"So, we learned nothing from Andromeda, but thought Anthem would be good anyway..."

[Barnstormer 112]

Me: "And now for our next story: the sky has been determined to be blue, surprising no one."

 

Edited April 4, 2019 by Barnstormer

[Passion 3,478]

Instead of linking YongYea's video in a title which directly refers to an article written by someone else, how about you link the actual article ;x ? It's still a really interesting read to anyone who wonders how AAA gaming companies REALLY operate.

 

https://kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong-1833731964

 

I am shocked by the fact that it was not EA this time who held responsibility. Bioware failed for good with this, especially when I read parts about depression and people literally locking themselves in inside closets and crying at work. Or some simply leaving work as if nothing happened and not returning for 1-3 months due to stressful work conditions.

Gaming industry of "top" level stopped being about passionate development of games you'd love others to have fun with, but about corporate squeezing of your employees in inhuman conditions because your publishers demand it.

I hold complete respect and compassion towards regular employees of Bioware. Unfortunately, it is no surprise. Once again capitalistic CEOs and upper management is too blinded with greed and have their heads up their butts to even CARE about issues reported by lower ranks, who actually DO things EVERYONE else's future depends on.

[Barnstormer 112]

3 hours ago, Passion said:

Instead of linking YongYea's video in a title which directly refers to an article written by someone else, how about you link the actual article ;x ?

Cuz it was a working title and I forgot to fix it when I clicked 'Post' Fixed.

As to the rest...I'd agree that Bioware execs and leadership hold a lot of the blame this time....but EA isn't completely blameless either. Their policies and pressure and just overall attitude about how they want a game developed likely influenced a lot of what the Bioware leadership did. Either way...yeah it's just an absolute mess. And the fact they said they're gonna use Anthem's codebase to build DA4 makes me even more worried than I was for that game, which was a lot to begin with cuz unlike Anthem I'm actually invested in that franchise.

I know it's a pipe dream, but I feel like all these disillusioned and unhappy developers across the industry should just pack up their stuff and leave whatever company they're at, hook up, make a new gaming company, and just start making stuff they're enthusiastic about-it's not even *entirely* outside the realm of possibility, given things like Kickstarter. I feel like if they made a page saying 'Hey, we're a bunch of devs from X, Y, and Z companies who HATED what they were doing, and here's what we wanna make', they'd get funded in no time. It's happened before on a smaller scale, so....

This whole situation also actually reminds me a bit of the industrial revolution era, in the sense that the industry is relatively new, and regulations haven't kept up to keep exec's greed in check.

[Passion 3,478]

I can hardly say that EA applied pressure on Bioware really. I mean sure, some of it did exist purely because it had to. Thing is, while publisher does dictate some elements of whar should be in the game, like monetization for example, they often do not dictate how exactly the game should be constructed. They will say "I want something like this and that by then" and that is all.

Bioware had the timeframe preestablished for themselves. And I watched 3 vids on this after reading the article to see what main bullet points would be and I think Angry Joe nailed two of issues on the head.

Exhibit A: Anthem E3 gameplay demo and predicted devs reaction: "OH SO THIS IS THE GAME WE ARE GOING FOR AND CREATING" this literally sums up everything. ~5 years of preproduction and the devs didn't even know what are they trying to piece together at all.

Exhibit B: Implementation of flight mechanic. This is a prime example of how poor management and decision making influences morale and workload of your employees. "We need flight" -  okay, engine is not designed for that do we need to alter the engine and then work on level design. "Nevermind scratch flight." - ...okay, I guess I need to rework all the levels I designed so they are actually accessible. "Or you know what, give us that flight." - Jesus fine, make up your mind already... "Reverse that, no flight." - oh good Lord. "WE NEED FLIGHT IMPLEMENTED ASAP" - I quit.

[Barnstormer 112]

57 minutes ago, Passion said:

I can hardly say that EA applied pressure on Bioware really.

I was speaking in a more broad, general sense. Eg., EA demanding success no matter the cost, demanding every ounce of productivity out of workers till they're bled dry, not learning from backlash, you know, just generally EA being EA. My point was that's going to affect the way Bioware leadership approaches things, cuz that sort of thing trickles down. So no, EA isn't directly responsible for the failure, but they had a hand in it. Hell Anthem wouldn't even be what it is/exist if EA didn't dictate 'we want you to make us something that will be a recurrent source of monetization....HEY DESTINY IS POPULAR WHERE'S YOUR VERSION OF THAT BIOWARE???" You even said it yourself in your first response, it's not about passion any more, it's about money-Bioware wouldn't be having a majority of these issues if it weren't for EA owning them in the first place.