Former Bioware Dev speaks out against EA's monetisation practices

[WYP]

"I've seen people literally spend $15,000 on Mass Effect multiplayer cards"



Read more on EA's monetisation practices and the direction of future game development.

 

[NeverBackDown]

Just confirming what we've known for a while.

Won't be buying pretty much anything from EA. Only multiplayer games with a half a***** single player game is a no go. Ubisoft used to be how EA was. Now at least they are okay.

 

[Bartacus]

As someone who only plays single player games, this depresses the poop out of me.

 

[Daiyus]

As someone who only plays single player games, this depresses the poop out of me.

It's been concerning me for some time. It's one of the reasons I expect my current hardware to last until it actually dies because I can't see many AAA games coming out in the future that I'll actually want to buy and therefore need to upgrade for. The whole market is too multi-player and social interaction focused.

There's still a massive back-catalog of games for me to play though so I'll be good for a few years for content. Once that runs out, well, I'll have to see if there's still life in the gaming hobby or if I'll have to find a new one.

 

[TheF34RChannel]

The fact remains that an individual can decide whether or not to spend money. I'm no fan of it either - far from it.

I agree with the above poster that games are too mp and social focused, and at heart I'm a sp. Makes me wonder about anthem...

 

[tolagarf]

The fact remains that an individual can decide whether or not to spend money. I'm no fan of it either - far from it.

I agree with the above poster that games are too mp and social focused, and at heart I'm a sp. Makes me wonder about anthem...

Anthem is gonna be a cash cow. Can't see why it wouldn't be.

 

[AngryGoldfish]

It's been concerning me for some time. It's one of the reasons I expect my current hardware to last until it actually dies because I can't see many AAA games coming out in the future that I'll actually want to buy and therefore need to upgrade for. The whole market is too multi-player and social interaction focused.

There's still a massive back-catalog of games for me to play though so I'll be good for a few years for content. Once that runs out, well, I'll have to see if there's still life in the gaming hobby or if I'll have to find a new one.

When The Division was first shown off years ago, I thought this could be perfect for me. Then I found out that it was going to be heavily MP and online, I lost a lot of interest. While it may have been too early to tell for sure, the game ended up being well received in general but was mired by the same crap that online gameplay is usually mired by: idiots and microtransactions.

I read an article today quoting someone from Rockstar who announced why they didn't focus on SP content for GTA V; saying that it was going to take too much time and resources away from Red Dead Redemption and other games. While I imagine some of that is true, the amount of money Rockstar have made from Shark Cards is immense. All they have to do is add a new Classic Sports card, a few items of jewellery, a few new tattoos and a new yacht finish and they'll earn hundreds of thousands in Shark Cards. They'll get very little from SP content.

EA doesn't look like it's even trying to hide its motives. They're waving their money (our money) in our faces smugly. It's kind of creepy and unnerving really.

 

[Linchpin]

Heer might have a valid point in this one instance but it's not like he knows anything about making a quality game any more than some suits at EA, they're both equally awful in their own ways. This just seems like a desperate attempt by him to regain relevancy now that some people have forgotten what a racist, incompetent buffoon he is.

We need people to start voting with their wallets to stop the micro transaction plague but as we're seeing with most popular games these days the average consumer does not have the willpower to not buy lootboxes and the like nevermind the willpower to boycott a game entirely.

 

[NeverBackDown]

Heer might have a valid point in this one instance but it's not like he knows anything about making a quality game any more than some suits at EA, they're both equally awful in their own ways. This just seems like a desperate attempt by him to regain relevancy now that some people have forgotten what a racist, incompetent buffoon he is.

We need people to start voting with their wallets to stop the micro transaction plague but as we're seeing with most popular games these days the average consumer does not have the willpower to not buy lootboxes and the like nevermind the willpower to boycott a game entirely.

I'd wager he's a better developer than you. It's not just one person that makes a game. Good devs fail too. His personal ideology and views has nothing to do with games.

Nothing wrong with microtransactions. It's how they are implemented that is an issue. Even the whole gambling thing isn't an issue, just depends on how it's implemented and in that specific case, very clear criteria on what the odds are. Games are expensive to make. Nobody wants to pay more than $60, you can not expect them to keep the same costs forever without improving games. Especially since Sony and MS keep releasing new consoles every 3 years it makes development longer.

 

[Linchpin]

I'd wager he's a better developer than you. It's not just one person that makes a game. Good devs fail too. His personal ideology and views has nothing to do with games.

You're talking about a guy that said the biggest problem that lead to Andromeda being a failure was that Bioware had too many white employees fyi. But hey if this is the hill you want to die on I'm not going to stop you.

Whether he's a better dev than me is irrelevant, by that idiotic logic the only people that can judge anything are the world's best in the field being judged. Sorry to be bearer of bad news but that's not how the world works.

