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Post by helios969 on Jul 30, 2016 13:21:30 GMT -8
So...might as well carry over the tradition of inane speculation. We've seen numerous people move on from Bioware prior to the disconcerting decision to close down the forums. One of their biggest supporters Ash, aka Lady Insanity will no longer be doing Bioware content. We've seen and heard virtually nothing about MEA. Is the end nigh for Bioware? Are the onetime kings of the RPG world giving up to chase the more mainstream action genre? Or is it even worse, with EA looking to blow it up entirely? I hate to think the worse, but all the signs point to major changes coming. The question is are those changes benign or catastrophic. To me this is an extremely perplexing move when we're a supposed 8-9 months from a major release. It reeks of something fundamentally wrong with the game. It would have made much more sense to pull the plug a few months after MEA's release...and that it's happening prior to the N7 day major reveal is a bit disconcerting. Anyway, what are other peoples thoughts, concerns, grand conspiracies...
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2016 13:55:55 GMT -8
Quoting Hanlon: '"Never assume malice when stupidity will suffice"
I think the holding back of information is simply down to EA marketing not wanting the releases of Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 to be interfered with (Oct 21 and 28 respectively). I'm not worried about people leaving (that happens) and information withheld (for the other releases).
More foolish is the abandonment of the BSN. They may view it as a toxic source, but it's a poor marketing call. I don't think it's a conspiracy suggesting the game is pants, just marketing not having to worry about 'BSN at its worst'.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2016 14:05:12 GMT -8
EA decides to rid itself of Bioware... That could be a reasonable conclusion to this.
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Post by steppenwolf on Jul 30, 2016 14:19:35 GMT -8
I think BioWare is probably just going to be dissolved and absorbed into other EA studios within the next year. Dragon Age seems to be no more, the new IP is nothing at this point, they recently canceled a title after several years of development, MEA could very well be vaporware since they've shown practically nothing after almost 4 years of development, and now they're removing the central pillar of the BioWare fan community.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2016 14:25:36 GMT -8
Funny, BioWare didn't really want BSN. By the time the month is out we could have several BSN's...
Smash the broom, now you have several brooms.
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Post by Heimdall on Jul 30, 2016 14:45:42 GMT -8
Frankly, I think the reason they gave for closing the forum was a lot more honest than some want to credit, they simply don't see any more benefit for them. They don't want to have to deal with the forums anymore, which they associate primarily with the incredible backlash of negativity that seems to come with each game release. And because the devs don't interact with fans there, they don't view it as an important communication channel.
A stupid decision, but quit your doomsaying, there's no indication that Bioware is failing or that EA management is at all involved in this, aside from keeping a lid on their marketing for the sake of other games.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2016 14:47:22 GMT -8
I think BioWare is probably just going to be dissolved and absorbed into other EA studios within the next year. Dragon Age seems to be no more, the new IP is nothing at this point, they recently canceled a title after several years of development, MEA could very well be vaporware since they've shown practically nothing after almost 4 years of development, and now they're removing the central pillar of the BioWare fan community. I agree. I think meA could be the last EA game with the BIOWARE name. Hope I am wrong.
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Post by steppenwolf on Jul 30, 2016 15:04:52 GMT -8
Frankly, I think the reason they gave for closing the forum was a lot more honest than some want to credit, they simply don't see any more benefit for them. They don't want to have to deal with the forums anymore, which they associate primarily with the incredible backlash of negativity that seems to come with each game release. And because the devs don't interact with fans there, they don't view it as an important communication channel. A stupid decision, but quit your doomsaying, there's no indication that Bioware is failing or that EA management is at all involved in this, aside from keeping a lid on their marketing for the sake of other games. But that logic is wholly illogical. They use the BSN less now, but the fans don't. The only way their logic could make any sense is if fans could ONLY use the forums to interact with devs. But that's clearly not the case.
