Oh great. One of the last of a handful of worthwhile developers dies to the EA juggernaught. How truely dissappointing. For a while now I've refused to buy anything that EA produces. My reasons are their prolific multiplatform releases that end up sucking and most of all their terrible technical support.

Once EA sells a product to you, the support stops there.

Sad day.

EA likes to buy innovative and creative development studios and kill them through their policies. This is a bad thing for gamers.

Why? Why? WHY?

EA is like the black plague. Decimates everything it touches...

Bioware specifically went out of their way to avoid the rule of tyrranous Game publishers like Atari, only to be bought out by the worst of them all.

May you rest in peices, bioware. Thank you for many years of awesome gaming.

damn...damn...damn...damn...damn...damn...damn...damn...

ea...

thats it...

-c

The beginning of the end.

Agreed. I recently tried to get support for an EA game and was frustrated to no end. And I'm not exactly a "novice" gamer. Looks like they lost another customer for the time being anyways.

Well, Pandemic isn't a loss, they raped the Star Wars franchise with yet more unfitting crap, and they deserve it, but BioWare...God, come on, why does EA have to ruin great developers with short development times, forced multi-platform standards, and the magical "cut the fat" that insures THEIR choices for managers run the developer's office?

It's a sad, sad day when EA acquires a good game developer :(

Why oh why couldn't a company like Valve snap them up?

This sucks. EA stinks. Bioware was my favorite developer. What are we going get? Kotor Madden 2009?

Why does everyone hate EA?? Just because they follow a business plan along the lines of, "release every game we can and hope 1 is better than pathetic" doesn't make them a bad company. I mean, isn't that basically what xbox and ps2/3 titles are just with better graphics??

But yea, I hate EA, too, ever since they bought out Westwood Studios.

EA is crap. plain and simple. I hate to buy their games but they have taken over everything so i feel forced to.

sad day as well.

a real shame they will be taking over BioWare, from now on releases from our beloved RPG maker will be dumbed down into console-ish hack & slash garbage.

bioware was one of the only untainted companies left.
this is a sad day for mankind.

Because every time EA buys a developer, that developer goes down hill. Team members leave. The developer becomes a shadow of its former self.

I love Bioware. They make great games. They're innovative and comes up with great ideas. EA repeats the same shit over and over and over and over....need I go on?

I was looking forward to hopefully a Star Wars MMO from Bioware. Probably won't happen now.

Yeah, if you own the games Battlefield 2142 & Just Cause, you know what kind of tech 'support' you're going to get from EA. NONE! For Just Cause, everyone on the forums are complaining about the bugs in the game, and EA has ignored its consumers and released NO PATCHES whatsoever. I HATE EA!!!!!!!

I was actually shocked to see how much hate there is for EA games. I thought it was just me, but this is crazy. Down with EA!

I was only a mild fan of Command and Conquer but a big fan of the Lands of Lore series. I've always preferred first person exploration action RPGs to isometric AD&D based, but I didn't mind the Bioware titles, so it's sad to see them go too.

If EA and Ubisoft ever merge, we'd see the end of innovative gaming as we know it.

I really wish we could go back about 10 years...EA was actually a fairly decent developer back then, and there were numerous others that were...so good. Westwood, Interplay...*sigh...the golden age of gaming is over. Gaming should be what it was before it became so "cool."

I haven't trusted EA since they ran the Ultima series into the ground. They are truly one of the worst companies to ever monopolize the gaming industry.

Can they make a forgettable game that is fun for a few hours but is ultimately crap? Yes.

Can they make anything WORTHWHILE? No. Because they wont allow developers the time it takes to create QUALITY content that will last for years.

Current BioWare employees: Start thinking of your escape route.

I read the story twice and hoping to see some sort of a loop hole. I understood why Bungie wanted to pull away from MS and I thought...fuck yeah another Bioware studio...but now Bioware and is EA WTF? I would say they sold out, but it's business and I understand that it is business. I can only hope that EA will give Bioware the freedom to create the games they are good at creating.
Damn u EA....damn u, but congrats on a huge purchase.

