BioWare: "It was sad to read EA Louse"

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 5 November, 2010

Star Wars MMO "a big bet, but the right bet".

BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk have told of how they were "disappointed" and "sad" after reading the recent scathing anonymous blog post from EA Louse.

Last month a disgruntled EA employee about to fall victim to lay-offs published a vicious diatribe against Warhammer Online creator BioWare Mythic, its staff, and claimed that forthcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic will be a disaster.

The blogger claimed that BioWare had, "spent more money making the Old Republic than James Cameron spent on Avatar. Sh*t you not. More than $300 million! Can you believe that?"

In a new interview with Eurogamer Muzyka and Zeschuk pointed towards the anonymous nature of the post and stressed its commitment to The Old Republic.

"We're disappointed in the sense of someone having that unfortunate perspective," said Zeschuk.

"It was sad to read that kind of stuff," added Muzyka. "We just won a top 100 employers award for BioWare. We invest a lot in quality of the workplace. It's really important to us. We take it seriously.

"The BioWare Mythic team is part of the BioWare group. I know the people that work there. They care. They feel the same way that the other leaders across BioWare and EA feel.

"That kind of stuff... We don't respond to rumours and speculation by people that are ill-informed. We're committed to quality in the workplace."

"The reality of it is when you take an anonymous space you don't know where it's from," said Zeschuk. "Regardless, we're always focused on making the best possible workplace.

"We try to focus on making a great place to work, making great products. But you never know. If it's anonymous, there's no proof of anything. You can claim anything, right?"

Both Muzyka and Zeschuk described The Old Republic, a game due out some time next year, as a "tremendous opportunity".

"It's a big bet, but it's the right kind of bet to make for EA," Muzyka said.

"It's the right kind of bet for BioWare to make. It's taking everything we know from the last 15 to 20 years of development experience and placing some amazing people onto the team, with MMO experience as well as RPG experience.

"The team is a group I'm really proud of. They're working hard to deliver this great game. It's got a lot of content. It's taking the best of features from other products like MMOs and putting them together with something BioWare's known for: the story, choice and consequence, but not losing anything in the translation - exploration, combat, customisation, progression.

"So in that sense it's really a smart decision. It's a pretty good bet for a studio group like BioWare to be building right now. We see it as more opportunity than anything else.

"It's a great BioWare type experience in a massively multiplayer space in a Star Wars setting. Those seem to be some pretty good factors that have set us up for massive success. Beyond that, we just build the best game we can."

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (27) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Shikasama #1 2 years ago

    I can't wait to at least try SWTOR. A game supported like an MMO without having to rely on 20/30 other people for a consistent playing experience?

    Sign me the fuck up.

  • djed #2 2 years ago

    We don't respond to rumours and speculation by people that are ill-informed.

    Then I guess EALouse is pretty well-informed for you do ramble on quite a bit.

  • Golgo #3 2 years ago

    Like a soap opera, this. Enthralling.

  • LiveForever #4 2 years ago

    Thats what you get when you sign with the Devil.

  • Segnit #5 2 years ago

    The last 5 paragraphs sounded awfully lot like he was trying to hard reassure himself that all is gonna be good.

  • actionfitz #6 2 years ago

    As much as I love Bioware games, so far the only things they have shown that make me go 'oooh and aaah' are the focus on story and the promo cgi done by Blur studios.
    I dig the art style from the screen shots but the animation and combat looks very KotoR and that game is ancient.
    They better have some improved combat and animation etc up their sleeves come release day.

    So many studios releasing embarrassingly bad MMO's lately: Age of Conan, Aion, Vangaurd, APB, Tabula Rasa, WAR etc...
    so many millions of dollars pissed away by Ass-Hat studio heads who couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery...

    one can hope this game will buck the trend.
    Fingers Crossed etc.

  • Peter_LIAR_Molyneux #7 2 years ago

    RIP Westwood, Origin, Bullfrog, Black Box, Pandemic, etc.
    I hate to say it but it is only a matter of time before EA dismantles Bioware. At least the doctors got their payday when they sold out.

  • tobsen #8 2 years ago

    Describing your upcoming game as a "big bet" in the first place doesn't sound very confident to me. Bracing yourself for failure are we?

  • jonsaan #9 2 years ago

    Unfortunately most company employee awards are just a matter of passing various audits. They don't mean much IMO.

  • iokthemonkey #10 2 years ago

    They also don't really deny anything that was said. Surely you'd expect some rebuttal like ''we don't do X here,'' or ''nobody was laid-off in those circumstances'' or whatever.

    And Shikasama - very few MMOs these days are group-reliant. Yes, many have large-scale encounters that may require a group but it's perfectly possible in, for example, LOTRO, to solo right to the level cap.

  • iokthemonkey #11 2 years ago

    Unfortunately most company employee awards are just a matter of passing various audits. They don't mean much IMO.

