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BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk has resigned


Hunny_Bun

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http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-08-10-bioware-co-founder-greg-zeschuk-quits-old-republic-dev-bioware-austin-report

 

I think we sort of already knew this, given:

 

The identity of Zeschuk's successor was decided on at the same time: the Star Wars: The Old Repbulic studio will now be headed up by Matt Bromberg, previously CEO of Major League Gaming.

 

Personally I would prefer clear messages from the Devs about the future. Instead I have to trawl news sites (some of which might not be reputable)

 

EDIT: I should say that I am not a hater. I unsubbed following the F2P announcement but I am in two minds as to whether I was wrong. I still play and don't time out till Thursday so we'll see.

Edited by Hunny_Bun
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Hmm this sound familiar... Oh right the samething happened in Warhammer when EA made Mark Jacobs resign. Hmm now that I think about it SWTOR is trending down the same path as Warhammer. Which means that SWTOR probably won't get many patch updates, because WAR is pretty ran by a skeleton crew. But hey it's been 5 months since we've had any real content right?

 

Stuff like this makes me wish the video game industry would crash so the reset button can be pressed and start over again, with hopefully some new and interesting titles and innovation. But doubt that will happen due to the way that business leaders or investors don't really care about production quality as much as they care about their wealth increasing from stock value.

Edited by Aricus
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http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-08-10-bioware-co-founder-greg-zeschuk-quits-old-republic-dev-bioware-austin-report

 

I think we sort of already knew this, given:

 

 

 

Personally I would prefer clear messages from the Devs about the future. Instead I have to trawl news sites (some of which might not be reputable)

 

EDIT: I should say that I am not a hater. I unsubbed following the F2P announcement but I am in two minds as to whether I was wrong. I still play and don't time out till Thursday so we'll see.

 

Good. It sucks but id have resigned too. When EA buys out your company, its best to take the money and start brand new because they will surely just fudge everything up. Hopefully this means he and Ray will do just that and start another studio.

 

Ah well, just another reason to further hate EA and leave the game to rot under them.

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Good. It sucks but id have resigned too. When EA buys out your company, its best to take the money and start brand new because they will surely just fudge everything up. Hopefully this means he and Ray will do just that and start another studio.

 

Ah well, just another reason to further hate EA and leave the game to rot under them.

 

It's going to be hard to start a new studio in today's market. I mean good luck trying to convince banks to lend you money for your ideas, much less investors. And if you do, there's still a good chance your company will fail (or be caught in some lame lawsuit a.k.a Zynga) or be bought by someone like EA.

Edited by Aricus
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It's going to be hard to start a new studio in today's market. I mean good luck trying to convince banks to lend you money for your ideas, much less investors. And if you do, there's still a good chance your company will fail (or be caught in some lame lawsuit a.k.a Zynga) or be bought by someone like EA.

 

This...look for his next offering on iOS and Android. That's the only game people will risk on anymore.

 

If you're not the fifth title in a series good luck breaking in to the console/PC world.

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also makes me sad. I think he also poured a lot into swtor (launch beard and tattoo say hello) and now this. I think he still rocks and that's why maybe its a good decision for him personally. Maybe he also regrets selling out his company to ea. he would have made less money personally but he must have been well over the point of never having to work again, so he actually gained nothing but lost BioWare, as did we (the fans).

 

So now they put the ex MLG CEO in his place.... not even a BioWare guy.....

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Bioware used to be a private company - they put themselves in a position to be bought by EA and lose control of their destiny when they allowed investors to give them cash. If Greg ends up leaving EA completely after his time off, and he's still got a passion for making games, I hope he starts up a new studio and learns from his mistakes. Hopefully Ray joins him. I would certainly be looking forward to whatever they've got planned even if I have to wait 2 to 3 years.
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It's going to be hard to start a new studio in today's market. I mean good luck trying to convince banks to lend you money for your ideas, much less investors. And if you do, there's still a good chance your company will fail (or be caught in some lame lawsuit a.k.a Zynga) or be bought by someone like EA.

 

Well, welcome to the world of pointless finances, where to open a fish & chips shop around the corner will enable armies of lawyers and financial markets worldwide to produce amounts of money that will buy your country, your city and your fish & chips shop, while leaving you behind with liabilities for the rest of your life. The fish & chips shop they will close, cause it's not profitable according to their standards.

Edited by Cretinus
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Wasnt here a thread about this last week? Did the gaming reporter read that thread and then wrote a news piece about it. And now we are commenting it. Does this cycle end at some point?

 

Anyway he left that position on may, does anyone have any more recent info?

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Very sad; Dr. Zeschuk helped make the company what it is today.

 

While I'm a fan of SW:ToR, even if I wasn't you have to give Dr. Zeschuk a tremendous amount of credit for the amazing titles that came out from BioWare over the last two decades. It must have been very tough to commute from Austin to Edmonton to see one's family.

 

This isn't really a good sign. I personally don't think it is a co-incidence that the ingenuity of this company has become ... increasingly questionable ... the further it gets away from it's Canadian roots. That isn't to say Canucks have more ingenuity; just that companies get to a point crisis point when they expand, re-locate, and that first round of talent leaves. Quite frankly a brand is only worth as much as the people behind it.

 

Then again, they've lost a co-founder before. One of them decided to actually practice medicine considering they wasted all that money on the degree ;).

 

And there is still one co-founder around.

 

- Arcada

Edited by Nydus
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Here's what you all should consider. How many bad decisions were made by Greg, and how many were forced on him from EA? A lot of people assume EA chose to do everything that people did not like. Perhaps they were Gregs ideas. Perhaps it's a good thing he is leaving. You just don't know which employees were good and which were bad for the game. Greg may not be a good guy to work on an MMO.
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It's going to be hard to start a new studio in today's market. I mean good luck trying to convince banks to lend you money for your ideas, much less investors. And if you do, there's still a good chance your company will fail (or be caught in some lame lawsuit a.k.a Zynga) or be bought by someone like EA.

 

Maybe so but youd have to think if anyone can do it it would be someone with his experience and previous successes under his belt. Also buying majority stock on a successful company is a pretty big investment, even for EA. I doubt EA or any other big company would do that before a new company proves its profitable. Even then there is just as much a chance that some company other than EA will do it. Either way its better than being stuck with them now.

 

Maybe he also regrets selling out his company to ea.

 

I dont think either he nor Ray had any say in it. Bioware is a publically traded corporation, EA bought majority stocks and it all went downhill from there. There was nothing they could do.

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Ship has sunk. Captain has left the deck.

 

In this case, that's a good thing. Perhaps the folks left behind can patch the holes enough to salvage this ship...or at least float it along long enough for another to come along.

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The title of your thread is entirely misleading. He did not quit the company he simply resigned his position at Bioware Austin which is not an uncommon practice in his business. Most of everything else is rampant speculation do to an article a German website wrote. Even if all this is true it still does not mean the world is coming to an end; the fact EA is letting this game go F2P shows they are handling the situation better than they did with War.

 

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/08/10/rumor-greg-zeschuk-leaving-bioware/

Edited by Presbytier
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