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Post by Heimdall on Jul 30, 2016 15:07:43 GMT -8
Frankly, I think the reason they gave for closing the forum was a lot more honest than some want to credit, they simply don't see any more benefit for them. They don't want to have to deal with the forums anymore, which they associate primarily with the incredible backlash of negativity that seems to come with each game release. And because the devs don't interact with fans there, they don't view it as an important communication channel. A stupid decision, but quit your doomsaying, there's no indication that Bioware is failing or that EA management is at all involved in this, aside from keeping a lid on their marketing for the sake of other games. But that logic is wholly illogical. They use the BSN less now, but the fans don't. The only way their logic could make any sense is if fans could ONLY use the forums to interact with devs. But that's clearly not the case. That's my point, they don't seem to think that maintaining the forums has any purpose except as it directly benefits devs in terms of communicating with fans. Their reasoning seems to be "fans can communicate with fans elsewhere". I said it was stupid.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2016 15:25:00 GMT -8
They even changed the name to the BioWare Forum. Everyone still called it BSN.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2016 15:28:36 GMT -8
I'm with Heimdall although part of me says Bioware is heading for the docks.
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Post by steppenwolf on Jul 30, 2016 15:49:51 GMT -8
But that logic is wholly illogical. They use the BSN less now, but the fans don't. The only way their logic could make any sense is if fans could ONLY use the forums to interact with devs. But that's clearly not the case. That's my point, they don't seem to think that maintaining the forums has any purpose except as it directly benefits devs in terms of communicating with fans. Their reasoning seems to be "fans can communicate with fans elsewhere". I said it was stupid. But they specifically said it's about interacting with devs and didn't even mention fans interacting with each other except in forum posts. But those posts are contradictory and, quite frankly, stupid. The actual reason behind the closure is clearly not what they're saying. If the reason they gave was legitimate then they wouldn't be having such a hard time explaining it.
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Post by yolobastien on Jul 30, 2016 16:06:32 GMT -8
The people that left were writers iirc, and Bioware has said that all they are doing with the game is polishing. So that does not worry me so much since I assume the story and all is done. It does worry me about future Mass Effect games and if they will be tied in with ME:A or not. If they decide to make a sequel, they would have to hire new writers, and that could honestly lead to a lot of inconsistencies. So maybe this will be the last Mass Effect game. Concerning the forums, I really cannot believe that the ME:A devs were on board with this. They knew that fans are already in uproar at how little they have shown us of the game. So I believe this decision was made separately from them. Why they chose to do this? idk. I sure don't believe it is for the reasons they list, since any other medium is beyond their control. So hopefully those tied to the game have nothing to do with these series of unfortunate events, and the game will come out strong (maybe if I repeat it to myself everynight it will be true )
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Post by steppenwolf on Jul 30, 2016 16:19:22 GMT -8
The people that left were writers iirc, and Bioware has said that all they are doing with the game is polishing. So that does not worry me so much since I assume the story and all is done. They've lost editors, animators, lead writers , and a director as well. And all signs point to the lead writer of MEA leaving some time last Fall.
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Post by Heimdall on Jul 30, 2016 16:27:24 GMT -8
That's my point, they don't seem to think that maintaining the forums has any purpose except as it directly benefits devs in terms of communicating with fans. Their reasoning seems to be "fans can communicate with fans elsewhere". I said it was stupid. But they specifically said it's about interacting with devs and didn't even mention fans interacting with each other except in forum posts. But those posts are contradictory and, quite frankly, stupid. The actual reason behind the closure is clearly not what they're saying. If the reason they gave was legitimate then they wouldn't be having such a hard time explaining it. Exactly, they talked about interacting with devs because that was the purpose of the forum as far as they were concerned. Without that, they aren't interested in maintaining it. That, and the forums tend to play host to some of the most vicious fan reactions that send Bioware devs to therapy, apparently. This is a selfish decision on their part that completely discounts the benefits of maintaining the fan community. I think that because they spend so little time on the forums, they assumed the forums were of minimal importance to maintaining the fanbase at large.
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