Exodus, Movement of the CEOple

 Knights Who Say No

Earlier last week I mused that BioWare founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka had left the software studio they had started some twenty years ago together due to the negative backlash from fans over the last few titles they had released. Today, someone close to the company seems to verify my somewhat cynical speculations. Furthermore, I wanted to run over some of the controversies that may have led to the Greg's and Ray's (poker, Thursday) decision to split.

Former BioWare developer Trent Oster states ""The last time I met up with [Greg], I felt his exhaustion," Oster told Now Gamer. 'Punch out, eject, get the hell out,' was my suggestion to him and it hit closer to the mark than I had realized. I also think the Mass Effect 3 fan reaction and the Old Republic fans' negativity was just too much."

Regarding the Mass Effect 3 controversy, when the title was released in March many fans found the ending to lack satisfactory closure for the characters they had created, and the choices that they had made. Fans started a petition to have BioWare change the ending. BioWare decided not to change the ending, but to give fans more content as free DLC that expands upon the denouement.


As many industry followers speculated, perceived mismanagement of their intellectual properties by EA may have played a part.

"I'm sure the internal culture at EA had pinned the Old Republic conversion to free-to-play as a failure and hung that completely on Ray, so that would have hurt his upward climb. But, I figured he would fight harder. EA upper management must have been even worse than I thought," Oster explained.

To clarify what Oster is talking about, The Old Republic was a MMORPG that BioWare and EA had sunk a ton of money into, supposedly boasting one of largest video game budgets of any title to date. Taking place in the Star Wars universe, it was expected to bring a flux of traffic to the title, enough to keep it generating monthly subscription fees, similar to the juggernaut that is their competitor, World of Warcraft. Despite claiming that The Old Republic would not go F2P (Free-to-Play, meaning supported by a cash shop and in game transactions instead of traditional subscription fees) for the foreseeable future, like so many other similar titles on the market, BioWare had to swallow their pride and announce that due to plummeting subscription fees, they would be making the game F2P.

Sad times. The gaming world will sorely miss both Greg and Ray. They were true innovators of the industry , and their accomplishments will be remembered for a long time, even with all the flack they caught over their last three releases.

At least we'll always have Baldur's Gate.