Andryah Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 (edited) Personally, If I was in Gregs shoes, I would resign from the GM position as well. In fact, I would have done it shortly after launch (but I'm sure EA did not want that as it disrupts the new game frenzy). The GM role is very different after launch, and not something I would expect either of the cofounders to stay engaged in for the long term. Besides, he has not left the company as far as I can tell, just stepping back from day to day operations. His family roots are in Edmonton, and so I can see not wanting to stay long term in Austin. Edited August 10, 2012 by Andryah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AutoCocker Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 Anyone else notice the trend of EA taking over a studio then the founders jumping ship shortly after? MJ at Mythic, GZ here etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunablade Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 (edited) Tortanic is sinking more by day and has crashed now so much that even captains started to flee . Edited August 10, 2012 by Lunablade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corebit Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 STO has, what, a 3 year head-start on SWTOR? How long did it take STO to go F2P? I'm guessing something more than 11 months, right? Seems like SWTOR is right on track... And STO didn't have the have huge development budget that SWTOR enjoyed. That makes SWTOR an even bigger failure... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChazDoit Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 Greg Zeschuk Hasn't Left Bioware, Contrary To Rumors LINK It's always a sad moment for any company when a founding member chooses to depart, and that's just what it seemed like when it was announced that Greg Zeschuk was leaving BioWare. Except for the fact that he wasn't. He was just changing jobs in the company. Until recently Zeschuk was in charge of Star Wars: The Old Republic. But according to him that was always a temporary role. "My time in Austin was always planned to have a finite endpoint (my family was still living in Edmonton throughout my time in Austin) and now that I've handed the baton to Matt [bromberg, Zeschuk's successor at BioWare Austin], I will be able to spend more time on a wider range of BioWare games rather than focusing on just one as I did with SWTOR." This does, however, raise a few troubling questions for BioWare's MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. After all Zeschuk was one of the key personnel behind the game and its low subscriber numbers have forced it to become a free-to-play game. The founder of the company stepping away from such a high profile project to focus on the company's future inevitably raises the question: Do EA and BioWare see the game as a part of their past? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trenter Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 Anyone else notice the trend of EA taking over a studio then the founders jumping ship shortly after? MJ at Mythic, GZ here etc. The article said he's still with Ea. You have a link to him "jumping ship"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andryah Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 (edited) Anyone else notice the trend of EA taking over a studio then the founders jumping ship shortly after? MJ at Mythic, GZ here etc. Protip: this is common with every company everywhere, not EA specifically, and not gaming companies specificially. Smaller companies sell out to larger companies all the time. The founders and principals of the company reap the harvest of their hard work. Some stay on with the company that aquired them, but most actually only stay through a product transition period and then depart. IT IS VERY COMMON. Nothing to see here, no matter how much you try to conflate it. Besides, he did not leave.... he just stepped down from the Austin GM role, as he previously announced he would do. Edited August 10, 2012 by Andryah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellbrass Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 That's corporate spin. Anytime you hear a top executive "leaving to spend more time with their family", it means they've been fired. Only when said person has actually left the company. Which he hasn't. Given the combination of spending long periods away from his family and the godawful crunch time before an MMO releases, it's no wonder he's taking a break before heading up another project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catch_TwentyTwo Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 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. Read the updated article. This was always part of the plan. He never relocated his family to Austin, so I guess he never intended to stay there. He hasn't left the company, just this position... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catch_TwentyTwo Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 "My time in Austin was always planned to have a finite endpoint (my family was still living in Edmonton throughout my time in Austin) and now that I've handed the baton to Matt [bromberg, Zeschuk's successor at BioWare Austin], I will be able to spend more time on a wider range of BioWare games rather than focusing on just one as I did with SWTOR." /thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamuraBob_Fl Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 I hadn't heard of Bromberg before, but googling him turned up a couple interesting points. First, the guy's not a game maker. He's an investor and a manager. I'm not sure what that will mean. He may not quite understand making quality games. On the other hand, he has more experience managing large organizations, which seems to have been Bioware's weakest point, and it may be what the company needs. Secondly, he left Major League Gaming because he wanted to continue aggressive expansion while his bosses wanted to slow down and become more cautious. I'm hoping this is a personality trait and not just a one-off, as he might push harder for more content updates. On the other hand, expansion require cash, and might drive the company to milk players via the cash shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthTHC Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 "My time in Austin was always planned to have a finite endpoint (my family was still living in Edmonton throughout my time in Austin) and now that I've handed the baton to Matt [bromberg, Zeschuk's successor at BioWare Austin], I will be able to spend more time on a wider range of BioWare games rather than focusing on just one as I did with SWTOR."