Greg Zeschuk, Ray Muzyka Are Leaving BioWare

NOOOOOOO....why? EA just had to destroy their souls. They couldn't leave well enough alone. What a shame. Good luck docs on your next epic adventure.

@PinstripeHourglass: Good a reason as any to retire!

Baldur's Gate 3 please.

Good job, EA.

"Nailed it!"

-EA

Man, Zeschuk's comments sound like something akin to a suicide note.

Depressing.

Gutted, the company has been on a slow decline with EA, even though I have enjoyed all the games they released infer them to some capacity. Feel like the company was loosing the core Internet using gamer favour... (or so the Internet has told me)

Under*

Sad to see this happen. It feels like yesterday many of us would list BioWare in "Top/Favorite Developers" threads. It's scary to see a success like BioWare reach this point as fast as it all happened.

Good riddance.

Wow that sounded harsh but sadly that was my immediate response on hearing the news. I never would have dreamed I'd see the developers of the Baldurs Gate series decline so rapidly.

ABANDON SHIP!

@AhmadMetallic said:

@Make_Me_Mad said:

I think the only really unexpected part here is that they're retiring from the Game industry altogether. When Zeschuk says he has no more passion for the business, you have to wonder what kind of soul-devouring happens at EA.

bam

bam

@Hailinel said:

As Jerry Holkins (Penny Arcade's Tycho) noted, their departure is almost five years to the day that EA originally bought Bioware out. They may very well have been obligated to stay for five years (or as some others noted on Twitter, basically spent the past five years in golden handcuffs. They got a nice payday, but they couldn't go anywhere else as a result.) Whatever the case though, they're no longer obligated to stick around while EA and the "new" Bioware tarnishes whatever's left of the old Bioware.
Of course, five years ago, EA was all about the song and dance, telling everyone that Bioware wouldn't become another Westwood or Bullfrog. And they were right, to an extent. Bioware has more or less become another Maxis; they're still around in name, but the quality of their output has diminished greatly.......

It's a question of finances. Being smaller and independent doesn't mean you're in a better position than you'd be if you were bought out. We frankly don't know what Bioware's financial situation looked like before they agreed to being bought out, nor do we know what sort of incentives EA might have offered in the deal.
Point being, you can say "no." It's just not always the best idea to do so....

Agreeing to having your company being bought out is not the same thing as selling out. Bioware is and always has been a business, and the decision to allow the purchase by EA was a business decision that, at the time, the doctors almost certainly felt was a positive move for the company.

your comments speak the truth.

Yep not surprised. Thanks EA! We love you!

Oh wait DA3 on Frostbite2? Hmmm I wonder if this means no mods for pc players. A Dragon Age that isn't mod friendly, imagine that. Yeah, as someone stated earlier, "EA with their hands in everything". =/

Watching your creative vision became a sequel spewing factory for the last 5 years, would be depressing.

I wonder why they even had to make the announcement; it just seems like it will do a lot of damage to EA and Bioware's image when these guys probably aren't nearly as hands on as when they made their/Bioware's good reputation and any games coming out in the future probably wouldn't be any different had they remained involved or not. They could have just slowly just stopped coming in and it's not like they are off to work at some other developer so nobody other than upper management would have really known.

Best of luck to them both, I hope they find their way back into making great games again when they are ready.

Maybe they'll go back to Medicine.

I really hate EA.

@Kidavenger said:

I wonder why they even had to make the announcement; it just seems like it will do a lot of damage to EA and Bioware's image when these guys probably aren't nearly as hands on as when they made their/Bioware's good reputation and any games coming out in the future probably wouldn't be any different had they remained involved or not. They could have just slowly just stopped coming in and it's not like they are off to work at some other developer so nobody other than upper management would have really known.

Best of luck to them both, I hope they find their way back into making great games again when they are ready.

Journalists would've caught wind anyway and reported on it. This way they can get right out in front of it. Also, they deserve the respect of having their departure from their company announced and not hidden away like Harry Potter under the stairs.

@Wrighteous86 said:

@Kidavenger said:

I wonder why they even had to make the announcement; it just seems like it will do a lot of damage to EA and Bioware's image when these guys probably aren't nearly as hands on as when they made their/Bioware's good reputation and any games coming out in the future probably wouldn't be any different had they remained involved or not. They could have just slowly just stopped coming in and it's not like they are off to work at some other developer so nobody other than upper management would have really known.

Best of luck to them both, I hope they find their way back into making great games again when they are ready.

Journalists would've caught wind anyway and reported on it. This way they can get right out in front of it. Also, they deserve the respect of having their departure from their company announced and not hidden away like Harry Potter under the stairs.

@Wrighteous86 Pretty much this. If they hadn't made an announcement the press would attempt to dig up some scandalous shit when it's really not the case. It's also a chance for fans of their games and projects to look back and appreciate their contributions to the industry. I'd shake their hands and say thanks if given the opportunity.

i wonder what would have happened, if they had made kotor 3. as everyone wanted and not swtor.

It's a sad day in video games when you see two men who fought so hard to build a reputation of quality be squandered by a parent company whose business philosophy is sequels means more money........ EA just lost customer in this guy (me), unless they can prove to me they can churn out quality RPG games.

I blame Bono!

This is really depressing news.

I wish the best for the two doctors, and I will always remember them for giving me the best Star Wars game ever: Knights of the Old Republic.