Perhaps this isn't news and perhaps everyone is tired of ME3 griping and anti-griping griping, but as one might expect there are threads popping up on Bioware's forums positing that EA was more responsible for some of the more disappointing changes in ME3 than Bioware was and that this is endemic of EA's general ruination of the studios it acquires (something that was thought to have died with "old" EA).

Bioware have summarily been shutting down any of these threads, saying that EA's internal decisions are "no one else's business" (verbatim) - not even open to speculation.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, yes there is a lot of griping without substantiation from people who are not qualified to speculate on how the game industry works. On the other hand, suggesting that people have no business engaging in that speculation, without offering any other meaningful defense, seems a bit, well, slimey. Would they say that Jeff's jar video's are inappropriate because he speculates on the inner workings of the developer/publisher relation (though obviously he's much more qualified to do so)?

See the following threads, which I have limited to the just the initial post and Bioware's response here. Remove "&lf=8" tag from the link to get the whole thread.

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/323/index/9822214&lf=8

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/323/index/9822736&lf=8

---Update---

To clarify what I was trying to get at (and hopefully make less people here hate me):

Yes, I could guess what those threads devolved into and no, strictly speaking, it didn't surprise me that they were closed, nor did I think it was entirely uncalled for since they're mostly ranting.

However, it's the nature of the closure response - that fans are basically not allowed to speculate on who had on creative control over the game, or how the industry works - that seemed a bit off to me and is what I wanted to call into question. Though, yes, I admit perhaps I'm reading too much into the diction used to close a largely pointless thread.

What they're doing is shutting down the endless anti-EA circlejerk on their forums. It's all just spilling over from Reddit and 4chan. No worthwhile discussion would have ever come from those threads. Those threads existed purely to bash EA in an ill-informed manner. I'm sure if someone expressed negative feelings towards EA in a way that was tasteful and promoted worthwhile discussion, they would allow it. But those threads were neither tasteful nor promoted worthwhile discussion.

So, a developer's website declines to have content on it that makes them, and their parent company look bad? It's not a freedom of speech issue here, there is no democracy or trampling of the bill of rights. This is 100% within Bioware's ability to do and in my opinion make perfect business since.

Looks like the usual jibber-jabber I've been seeing around the net. Whilst I'm no massive fan of EA, it's a bit too hard to tell how much influence they've had over Bioware. While I'll admit they did go downhill after EA bought the studio I can't put the entire blame on them (EA). I can only speculate and complain as I'm not in a qualified position to make any hard statements. Besides, the ME series isn't terrible. It just could've been better in a lot of ways.

OH MY GOD GUYS I HATE THE INTERNET SO FUCKING MUCH RIGHT NOW JESUS CHRIST

OH MY GOD GUYS I HATE THE INTERNET SO FUCKING MUCH RIGHT NOW JESUS CHRIST

Given the past occurances of Bioware social bans locking people out of their Origin games, I'm not sure I see the wisdom of bad mouthing EA on the boards belonging studio that they own, and therefor have a right to moderate content in anyway they see fit. There is no shortage of places where it's fine to slag off EA, and certainly no shortage of reasons to do so. A shady publisher silencing criticism or unpleasant inquiries in a sphere they control is hardly surprising.

companies shutting down threads flaming their publisher on their own forums?

that's pretty much standard policy for all companies, dude.

@MattyFTM said:

But those threads were did neither f those things.

You heard it here first, folks. Wait, what?

Good on 'em. I don't even know what people are complaining about at this point. I feel like in ten years this entire thing will be an overly used example for how shitty the internet can be sometimes.

It's not hard to come to the conclusion EA is heavily involved in the dropping quality of Bioware games if you take EA's history into account.  Bioware is just the latest of a long line of developers That EA has bought and they  went to hell. There is only one thing these developers have in common they all where bought by EA . 
 
But EA has nothing to do with it right ? 

@UltorOscariot said:

Given the past occurances of Bioware social bans locking people out of their Origin games, I'm not sure I see the wisdom of bad mouthing EA on the boards belonging studio that they own, and therefor have a right to moderate content in anyway they see fit. There is no shortage of places where it's fine to slag off EA, and certainly no shortage of reasons to do so. A shady publisher silencing criticism or unpleasant inquiries in a sphere they control is hardly surprising.