EA releases buggy crap that takes 4 - 7 fixes just to play correctly, and the support? Forget it.

EA, you suck. Thanks for what I am sure will be the screw up of SW:KOTOR 3

lol this is what drives more poeple into piracy

lets hope that any of biowares devs that jump ship go to obsidian nwn 2 was masterful

Why does everyone hate EA?? Just because they follow a business plan along the lines of, "release every game we can and hope 1 is better than pathetic" doesn't make them a bad company. I mean, isn't that basically what xbox and ps2/3 titles are just with better graphics??

But yea, I hate EA, too, ever since they bought out Westwood Studios.

maybe i missed something...but isnt your comment...uh...i dont know...self defeating??? maybe you are just smarter then the rest of us in your reasons for hating ea...

-c

wow, this sucks for the average gamer, quality control will be lost and updates will only update the advertisements in game.

if you ever considered multiplayer in any of their fps, forget it now. like every game they have, it will be buggy or unbalanced. oh, and they wont really care.

...so we might as well say our goodbyes to the possibility of a kotor 3 game coming out ever, cause even if it does, it will suck donkey balls. I won't even download pirated games from EA any more. That's how much you suck EA!!!

Bioware is my favorite game developer but it lacks the financial resources.As for EA they launched a lot OF great games (Mafia,Sims,Battle for middle earth:1 and 2 and more)and they have so few bugs. I think they know the value of Bioware and they will not blow the opportunity to make great RPG games. Great games sells and EA knows this. Good luck Bioware (hurry with Mass Effect).

The amount and quality of pc games have been going downhill and this is due to next gen consoles taking a big slice of the gaming market.

Most game makers are now doing console only the amount of games released each year for pc is shrinking and this only makes things worse.

At least we will get Mass Effects before it happens. I wanted BioWare independent, a Microsoft buy would have been better or 2K Games. I started work on an indie RPG at www.zenfar.com I was starting to lose interest but now I know we indies have to keep at it so that the next wave of ideas can see the light of day...

"Thanks for what I am sure will be the screw up of SW:KOTOR 3"

No, no you got it all wrong. It should be thanks for screwing up KOTOR3, KOTOR4, KOTOR5, through when ever they think they can still make a buck at it.

EA treats game franchises like a sports game series. You can just change a handleful of things and try to sell it as a new game every other year. Its not like selling Madden2007 and then Madden2008. Nobody cares that you updated the player rosters and added some new options and call it a new Need for Speed or KOTOR game.

that they only care for making money, they only want to maximize their revenues and providing high quality content, isn't their priority.

Bioware is the other way around, they demand the best quality out of their products, but if its boss is EA, then guess what'll happen? they'll release games AS SOON as possible, in other words, they'll release unfinished, unstellar games...

EA, leave Bioware work the way the always have!!! Please don't make them do CRAP!

When I saw this headline, my heart just sank. BioWare is (was..) my favourite game developer, and now they're going to go down the tube like every other EA acquisition. Oh well, at least we get Mass Effect before they get run into the ground by unmeetable deadlines and the almighty bottom line.

We might even see Mass Effect 2: The return of Tiberium. Red Alert 3: Sith on Earth!

I have to say I have not played an EA game for any decent length of time since I played Generals 3 years ago. The thing is: EA is just in it to make cash, they know they can screw over the gamer because they have the licences on so many titles that had a great following prior to the aquisitions.

I mean you get crap like CnC3 which feels like a console to PC port even though it is an RTS and games like BF2142 which have adds to help pay for "development". What development are they crapping on about, it a BF2 mod that comes with a premium title pricetag as it is.

and found a new company with the money they have just won ...

Rest In Pieces Bioware ...

Please stop EA before it's to late...or we will have soon to throw away our pc's

Bioware... goodbye.
/cry

bah Bioware was one of my all time fav devlopers
make's me think about Rare and Square beeing snatchs from Nintendo back in the day's
cant expect anything good hapening from it
its a big shame and even bigger loss