BioWare founders retire from gaming

[eldaec]

Also, note to OP, pretty sure they are retiring from game development, not gaming. Though idk maybe both.

[luckton]

Maybe they'll hook up with Mark Jacobs and Richard Garriott to start PC gaming's version of Prince and The Revolution 

[CmdrSlack]

I wouldn't mind playing an RPG like it's 1999 ...

[bhodi]

5 years or not, this is almost certain to be the end of the period their golden handcuffs expire. It is neither unusual nor surprising for the founders of a company that sells itself will leave at the end of that period. The reason you sell a successful company is to retire, they'd have done so sooner if not for the incentives vesting.

This times a million. It was almost surely the case.

TychoBrahe @TychoBrahe   19h
As somebody with a company people are always trying to buy, this is almost textbook. Acquisition with a five year "backend" payout.

[Riggswolfe]

I know there's people here that work in the industry but the whole, "well, they got paid, good for them" excuse doesn't particularly fly with me considering it contributes to the decline of the industry and destruction of interesting IP.

I can count on zero hands the number of times these folks have been relevant in the last decade for me. (Prior to that, man, I fucking loved me some Bioware)

Edit: What I'm saying is, I don't see how this contributes to a damn thing.

I suppose it depends on how much they influenced the way Bioware did things. I think it is clear that since the EA buyout the answer is "very little" so I think we'll see no change but also we'll see no chance for improvement.

[Rasix]

Yah, the five year thing is pretty standard.  I work on a product here at IBM that was part of an acquisition. The founders of a company IBM acquired got a 5 year deal as well.  They were active for the first few years, but as soon as the 5 was nearing, they ceased to exist and then all left the minute it was up. 

Bioware is just a label now, barely a brand.  It has a few IPs that I enjoy and hopefully their continued existence means some more story based RPGs to come. 

[Simond]

I wouldn't mind playing an RPG like it's 1999 ...

Sup?

[Ingmar]

Yah, the five year thing is pretty standard.  I work on a product here at IBM that was part of an acquisition. The founders of a company IBM acquired got a 5 year deal as well.  They were active for the first few years, but as soon as the 5 was nearing, they ceased to exist and then all left the minute it was up. 

Bioware is just a label now, barely a brand.  It has a few IPs that I enjoy and hopefully their continued existence means some more story based RPGs to come. 

Yeah for me the value at this point is entirely tied up in specific writing teams. Once they go is when I stop caring.

[Llyse]

Maybe they'll hook up with Mark Jacobs and Richard Garriott to start PC gaming's version of Prince and The Revolution 

You sir are a legend.

[Stormwaltz]

If you give a crap about your company, you don't sell it to EA. Marketing speech about "opportunities and synergy effects" nonwithstanding.

Ray and Greg sold BioWare to Elevation Partners, a private investment group whose board, at the time, included John Riccitello. It was Elevation that sold the company to EA, in a deal brokered by newly hired EA CEO John Riccitello.

[Minvaren]

If you give a crap about your company, you don't sell it to EA. Marketing speech about "opportunities and synergy effects" nonwithstanding.

Ray and Greg sold BioWare to Elevation Partners, a private investment group whose board, at the time, included John Riccitello. It was Elevation that sold the company to EA, in a deal brokered by newly hired EA CEO John Riccitello.

Ouch.  At least Riccitello wasn't their accountant, at least...

[Tebonas]

I didn't know that. That must have hurt. All the more reason to leave the company after the least time possible.

[ajax34i]

Wow, lots of politics, then.  They hated where Bioware ended up and didn't provide the leadership/guidance needed for the last few games to be good, and as a result of the lack of performance, Riccitiello's position as a CEO is affected, because the Bioware purchase was his puppy.

[Stormwaltz]

That's inference. The facts are as I stated. Google "Elevation Partners" and "John Riccitello" if you want to investigate further.

[Tannhauser]

It's a shame.  They made some great games together.  But nothing lasts forever, especially when you sell out to EA.