Shady? Please elaborate on how EA are "shady"?

They've been doing this for awhile.

@FunExplosions said:

@MattyFTM said:

But those threads were did neither f those things.

You heard it here first, folks. Wait, what?

That's what I get for rewording that sentence multiple times and then not proof reading it. It ended up being a weird mix of the three different attempts at writing it.

Vodun, if you don't like the inference that there are people take issue with EA's history of running great studios into the ground, charging for day one DLC that there is some evidence was on the disc in the first place, their love of anti-consumer online passes, and locking people out of single player Origin games for message board infractions, fine. I submit then they are not shady, but sleazy. You have whatever yur opinion is, I have mine, and let's leave it at that.

Just mindless whine threads, I've gotten used to them thanks to World of Warcraft's forums.
 
They serve no purpose, often state the obvious and inspire very little discussion.
 
Yelling "OMG EA RUINED IT" is not discussing.

@rebgav said:

@Sweetz said:

Perhaps this isn't news

You could have stopped there.

Bioware has been intolerant of anti-EA threads ever since EA bought them. Weird, huh? Those threads do tend to bring out the crazies, the trolls, and the angsty teens in their community and culminate in glorious clusterfucks of complete nonsense and gibberish. I do feel that they treat their community poorly in general but they aren't in the wrong in this instance. They aren't obliged to provide a platform for people to make baseless accusations against their company. That's what other messageboards are for.

Nailed it.

I remember a time when we thought video games were awesome because they were video games.

Instead of complaining on the forums, show your displeasure in a way that EA and Bioware will actually notice.  
 
Don't buy their next game.
 
I'm kind of tired of the subpar sequels and the ignoring of what fans really want.  We loved Dragon Age Origins, not a dumbed down Dragon Age 2.  We loved Mass Effect 2, not a short, micro transaction filled Mass Effect 3.
 
You don't need to buy a game just because EA slaps the name Bioware on it.

Man, I miss 2003. KOTOR was out and rocking everyone's worlds, Bioware could do no wrong, and people weren't bitching about them. Everything seemed so much simpler back then...

Its their house and they get to make the rules. Don't like em? Leave. Break em? Get banned.

I remember a time when we thought video games were awesome because they were video games.

This is a non-traversy. There are strict forum rules that everyone has to adhere to. Guess what? Go to Kotaku and complain, endlessly, about their posts or posters and you will get banned or at least warned with a 2 week ban. Also, EA typically lets a lot of these through (anyone ever been to Bioware's crappy forum knows this to be true) but its gotten a little ridiculous in the ME3 related areas. You don't need 50 posts all complaining about the same thing. 1 will suffice.

Mass Effect 3 is great. It's just a few things and the ending that aren't up to snuff with the rest of the game. If EA really wanted to fully control BioWare and their series, they would have forced them to go full-on Gears clone while abandoning their desire to bring back some mechanics from Mass Effect in a different form. Did EA have a hand in Mass Effect 3 at some point? I think it's hard to think otherwise, but saying they ruined the game is a little much.

@wolf_blitzer85 said:

I remember a time when we thought video games were awesome because they were video games.

Are you sure we didn't think video games were awesome because they were awesome?

To be honest, I didn't read through the entirety of the threads, I could guess what they devolved into and no, strictly speaking, it didn't surprise me that they were closed.

It's only the nature of the closure response - that fans are basically not allowed to speculate on who had on creative control over the game, or how the industry works - that seemed a bit off to me. Though, yes, I admit perhaps I'm reading too much into the diction used to close a largely pointless thread.

Apologies if it was apparently ban worthy of me to question this :-?

Just mindless whine threads, I've gotten used to them thanks to World of Warcraft's forums.  They serve no purpose, often state the obvious and inspire very little discussion.  Yelling "OMG EA RUINED IT" is not discussing.

OK, now I'm starting to hate Mass Effect 3, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the game. It's more the community that's at fault. Do not overwhelm me with your shit storm!

Okay, we get it, companies are trying to keep the idiots who flame boards down because they actually care about their reputation. If you think any of those threads that are shut down are of any intelligence or aren't a living hyperbole of what they are trying to bitch about, you are naive.

