Ex-Bioware Developer Discusses Why The Founders Left

Written by: QuintLyn Bowers (@QuintLyn) | September 28, 2012 5:05 pm

30 Comments

Any time a big name leaves a major company, there’s always speculation as to what exactly happened. Did they really leave because they wanted to? Were they forced out? People can’t help but be a little curious.

In the case of Bioware founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka, it’s fairly safe to say that most gamers looking in feel like the retirement of the doctors is due to the reception of the company’s most recent offerings.

And according to ex-Bioware dev Trent Oster they may not be that far off.

According to an interview with Now Gamer, Oster said that he had spoken with Zeschuk at one point and could see his “exhaustion”. At that point he’d advised him to “Punch out, eject, get the hell out.” Oster also says that he felt the “Mass Effect 3 fan reaction and Old Republic fans negativity was just too much.”

When people work on something for a very long time and then the reaction to it is extremely bad, it’s not difficult to see why it would wear on them. However — according to Oster — there may have been a bit more to Muzyka retiring. Oster believes that Muzyka was intent on working his way up the corporate ladder at EA — all the way to John Riccotello’s position as CEO.

He believes that when SWTOR went free to play, it was deemed a failure within EA and the weight of that was pinned on Muzyka.

Whatever the Doctors’ reasons for leaving, it’s one of those things that tend to happen. People get bored, aren’t happy doing what they’re currently doing or sometimes just get the urge to do something else. Whichever of these things it may be, I’m sure long-time Bioware fans wish them the best in their new endeavors.

Ex-Bioware Developer Discusses Why The Founders Left

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http://www.facebook.com/GLopez12 German Lopez

So fucking trolled.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Stephen-Robert-Woodhouse/720201353 Stephen Robert Woodhouse

Swtor ~ One of the biggest failures in the MMO industry.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=754168227 Len Hobbel
  
  that is a understandment launch to fail in 6 months and shutdown in a year….but EA has always been that way.
Darkfire124

Screw over fans, they react negatively, therefore DON’T SCREW OVER YOUR FANS.
- csm6530
  
  Which fans? The ones who figured out the ending, or the ones who still weren’t satisfied even after Bioware gave them a free ending DLC. What a bunch of spoiled brats those “so called fans” were. You guys don’t deserve a damn thing.
  
  The real fans of this game have brains and imaginations. We can think for ourselves and figure out stuff with the information that the game provides. You need to be spoon fed all the answers because you can’t think for yourself or use your imagination.
  
  Catering to the likes of you at this point is a fool’s errand. Bioware can always find new customers. Why cater to a customer who already decides they hate you. If you were a loyal customer, you’d figure out that ending, and you’d stand beside them, instead of jumping ship and trash talking them.
  
  So called fan you are Darkfire124, hang your head in shame
http://www.facebook.com/people/Shawn-Hargrave/100003202374593 Shawn Hargrave

well you make a shit game you get shit results. This is a good example of what should be done to EA lol. They should have never sold to EA though ill always wonder how swtor would have went if EA was never involved.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Feyd-Darkholme/100000194391744 Feyd Darkholme

It’s really too bad. If Greg Zeschuk and/or Ray Muzykatook over EA they might actually make it a good company for a change. Someone should tell EA that trolls on the internet are to be ignored, not pandered to… and I feel like the biggest “failures” of SWTOR came from decisions made by EA, not the developers. Not something I’m going to get into here, but they are blaming the wrong people.
lee long

ok BioDead! ppl pay hard cash for your swtor game instant of proving/fixing it that u guys ditch your company and stop caring. i suppose all ppl paying for the game box and all these monthly fees mean nothing to you guys. And now you all complain how the fans hurting your precious feeling because YOU GUYS gave them shitty ending and fail swtor. so “Drs.” i heard my school need more Janitors, feel free to jump in.
Monstercloud

All previous and future comments can be summed up in three words.

Not on us
http://profile.yahoo.com/KI7Q7KTG4XGQQ2NOM7N4IMFAIM Rae

“within EA”
Anotherwords, Financial, Not Creative was making Him Feel pressure.

My Heart goes out to those that must create
under the watchful eyes of Shareholders and their timetables.
- Revanhavoc
  
  The video game industry (important word industry) is not a bunch of struggling artists pawning their paintings on the sidewalk like it’s the Renaissance - the driving force that puts to work all this”creativity” as you say it is finance, and thus EA.
  
