@Gamasutra Casey Hudson returns to Bioware to lead the studio now that Aaryn Flynn is departing.
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BioWare - Casey Hudson back at Bioware
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BoboTheMighty posted about it in this thread
https://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1061462558#post1061462558
https://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1061462558#post1061462558
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RPGFool
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Seems to me BioWare is risking a great deal bringing Hudson back in the General Manager position. He abandoned his own ME3 team and their work in favor of his own ME3 ending. Then he refused to substantively change the ending hiding behind the shield of "artistic integrity".
Thing is, BioWare needs to be focused on bringing in customers, not trying to satisfy the egos of its "artists". An "artistic integrity" incident with Anthem could sink the company. Time will tell whether Hudson can be the type of manager that gets the most out of his resources (people), or the type of manager that tries to run his people as his own alter ego.
I'm also pretty much in agreement with Couchpotato's comment in BoboTheMighty's parallel thread that given BW's movement in the direction of multiplayer, chances are Hudson's actions won't make a great deal of practical difference to me.
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Thing is, BioWare needs to be focused on bringing in customers, not trying to satisfy the egos of its "artists". An "artistic integrity" incident with Anthem could sink the company. Time will tell whether Hudson can be the type of manager that gets the most out of his resources (people), or the type of manager that tries to run his people as his own alter ego.
I'm also pretty much in agreement with Couchpotato's comment in BoboTheMighty's parallel thread that given BW's movement in the direction of multiplayer, chances are Hudson's actions won't make a great deal of practical difference to me.
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Best of luck to him, he'll need it.
However, I think EA has made the wise thing to put Mass Effect on ice for now.
After 2-3 years, they might be able to reboot the series with a bang - but any attempt right now surely feels like a lame-ass quick-aid.
Also, by this time we'll see if the current "AAA-goes-multiplay" -direction is a good business strategy or not.
However, I think EA has made the wise thing to put Mass Effect on ice for now.
After 2-3 years, they might be able to reboot the series with a bang - but any attempt right now surely feels like a lame-ass quick-aid.
Also, by this time we'll see if the current "AAA-goes-multiplay" -direction is a good business strategy or not.
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NewDArt
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I stopped caring about Bioware developers when the docs left.
They're still making decent games, though - but not at the level required for me to really bother investing in who's who.
They're still making decent games, though - but not at the level required for me to really bother investing in who's who.
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RPGFool
Guest
The more I think about this, the more it goes to 'history repeats itself'.
ME:A suffered from studio disruption and departures/changes of top management at BW such that the game ended up being put together anew in the last 18 months. So now BW has its Anthem project, about 18 months out, and a complete shake up of top management… Bet Kotaku is already working on a story titled something like, "The troubled 5 year development of Anthem"
The there's Drew Karpyshyn, very good experienced BW writer, originally lead writer of ME1 and ME2, but left halfway through ME2. Then entire plot line was changed per then ME director Casey Hudson. Meanwhile Karpyshyn has been working on Anthem and is one of the bright spots there. Wonder whether Hudson will try to force his views on Karpyshyn again.
Then there's why the need for change at this particular point? And that points to the less than successful development and launch of ME:A. In turn the current GM change suggests that turmoil in BW studios exceeded ME:A and what has been reported in the press…
Also Hudson has little to no experience with the massive server and staffing management required to develop and sustain a major MMO game. When Obsidian Studios recently announced it had stopped developing the MMO Armored Warfare project, Feargus Urquhart said "we might not tackle a game like this again' and noted among other things that MMOs require that a "developer gets huge and brings in all the other aspects of the business: operations, customer service, live operations, etc.
Surely EA/ BioWare has the resources to develop and manage a huge MMO. But Hudson has no experience here, and yet this is likely going to become the largest part of the GM's role in both the short term and long term.
This just has disaster written all over it….