I use to really like Bioware, it seems they have become increasingly prima donna.

It's hard not to get a wiff of arrogance about them these days. When they are trying to dictate what people think and say, how can you not?

Those poor people are just trying to rationalize this disaster. I should hate them, but I can only feel sympathy.

What disaster?

Bioware has always had shit PR, one way or another. Now it's just being angled against anti-EA sentiment, which doesn't have any place in their forums.

And the idea that Bioware's hand was forced into doing the things they've done is ridiculous. Blame Bioware for the games they've made. Blame them for failing to live up to the promises of the Mass Effect name with ME2 and ME3. Blame them for making a lazy recycled husk of a game with DA2. Listen to the Bioware higher ups talk. They wanted to go in the directions they went. They thought ME2's direction was 100% the way to go. Same with ME3. If you don't like where their games have gone, blame them. They made em.

if there are a lot of threads like that clogging up the forums then I could see why they would want to delete them

Aren't Dragon Age 2, The Old Republic Mass Effect 3 the highest selling Bioware games? With most mainstream critics still giving excellent scores? In fact the Bioware man specifically said Dragon Age (1) sold more on the console than pc, regardless of being pc focused. I can only guess that the lower pc sales was due to pc users simply jumping on torrents and stealing it. So, imo, they brought Dragon Age 2 on themselfs.

It seems regardless of gamers bitching, very much like Call Of Duty, they are doing what the gaming media tell them to do and continuing to pirate games regadless of quility. Perhaps some sort of spinal cord would help alleviate this problem.

@whyareyoucrouchingspock said:

I can only guess that the lower pc sales was due to pc users simply jumping on torrents and stealing it.

...? I would guess that the lower sales on the PC reflect that there are less consumers to sell to. The Console version of this game was heavily advertised and was extremely high quality despite the interface being very complicated. (ie designed for the pc) It was an outstanding game on the consoles and the pc which is why it sold well in both places. I bought the game of the year edition later on and was blown away by the quality. (360) An outstanding game. A ton of content. I know a lot of pc gamers don't have a high opinion of it on the consoles but I would assume the higher sales on the consoles have to do with it reaching that mass market audience very well.

@Tumbler said:

@whyareyoucrouchingspock said:

I can only guess that the lower pc sales was due to pc users simply jumping on torrents and stealing it.

...? I would guess that the lower sales on the PC reflect that there are less consumers to sell to. The Console version of this game was heavily advertised and was extremely high quality despite the interface being very complicated. (ie designed for the pc) It was an outstanding game on the consoles and the pc which is why it sold well in both places. I bought the game of the year edition later on and was blown away by the quality. (360) An outstanding game. A ton of content. I know a lot of pc gamers don't have a high opinion of it on the consoles but I would assume the higher sales on the consoles have to do with it reaching that mass market audience very well.

Eh, practically every peice of media I saw regarding Dragon Age (1) was of the pc. review copies sent out were of the pc. It was the best version so they obviously wanted higher metacritic scores.

I think alot of pc gamers like to talk, but at the end of the day, just jump on torrents and completely disregard what they doing with whatever excause they can drum up.

Dragon Age 2 was console focused, most review copies and media put was the console version, this change of focus was due to sales, which seems to be the end of all ends.

Sadly, the pc's strength of being an open platform also seems to be it's achilles heel. The largest distribution site of games is not steam, it's PB.

I really do not understand these fellows who go around shouting waffle like "long live the bay". You might as well be shouting "i'm an asshole who likes breaking the law and getting things for free".

Your not fucking Robin Hood. And this scummy website is not noble.

@Jimbo said:

@wolf_blitzer85 said:

I remember a time when we thought video games were awesome because they were video games.

Are you sure we didn't think video games were awesome because they were awesome?

video games are STILL awesome.

FUCKING AWESOME imo and i've been gaming for over 20 years

Ugh, yet again unintelligent people call their mindless and useless bashing "criticism". I've listened to, read, and been a part of good criticism, and what is on those forums is anything but.

It's the equivalent of those random threads where someone's entire argument is "Yo, fuck Jeff/Giantbomb/the mods" and then they get mad when they're locked down because their "criticism" has been "oppressed". How about this: You're dumb as hell, so no one wants to listen to you/read what you have to say. No one ever sees themselves as unintelligent or a waste of time so they're confused about why they get the "shut the hell up" hammer all the time, leading to threads like these.