[luckton]

Maybe they'll hook up with Mark Jacobs and Richard Garriott to start PC gaming's version of Prince and The Revolution 

You sir are a legend.

Those four would be The Revolution.  Brad McQuaid would have to come along and be Prince 

[Outlawedprod]

Not just leaving Bioware, but retiring from game development entirely? QQ.

Well given EA bullshit, swtor bombing, and the Mass Effect 3 ending at least they are alive =p

http://www.nowgamer.com/news/1609815/mass_effect_fan_negativity_was_too_much_for_ray_greg_exbioware_dev.html

Ex-BioWare co-founder and Baldur’s Gate developer, Trent Oster, believes the negative fan reaction to Mass Effect 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic could have attributed to Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk’s decision to leave BioWare and the games industry.

“The last time I met up with [Greg], I felt his exhaustion,” explained Oster. "Punch out, eject, get the hell out", was my suggestions to him and it hit closer to the mark than I had realised. I also think the Mass Effect 3 fan reaction and the Old Republic fans negativity was just too much.”

“Ray surprised me,” explained Oster. “I had him pegged as an EA lifer. My thought was the Ray agenda was to first usurp Frank Gibeau and then later John Riccotello as CEO.”

“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.”

[Furiously]

"EA upper management must have been even worse than I thought.”

This quote makes me giggle.

[HaemishM]

"EA upper management must have been even worse than I thought.”

This quote makes me giggle.

It's always worse than you think.

[Stormwaltz]

Heh. Trent.

[Ingmar]

Oster always struck me as a little... different than the other Bioware guys, from the outside.

[Stormwaltz]

I respect/revere fans, because they speak with deep, honest passion. Journalists speculating on ill-founded rumors should reassess approach.

Good websites demand clarity and credibility – lesser ones enable ill-informed individuals to make stuff up about other people.

https://twitter.com/RayMuzyka?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=fb&utm_campaign=RayMuzyka&utm_content=251808651671642113

Wow. That's about as sharp and direct a retort as I've ever seen from Ray.

[Margalis]

“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.”

Creating a hugely expensive MMO flop probably should count against you in climbing the corporate ladder. Not sure how it's possible to spin that as bad management. What's the alternative? "This guy completely misjudged the space, vastly oversold the market for the product and made a series of incredibly costly decisions - put him on the CEO fast track!"

Addressing something earlier, if you sell your company to a private investment firm looking to turn it around obviously you are expecting to be bought by EA or someone like EA. The idea that that would be some sort of surprising scenario is a bit absurd.

[Rendakor]

"This guy completely misjudged the space, vastly oversold the market for the product and made a series of incredibly costly decisions - put him on the CEO fast track!"

In the MMO industry I thought that was pretty much how it worked.

[Simond]

I respect/revere fans, because they speak with deep, honest passion. Journalists speculating on ill-founded rumors should reassess approach.

Good websites demand clarity and credibility – lesser ones enable ill-informed individuals to make stuff up about other people.

https://twitter.com/RayMuzyka?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=fb&utm_campaign=RayMuzyka&utm_content=251808651671642113

Wow. That's about as sharp and direct a retort as I've ever seen from Ray.

Nice to see that at least one person at Bioware gets it - it's a shame that he's going and their amateur-hour PR and CS teams are staying.

[HaemishM]

"This guy completely misjudged the space, vastly oversold the market for the product and made a series of incredibly costly decisions - put him on the CEO fast track!"

In the MMO industry I thought that was pretty much how it worked.

I thought at the very least it was page 1 of the executive training manual for EA and Blacktivision.

[Outlawedprod]

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/10/03/daniel-erickson-leaves-bioware/

[UnSub]

I know that a lot of people see this as key BioWare people leaving EA because EA is terrible, but a number of these people were put in charge of EA's biggest ever project... which promptly cratered.

Heads were going to roll.

[Venkman]

Edit: snipped. Can't find a good way to say it.