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ME:A suffered from studio disruption and departures/changes of top management at BW such that the game ended up being put together anew in the last 18 months. So now BW has its Anthem project, about 18 months out, and a complete shake up of top management… Bet Kotaku is already working on a story titled something like, "The troubled 5 year development of Anthem"
The there's Drew Karpyshyn, very good experienced BW writer, originally lead writer of ME1 and ME2, but left halfway through ME2. Then entire plot line was changed per then ME director Casey Hudson. Meanwhile Karpyshyn has been working on Anthem and is one of the bright spots there. Wonder whether Hudson will try to force his views on Karpyshyn again.
Then there's why the need for change at this particular point? And that points to the less than successful development and launch of ME:A. In turn the current GM change suggests that turmoil in BW studios exceeded ME:A and what has been reported in the press…
Also Hudson has little to no experience with the massive server and staffing management required to develop and sustain a major MMO game. When Obsidian Studios recently announced it had stopped developing the MMO Armored Warfare project, Feargus Urquhart said "we might not tackle a game like this again' and noted among other things that MMOs require that a "developer gets huge and brings in all the other aspects of the business: operations, customer service, live operations, etc.
Surely EA/ BioWare has the resources to develop and manage a huge MMO. But Hudson has no experience here, and yet this is likely going to become the largest part of the GM's role in both the short term and long term.
This just has disaster written all over it….
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ChaosTheory
Virtual Reality Hero
I'm still slogging through ME:Andromeda and still scratching my head as to why the franchise took a left turn to crazy town (seriously, space tendrils??). So to hear Hudson is back makes me happy. I'm, apparently, one of the few who liked all 3 ME games preceding this, and we've already established that, at the very least, Hudson can keep a team on track.
I think this is a big hint that BioWare hasn't given up on ME and I'm sure Hudson hasn't either. Now he has even more influence on any future project. Regardless of what you thought about ME3 (or 2), this should be good news if you're any kind of ME fan, considering where we're at right now. The ME franchise was as good as dead.
And I disagree about Karpyshyn. His novels were horrible and you can't blame Hudson for that. He's a mediocre writer with some sparks of temporary brilliance.
I think this is a big hint that BioWare hasn't given up on ME and I'm sure Hudson hasn't either. Now he has even more influence on any future project. Regardless of what you thought about ME3 (or 2), this should be good news if you're any kind of ME fan, considering where we're at right now. The ME franchise was as good as dead.
And I disagree about Karpyshyn. His novels were horrible and you can't blame Hudson for that. He's a mediocre writer with some sparks of temporary brilliance.
BoboTheMighty
SasqWatch
Barely
Nah, they still have better quality output than Piranha Bytes or Bethesda.
BW always peaks with one or two games, than stumbles around a bit, ever since their first days.
Hudson came up with ME to begin with, crazy ambitious concept they had to scale down... some ideas could likely be realized in Anthem.
But he also came up with Anthem, that looks nothing like their type of game.
Sometimes you have to be willing to move around a bit to make it up the executive ladder, so perhaps that was what he was doing at MicroSquash? Hopefully this move back will be a good thing for the company and him.
Ripper
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The big problem with EA (and many other large publishers), is that they're obsessed with a model of game that can be monetised to the max. The traditional style of single player RPG does not lend itself particularly well to that, and something in the vein of Destiny is a much better fit. Bad news for the likes of me, who don't enjoy that kind of thing.
I do think this is where the large corporate influence is particularly toxic. We can perhaps sympathise with the commercial realities of needing to make AAA games targeted to a broader, console-friendly audience. But, the big corporates go beyond this, and wheras a smaller outfit may decide to make the product they want to make, so long as it turns a tidy profit, the corporates are focused on maximum profits, and rather short-term thinking. This is leading to a rather homogeneous and stale state of affairs in the industry.
There is probably an inevitability to it, and I think that the best games tend to come from studios that are at the perfect size in their evolution - as Bioware once was, and perhaps similar to where CDPR is now.
I do think this is where the large corporate influence is particularly toxic. We can perhaps sympathise with the commercial realities of needing to make AAA games targeted to a broader, console-friendly audience. But, the big corporates go beyond this, and wheras a smaller outfit may decide to make the product they want to make, so long as it turns a tidy profit, the corporates are focused on maximum profits, and rather short-term thinking. This is leading to a rather homogeneous and stale state of affairs in the industry.