Nothing weird about that.

Start making threads on Giant Bomb saying how Jeff is a shithead and he ruined GB because he brought on Patrick who is also awful and how Brad sucks and the layout sucks and see how long those sort of "constructive criticism" threads stay up.

(just in case: the above statement is an example and I don't have any issues with Jeff etc)

Oh, EA. How I love thee.

I too dislike EA and Bioware, but really? It's not very smart to do that on their own forums, and like MattyFTM said, they aren't going about it in an intelligent, or respectful manner. Besides it's fairly obvious Bioware doesn't care about what fans think, and is driven towards what will make them profit. This very thing happened with DA2, and it'll probably happen again, but it would would be nice if we just learned the lesson that if we want them to change, only our wallet's votes matter.

@MattyFTM: It's ok we always the sometimes happens

@Arker101 said:

I too dislike EA and Bioware, but really? It's not very smart to do that on their own forums, and like MattyFTM said, they aren't going about it in an intelligent, or respectful manner. Besides it's fairly obvious Bioware doesn't care about what fans think, and is driven towards what will make them profit. This very thing happened with DA2, and it'll probably happen again, but it would would be nice if we just learned the lesson that if we want them to change, only our wallet's votes matter.

Bioware seem to want both. They can't have the cake and eat it, so when they put out qeastionable dlc, a change of design and what not, they don't seem to have any sense of proper damage control, so they act like angry teenagers.

@whyareyoucrouchingspock said:

@Arker101 said:

I too dislike EA and Bioware, but really? It's not very smart to do that on their own forums, and like MattyFTM said, they aren't going about it in an intelligent, or respectful manner. Besides it's fairly obvious Bioware doesn't care about what fans think, and is driven towards what will make them profit. This very thing happened with DA2, and it'll probably happen again, but it would would be nice if we just learned the lesson that if we want them to change, only our wallet's votes matter.

Bioware seem to want both. They can't have the cake and eat it, so when they put out qeastionable dlc, a change of design and what not, they don't seem to have any sense of proper damage control, so they act like angry teenagers.

Thats funny because the internet is also acting like angry teenagers. so who knocks who on their ass first.

Not surprised considering how badly EA let down their fans.

@Jimbo said:

@wolf_blitzer85 said:

I remember a time when we thought video games were awesome because they were video games.

Are you sure we didn't think video games were awesome because they were awesome?

I'm pretty sure video games are still awesome, people just decide they hate things for petty reasons.

@Dagbiker said:

@whyareyoucrouchingspock said:

@Arker101 said:

I too dislike EA and Bioware, but really? It's not very smart to do that on their own forums, and like MattyFTM said, they aren't going about it in an intelligent, or respectful manner. Besides it's fairly obvious Bioware doesn't care about what fans think, and is driven towards what will make them profit. This very thing happened with DA2, and it'll probably happen again, but it would would be nice if we just learned the lesson that if we want them to change, only our wallet's votes matter.

Bioware seem to want both. They can't have the cake and eat it, so when they put out qeastionable dlc, a change of design and what not, they don't seem to have any sense of proper damage control, so they act like angry teenagers.

Thats funny because the internet is also acting like angry teenagers. so who knocks who on their ass first.

Bioware's winning that fight, considering ME3 seems to making quite a bit of bank.

@Dagbiker said:

@whyareyoucrouchingspock said:

@Arker101 said:

I too dislike EA and Bioware, but really? It's not very smart to do that on their own forums, and like MattyFTM said, they aren't going about it in an intelligent, or respectful manner. Besides it's fairly obvious Bioware doesn't care about what fans think, and is driven towards what will make them profit. This very thing happened with DA2, and it'll probably happen again, but it would would be nice if we just learned the lesson that if we want them to change, only our wallet's votes matter.

Bioware seem to want both. They can't have the cake and eat it, so when they put out qeastionable dlc, a change of design and what not, they don't seem to have any sense of proper damage control, so they act like angry teenagers.

Thats funny because the internet is also acting like angry teenagers. so who knocks who on their ass first.

I imagine some sort of black hole will be created.