    ----

    Yeah. Despite what people might think, something like being an Investor in People doesn't mean you actually look-out for the individuals in your company. It means you invest in them as resources and encourage their work-related development (ignoring the impact having to handle additional responsibilitis, work extra hours etc, may have on their personal life.)

  • Scopeh #12 2 years ago

    'BioWare's known for: the story, choice and consequence, but not losing anything in the translation - exploration, combat, customisation, progression.'

    Thats all good, but its an MMO! not a single player RPG, if they dont have End-game content this game will fall flat on its face, no mention of PvE or PvP. The majority of MMO-gamers will want to get to max level for world firsts, they wont care for story and progression, Mythic needs to be telling Bioware these things..

  • marilena #13 2 years ago

    One thing that strikes me is that they don't deny it cost 300 million. I initially didn't give this sum much credence, but their non-denial makes me think that maybe it's true. 300 million! Geez!

  • iokthemonkey #14 2 years ago

    In Bioware's defence, I don't think that's accurate Scopeh. Whilst End-game is important (given that MMOs don't have a natural end like normal games) many people like and many MMOs make a good job of their journey to the highest level. The actual number of people who reach the highest levels in MMOs are - despite what you'd expect and think you've seen in-game - the minority. It's just that the people who DO make it to the top of the pyramid are the long-termers and more dedicated players. So yes, they'll be the ones hanging around for months (if not years) and paying their subs continually. But the income they generate isn't as important as that generated by the people lower down the ladder, simply because there are more of them.

    But I do agree that Bioware and EA have been very quiet on the ''proper'' MMO content front.

  • FogHeart #15 2 years ago

    Well of course the post was anonymous. It's a shitty fact of life that no matter how much you hate who you work for, whether you quit or are made redundant, you need a reference from them. If this chap revealed his identity, whether he was right or wrong, he'd be blackballed. The employees may be treated well, but it's cold comfort for someone made redundant who sees money he considers 'wasted' on other projects.

  • Redeye #16 2 years ago

    EA Louse's comments actually struck me as coming from someone who hadn't quit or been made redundant, but received the royal order of the boot (hence the bitter diatribe that resulted). As I've said before, I've worked with too many people in this business who don't pull their weight, and when they get their cards, bitch and whine as if the universe owes them a favour.

    Too bad, tough shit. Game development is bloody hard work, and if you don't keep your nose to the grindstone, then you get all you deserve.

    EDIT: Seriously can't believe I've been negged for this - I'll put dollars to doughnuts that those responsible have NEVER worked in development before. It's called a fucking work ethic, people...but no, it's much easier to just hit that minus button, isn't it?
    Edited by Redeye at 05/11/10 @ 17:43

  • iokthemonkey #17 2 years ago

    Too bad, tough shit. Game development is bloody hard work, and if you don't keep your nose to the grindstone, then you get all you deserve.

    ----

    Only when it's badly-managed, which is how it sounds here.

  • CaptainKid #18 2 years ago

    Wait, wait.
    Bioware MYTHIC is making Star Wars The Old Republic??

    The same guys that made Warhammer Online?

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #19 2 years ago

    @kid no and yes - 'EA Mythic' orginally made WAR, when MJ srewed the pooch with the game and was let go EA handed over both WAR and DAoC over to Bioware and reformed it as Bioware Mythic. Bottom line is 'Mythic' now works for Bioware and Bioware is now in control of all the MMOs that EA has, hence the reason why WAR is yet to shut down - Bioware are trying to pull it back to actally being good and pull a CCP (in which the orginal company boched EVE to the point of closure, CCP bought themselfs and the game out and took four years in fixing the game as you see today)

  • AOFanboi #20 2 years ago

    <em>I can't wait to at least try SWTOR.</em>

    I wish I had waited to try SW:G, STO, AoC...

    It seems the best approach to any MMO is to wait until a year after launch, when the ground-into-dust devs return from their recuperation and start fixing bugs.

  • albinac #21 2 years ago

    bioware have been around for years and have a solid track record for making games. if they spend €300 million on making this mmo i would suppose that its is going to be greath and if they didnt spend that money well then they should have, games have to make the next step in their life cycle to become reconised as an art form just like movies,music and so on.high production values is common in movies so why not in games.go swtor go make billiones.

  • hiddenranbir #22 2 years ago

    They fact they had to respond like this, and remind us they're committed to quality...?

  • davisorle #23 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012

  • Ternon #24 2 years ago

    I agree with that employee.

    Animations in SW: TOR are so bafflingly bad that it ruins the whole game, not to mention complete lack of physics, ragdolls and various visual effects.

  • hiddenranbir #25 2 years ago

    If it was you that you had to respond to something like this, what would you do?

    If it was untrue you could just release a very short response; "it is nonsense.". Here, we see a waffling response.

  • NegativeZero #26 2 years ago

    Thats what you get when you sign with the Devil.

    But Bioware work for EA, not Activision? I'm confused...

  • craziii #27 2 years ago

    from the answers to EA louse, we are gonna see a great dev go down in flames in 2011:( I am sad.