There is probably an inevitability to it, and I think that the best games tend to come from studios that are at the perfect size in their evolution - as Bioware once was, and perhaps similar to where CDPR is now.
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Nah, they still have better quality output than Piranha Bytes or Bethesda.
Perhaps, if by "quality" you mean production values.
Production values don't equal fun though, and I wouldn't take any recent Bioware game over anything from Bethesda or PB.
BoboTheMighty
SasqWatch
Well, gameplay is one thing they did consistently improve, over the years, at least when talking about ME ( DA seems to be fumbling about, between action and slower, tactical approach).
I mean common', compare MEA next to Elex or Fallout... we're talking night and day difference in animation, movement, controls, visual/audio effects...and Anthem seems to be going in same direction.
They're receiving more backlash on fumbling about with storylines, open world and lately presentation/technical performance ( which is still leagues better than we see in Bethesda's/PB products ( though PB puts out remarkably bug/glitch free games lately, at least with taking their size in account).
That's all nice, but it doesn't mean their games are more fun. I'm not as concerned about the quality of animation, effects, etc, as I am about the game actually being fun to play.
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Aerth
Guest
Star Wars: The Old Republic anyone? Did not manage to make it works with Star Wars in the name so..
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NewDArt
Guest
Wasn't the supposed issue with this game that they switched gears completely at a later point in development?
Anyway, I can't really come on board with this myth that Andromeda is terrible as some kind of set in stone fact. After all, to me, it's the best Mass Effect so far - even if it's full of flaws.
Now, that's obviously about personal preferences, at least partially. But I'm seeing a lot of people bashing the game that very clearly haven't even played it.
It's such a typical hivemind response - and I have absolutely no doubt that the anti-Bioware factor is playing a big part here.
EA, like all publishers, will not want to waste their investment.
You can't really blame EA for being suits. I mean, they're there as a business.
Instead, you should be praising those few publishers that are bold enough to take chances - but never, ever, expect them to do so. They have zero obligation to do so - and the system isn't designed around taking chances.
So, if you have a problem with EA - then you're not looking in the right place. You should be fighting, tooth and nail, to support alternatives to the publisher model itself - because that's the real issue.
Anyway, I can't really come on board with this myth that Andromeda is terrible as some kind of set in stone fact. After all, to me, it's the best Mass Effect so far - even if it's full of flaws.
Now, that's obviously about personal preferences, at least partially. But I'm seeing a lot of people bashing the game that very clearly haven't even played it.
It's such a typical hivemind response - and I have absolutely no doubt that the anti-Bioware factor is playing a big part here.
EA, like all publishers, will not want to waste their investment.
You can't really blame EA for being suits. I mean, they're there as a business.
Instead, you should be praising those few publishers that are bold enough to take chances - but never, ever, expect them to do so. They have zero obligation to do so - and the system isn't designed around taking chances.
So, if you have a problem with EA - then you're not looking in the right place. You should be fighting, tooth and nail, to support alternatives to the publisher model itself - because that's the real issue.
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Aerth
Guest
I did a mistake, I looked at his post.
Why people who loved ME games, published by EA, would hate MEA because it is published by EA?
Theoretic question, I am not interested in any other stupid and metaphysical text wall post you could produce.
Why people who loved ME games, published by EA, would hate MEA because it is published by EA?
Theoretic question, I am not interested in any other stupid and metaphysical text wall post you could produce.
BoboTheMighty
SasqWatch
It did seem a lot of people who didn't have any interest in the game, jumped at opportunity to make fun of it.
But there are plenty of huge fans of the franchise also disappointed with it... can see it even on places mostly centered around positive feedback like Reddit.
For a hard reset of the series that ditched the previous setting, it really tanked badly in what it offered on the same.
Best would be a large Dlc/expansion that focuses on bringing new races, conflicts, ideas to the table.
As a wise man once said: "To enjoy good gameplay, one must first master mechanics, animations and controls. Only then will all happiness and virtue naturally come to him. "