  Without that support, hardly any of those creative dreams would ever get out the door. AAA games don’t come from Kickstarter.
  - http://twitter.com/sithbear73 Trevor Martinson
    
    and yet…..perhaps things will change and they will come from Kickstarter in the near future. With publishers like EA being viewed as ‘counter productive’ and indie developers turning to the fans to help support their projects. ShadowRun online could become one of the first MMOs done almost entirely from Kickstarter.
    Time will tell if things change or not. Personally, I would like to see big publishers take a hit and lose out on great projects and see Devs be able to really put out something that they REALLY want to put out to market.
  - http://profile.yahoo.com/KI7Q7KTG4XGQQ2NOM7N4IMFAIM Rae
    
    I disagree to a certain extent.
    
    Many AAA games currently under development Have a more contemporary business model.
    And thus many of them are pawning their work on the digital streets.Kickstarter is just one way.
    
    It may not pay the same up front,But they get to make a game that is fun to play.
    
    And that is one of the most valuable elements of a successful IP
    
    we’ve all seen what happens when profit comes before quality,both in product, and within timetables.
Revanhavoc

And if my negativity, which is super negative and super blaming of the Good Doctors made them retire, then it truly was their time to move on. Obviously the recent failures of Bioware, and blacklash from long time fans such as myself, contributed to The Good Doctors retirement – that’s obvious!

I think men and women in the public eye, especially artists of any kind, put their souls on the line when they put work out there to be judge. They are judged quite cruely and without remorse from the internet of all places, so that’s a lesson.

I thought the quotes from Q just cement what I have already read between the lines.

It pains me to type what I have to type because KOTOR is the best game I’ve ever played, Mass Effect is a huge example of why games are art, but the footnote to the amazing careers that brought us those games and others will always read:

The Good Doctors left in disgrace.
- HarmonBlues
  
  Neverwinter Nights.
http://twitter.com/sp00s Vince Ludovico

Yeah, run away. Let the devs fix the mess and then try and guilt all the people let down by the bad decisions made at the highest of levels. That’s not the Bioware I remember, maybe it is time they moved on.

Should TOR redeem itself I better not hear these guys names. It should be credited to all those who stuck with it. APB is doing better than it did in it’s short life, STO is like a whole new game, still marred by the old reviews though, and FFXIV is busting their humps. I’d like to read about the new SWTOR someday.
jayremy

Mass effect MMO they should’ve went for. Made an MMO that plays as Mass Effect whether it stayed the same ME story and ME3 tied into the MMO or they actually made SWTOR more like ME games, and more of a shooter style MMO, with all the RPG elements.

I think they already had the foundation instead of making “WoW-clone” gameplay.
Bestow

History was made. But not the way EA/Ware expected.

You reap what you sow.
http://profile.yahoo.com/FPXO267IVAHL3MK4HRRNRQPNDA Bush Swanson, The American Dre

I was so confused when she was talking but it was a monster talking. o_O
scottsummer

If they hadn’t rushed Dragon Age II, if they spent more time on the ending of ME3, if they hired better leader/management team for SWTOR, they would had stayed in Bioware and enjoyed the cheers from the fans like they used.

SWTOR imo is just the icing on the cake on the “fall” of Bioware, Dragon Age II seriously ruined their reputation among their loyal fanbase and it all went downfall afterward.
http://twitter.com/JasoonMc Jason McIntyre

The most depressing thing about this and how it affects the fans the most is that the doctors leaving may have put the final nail in the coffin for bioware. What’s so depressing about that you ask? Games like Baldur’s Gate, neverwinter nights, KOTOR and Dragon age: origins were THE greatest role playing experiences I have ever had and I’m sure this is the case with many other people and I honestly can not think of another company that can compare to what bioware has done in the past.

You may be thinking that Bioware isn’t dead, just a couple employees left. Well I’m sure the doctors were a lot more heavily involved in those earlier projects and it really sucks that without them, I don’t think we’re going to see anything come out of bioware that compares in quality to some of their earlier titles.