/thread! Youth is so cute! This pattern regularly repeats itself when popular executives are on their way out of a company. I have never seen this pattern result in an executive staying with a company. Words have NO value. This is especially true words uttered by, approved by, or in the context of Electronics Arts communicating with employees and customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leggomy Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 (edited) Youth is so cute! This pattern regularly repeats itself when popular executives are on their way out of a company. I have never seen this pattern result in an executive staying with a company. Words have NO value. This is especially true words uttered by, approved by, or in the context of Electronics Arts communicating with employees and customers. While I am sure at some point he planned to hand off the day to day management of SWTOR I somehow doubt he meant to do it less than a year after launch. Thats like saying while I knew my time on earth was finite but a bus hit me and well...Im dead now. Edited August 10, 2012 by Leggomy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthTHC Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 While I am sure at some point he planned to hand off the day to day management of SWTOR I somehow doubt he meant to do it less than a year after launch. Thats like saying while I knew my time on earth was finite but a bus hit me and well...Im dead now. The pattern I spoke of isn't turning over the lead of the studio. That happens all the time and is just business. The pattern that indicates departure is taking a sabbatical / stepping away for a long period of time, especially if it's "to spend time with family". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeterno Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 (edited) I just wish BW would be more forthcoming with the state of the studion and direction of the game. Say what you will about FFXIV, but the SE response has been as good as you could expect. They layed it all out, made transparent changes and plans. Its worrying that we don't even know who is still a dev in TOR, never mind any tangible direction the game is planning to take. Only news nowadays is "oh X is apparently gone". Edited August 10, 2012 by aeterno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trenter Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 Youth is so cute! This pattern regularly repeats itself when popular executives are on their way out of a company. I have never seen this pattern result in an executive staying with a company. Words have NO value. This is especially true words uttered by, approved by, or in the context of Electronics Arts communicatinög with employees and customers. So he is leaving BioWare then, DarthTHC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthTHC Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 I just wish BW would be more forthcoming with the state of the studion and direction of the game. Say what you will about FFXIV, but the SE response has been as good as you could expect. They layed it all out, made transparent changes and plans. Its worrying that we don't even know who is still a dev in TOR, never mind any tangible direction the game is planning to take. Only news nowadays is "oh X is apparently gone". Indeed, had they told us at the outset that they were using our subscription revenue to fund the migration to F2P, we could have cancelled our subscriptions earlier! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PepinoCantador Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 Youth is so cute! This pattern regularly repeats itself when popular executives are on their way out of a company. I have never seen this pattern result in an executive staying with a company. Words have NO value. This is especially true words uttered by, approved by, or in the context of Electronics Arts communicating with employees and customers. Normally I'd agree, but I'm fairly confident it isn't the case here. There isn't any point in explaining why I feel that way (as this is the internet, and I wouldn't be believed), but I strongly suspect they will both be around for a good long while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthTHC Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 So he is leaving BioWare then, DarthTHC? Probably. Of course it won't be announced for a while because these types of announcements come in stages. But I think he's done his last official / meaningful work for EA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leggomy Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 Probably. Of course it won't be announced for a while because these types of announcements come in stages. But I think he's done his last official / meaningful work for EA. I agree with this. He has tons of money from the EA buyout. You dont have to resign your job to simply take a vacation. I am pretty sure EA demanded a change in management at Bioware SWTOR. I am also pretty sure he isnt happy about it hence this long vacation and vague comments about other projects. In the programming world when you are "working on other projects" that means you got laid off or fired heh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamus_Divinus Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 (edited) Probably. Of course it won't be announced for a while because these types of announcements come in stages. But I think he's done his last official / meaningful work for EA. You're down to 'probably'? Wow, ok so now you've lost all credibility you'll stick to 'maybe, probably, perhaps'? 'Maybe' these forums aren't the place for your insights? You were entertaining when you had conviction but now?....ah pity. Edited August 10, 2012 by Jamus_Divinus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PepinoCantador Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 You're down to 'probably'? Wow, ok so now you've lost all credibility you'll stick to 'maybe, probably, perhaps'? 'Maybe' these forums aren't the place for your insights? You were entertaining when you had conviction but now?....ah pity. He had credibility? Have you read his hyperbole laden sig? I'd sooner try to get accurate business speculation from the guy at the McDonald's drive-thru. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trenter Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 Probably. Of course it won't be announced for a while because these types of announcements come in stages. But I think he's done his last official / meaningful work for EA. Oh, ok. I thought you knew for certain with the cute youths and all. My bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthTHC Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 You're down to 'probably'? Wow, ok so now you've lost all credibility you'll stick to 'maybe, probably, perhaps'? 'Maybe' these forums aren't the place for your insights? You were entertaining when you had conviction but now?....ah pity. Believe what you will, I guess. Perhaps after a few months in the woods with his wife & kids, especially when winter hits, he'll be right back at Austin where there's no snow, no bears, no nagging wife or bratty kids, and plenty of margaritas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidichIorian Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 He's probably going to be too far away from the more game specific decisions but it would be cool if some "MLG" could rub off on swtor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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