agile, focused studio that produces unforgettable RPGs. We appreciate your support as we build a new future for BioWare.

Bioware becomes more agile
No kidding, with all the weight they shed in a couple of years, they'd better be... A couple of questions remains though: what the hell are they going to do with all that newfound agility? And what all of that means for Mass Effect?

focused studio that produces unforgettable RPGs.
Considering that (beyond the controversy that will remain the most memorable part of it) Veilguard is on the verge of becoming very forgettable as a game, let us be the judge of that, mm?

as we build a new future for BioWare.
A future where EA will slam the door right on the ass of the few remaining Bioware employees and nail a huge "Closed indefinitely" sign to the door... or maybe a "For sale".

Let's not fool ourselves here. Electronic Arts is a corporation, with shareholders to please. Bioware has been a commercial thorn in their side since after the release of Mass Effect 3 (despite the fact that EA was directly responsible for most of the shortcomings though -- including ME3 badly handled ending --, from the engine switch for Mass Effect Andromeda and Dragon Age Inquisition, to the deplorable Anthem that they had no right to push Bioware to develop as it wasn't even their kind of game.

For Veilguard thought, EA adopted another approach, very mellowed for them, all things considered. They gave Bioware "Carte Blanche". They gave a chance to Bioware to prove that they still got it by letting them develop the game they wanted to develop with little oversight or involvement from the suits on top. And a result was delivered... which was not the good one.

Mass effect will probably happen, because EA possibly put too much money in it to let it go to waste. But after that? The next Mass Effect would have to be the biggest hit ever...

We're also very far from even seeing the next Mass Effect as it was confirmed to still be in pre-production which means it will be a while yet before any real development work is done.  So, after all, the amount of money spent by EA until now might not be so vast that it would prevent the suits from going for the kill. If the next Mass Effect happens though, optimists put a release date in 2027, the pessimists are more leaning toward 2029 or even 2030 (if humanity manages to keep a bushy tail until then, which is far from being a given).

As usual, a thought for all those people that are now looking for a new job. In our current world, it's never a good place to be. 

[Silver Sorrow]

All of the names he rattled off, it's like they're the guys who were warming the benches while the real talent got things done.

(Plus, all of the truly important people to the franchises are making games at other studios now.)

Some of my favorite takes from various YouTube videos (sorry, I didn't take screenshots):

Now they should change their pronouns to "they/were".

Congratulations to Bioware for the making the least pirated game of the year.

Imagine directing a game so bad that it causes the entire studio to restructure and say "hey we're not doing that again please buy our next game we're sorry".

That last one was in response to the tranny being "asked to resign" (translation: FIRED).

And I did take a screenshot of these two:

You cannot view this attachment.

The next Mass Effect is going to have to sell the most copies of any game ever made just to break even by the time it's released...so I'm not holding my breath waiting for it. It may just be scrapped and considered a tax write-off for E/A. I don't see Bioware surviving long enough to finish it at this point, anyway. But I've been wrong before.

So far, it hasn't been a good year for The Agenda, has it?

GAMERS: Yasuke is an insult to Japanese culture.
UBISOFT: Yasuke? Who's Yasuke? We know nothing of this Yasuke you speak of! The game's about a female ninja, Naoe!
GAMERS: Too little, too late. Enjoy the breadlines.

[Silver Sorrow]

Quick addendum: I keep seeing videos where people are cheering the firing of the writers, but I don't know...I mean, sure: they were incompetent. But I think the real problem lies with management. They should be looking for jobs, too. The entire AAA gaming industry needs a purge. Grumble...grumble...

[Starfox]

But I think the real problem lies with management.

Very true. writers are responsible for the delivery of the message but the message being delivered, it's up to the lead writer and the project director. Assigning blame is OK when needed but assigning it correctly is better. Those writers' job (most of them anyway) was to format the message, not to think it and even less to change it, or they would have been fired even sooner as were some of Bioware old guard writers because they didn't agree with the message and were becoming "embarrassing".

At worst, the writers that were fired now could be accused of not speaking up when they could have but then, when you have a family to feed it's not always easy.