What do you guys think? What companies out there right now release high quality role playing games that compare to what bioware has done? There are only a few I can think of: Bethesda (Skyrim, Fallout), From Software (Dark Souls) and Arenanet (Guild Wars 2 really is a solid RPG.) Companies like Blizzard and Square have failed us and I think they are also going (or have already gone) the same route as Bioware.
- Josh Rosenvelt
  
  There biggest mistake was copying wow in it’s current state when it came to endgame. The flashpoints were actually good but raiding was terrible with faceroll mode, new games should rather go the burning crusade route with linear progress and more content.
  Also making 8 and 16 man operations equal did nothing to build large communities.
  
  As seen with wow, the sub numbers only started to drop when blizzard made 10s and 25s equal. With 25s man raiding guilds downsizing and taking the easier path for progress and effort outside of raids.
  
  So bioware did a massive mistake, infact they would of been a lot better off if the game was made in the BC era, then they would of copied a decent endgame experience.
- Tom Hayward
  
  Sorry, but Bioware was already well on its way out before the doctors retired. As good as Mass Effect and Dragon Age were, they paled in comparison to Baldur’s Gate. EA ruined Bioware because they forced them to turn the somewhat niche appeal of their games into the mass market. Thus Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and SWTOR were born. SWTOR was the game that was just too different and too much for them to handle.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=754168227 Len Hobbel

Shut down isnt to far off….my first video at launched of swtor hit it all right on. Though I did give them more time before it would sink. Never thought at the 6 month mark it would be dead in the water and start sinking I gave it a year…But things have really gotten bad. It will be turned off and I will bet money on this….KNOWING inside information makes this is very safe bet. I place shut down by years end or just into first 1/4 2013. I also smell a law suit from Lucas but that I am not sure on but the shut down I am
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Jim-Bergevin-Jr/1393526370 Jim Bergevin Jr
  
  Linkies to your “inside” information please. Amazing how many people to claim “inside” knowledge of the gaming industry yet know very little actual facts. Fact of the matter is that most who actually do know facts don’t troll it around.
  - http://www.facebook.com/davidallmighty David Cohen
    
    Did you just ask for links to inside info?! There would not be links unless wikileaks ran it or a site like that lol.
http://twitter.com/Dope_Danny Danny Smith

“n-no we dont make bad games! its the fans fault!”

and the sad part is people will agree. because its really taxing to be sent cupcakes.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_R35J5EUERGS3E6JRIQMBCDTRRY Nathan I

A brand is a promise. Bioware broke multiple promises in a row. Refuses to apologize again and again and again and kept on trying to shift the blame to other people. Even when they finally issued one “apology” it contained a veiled insult directed at their fans. Were the two doctors directly responsible for the broken promises? Probably not, but it happened under their watch and so it falls on them. They’ve destroyed their own brand and only have themselves to blame for the negative reaction from fans.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Alex-Mac/777995513 Alex Mac

This doesn’t surprise me. Debate about the quality of products all you want (and I think you can, on both sides). But if you want to debate about the tone and magnanimity of “fans” and their reaction to these things, you don’t have a leg to stand on. It was vicious, self adulating, whiny, and set back the general maturity of the developer/gamer relationship by at least five years.
- A_Renee
  
  Um, no. Sorry, but you’re wrong.
  
  The relationship between business and customer is not a lovey-dovey one, nor should it be. Bioware and its staff aren’t family or personal friends, and they’re not giving me free gifts that I’m then cruelly lashing out at them over.
  
  Bioware is a BUSINESS, and I am the CUSTOMER. As the CUSTOMER, I pay the BUSINESS for a product and/or service, and I have a right — perhaps even a duty! — to demand quality and to voice my objections when I don’t receive it.
  
  Customers are in no way obligated to blow sunshine up the collective asses of businesses when they receive shoddy products in exchange for their hard-earned money. Quite the opposite, in fact.
  
  So maybe some hotshot in the business got his feelings hurt because people said mean things? I feel exactly ZERO sympathy. These clowns get paid the big bucks to turn out quality products; if they can’t do that, then they need to get the hell out and make room for someone who can.
  
  I wouldn’t feel sympathy for a restaurant owner whose restaurant received negative feedback for serving bland and poorly prepared food. Why should I hold game developers to any less of a standard?
  
  Otherwise, what am I PAYING THEM FOR?

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