 

[NeverBackDown]

You're talking about a guy that said the biggest problem that lead to Andromeda being a failure was that Bioware had too many white employees fyi. But hey if this is the hill you want to die on I'm not going to stop you.

Whether he's a better dev than me is irrelevant, by that idiotic logic the only people that can judge anything are the world's best in the field being judged. Sorry to be bearer of bad news but that's not how the world works.

Somebody is triggered.
Be an asshat somewhere else. We don't need that nonsense here. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but nobody likes an asshat

 

[Bartacus]

Somebody is triggered.
Be an asshat somewhere else. We don't need that nonsense here. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but nobody likes an asshat

Umm, the first asshat comment came from you, saying that this guy is a better dev than Linchpin. He was correct in that this was a stupid comment, devoid of all logic.

Maybe take your own advice and stop STARTING nonsense like this.

 

[NeverBackDown]

Umm, the first asshat comment came from you, saying that this guy is a better dev than Linchpin. He was correct in that this was a stupid comment, devoid of all logic.

Maybe take your own advice and stop STARTING nonsense like this.

That was not an asshat comment. Saying somebody sucks at their job when you have lack the skills required to do it better is called ignorance. Gamers say all Devs suck, yet despite that few have the skills to do even try to do what they do. It's ignorant and pathetic

I haven't started anything. But you coming along in and making it something more after his comment sure doesn't end it like you want it to

 

[AngryGoldfish]

That was not an asshat comment. Saying somebody sucks at their job when you have lack the skills required to do it better is called ignorance. Gamers say all Devs suck, yet despite that few have the skills to do even try to do what they do. It's ignorant and pathetic

I haven't started anything. But you coming along in and making it something more after his comment sure doesn't end it like you want it to

I think what Bartacus might have been talking about was the way some keyboard warriors on the net go around dismantling constructive criticism just because the critic doesn't do that thing themselves. Like when I critiqued BvS quite harshly a year or so ago on Facebook; a guy said I wouldn't be able to do a better job. It doesn't matter whether I can or cannot do a better job; constructive criticism is still valid. Discrediting someone's arguments just because they lack the time, money, patience, skill, looks, standing, good luck, etc to do a better job doesn't mean the arguments are invalid.

I don't think that's what you were doing.

 

[Docroc]

Anthem is gonna be a cash cow. Can't see why it wouldn't be.

People were saying the same thing about MA: Andromeda

 

[Dicehunter]

You're talking about a guy that said the biggest problem that lead to Andromeda being a failure was that Bioware had too many white employees fyi. But hey if this is the hill you want to die on I'm not going to stop you.

Whether he's a better dev than me is irrelevant, by that idiotic logic the only people that can judge anything are the world's best in the field being judged. Sorry to be bearer of bad news but that's not how the world works.

That scum bag, Manveer Heir, Said on his twitter "I'd love to kill some whites as there are too many in america and definitely too many in europe, we should all have a kill the white man day".

And I've censored that to seem tame as his version had a lot more racist things in it, the stuff that dev said about white people/caucasians was beyond disgusting yet nothing was done about it, If the tables were turned the whole planet would have been up in arms and protesting but hey, It's only white people.

 

[NeverBackDown]

I think what Bartacus might have been talking about was the way some keyboard warriors on the net go around dismantling constructive criticism just because the critic doesn't do that thing themselves. Like when I critiqued BvS quite harshly a year or so ago on Facebook; a guy said I wouldn't be able to do a better job. It doesn't matter whether I can or cannot do a better job; constructive criticism is still valid. Discrediting someone's arguments just because they lack the time, money, patience, skill, looks, standing, good luck, etc to do a better job doesn't mean the arguments are invalid.

I don't think that's what you were doing.

He saying bad games were because of him and the fact he's racist. That has nothing to do with games and making a game isn't a one man or women's job. There's nothing constructive about that.
I'm not against the fact he's a raicst or that EA is a crap publisher, I agree with him on that and everyone should. But the idea that gamers have is what bothers me the most. I'm learning C++ and it's a difficult language. That's not even before getting to the complex concepts (low level managment concepts).

 

[AngryGoldfish]

He saying bad games were because of him and the fact he's racist. That has nothing to do with games and making a game isn't a one man or women's job. There's nothing constructive about that.
I'm not against the fact he's a raicst or that EA is a crap publisher, I agree with him on that and everyone should. But the idea that gamers have is what bothers me the most. I'm learning C++ and it's a difficult language. That's not even before getting to the complex concepts (low level managment concepts).

I agree. The developer's attitude towards white people isn't going to inherently make him a bad video game developer and all his video games will suck. Harvey Weinstein produced some of the best films of all time, but he's been accused by multiple sources as being sexually manipulative and predatory. Roman Polanski's been accused of sexually assaulting a minor, yet he's not faced trial in the States and is still making excellent films.

 

[Bartacus]

I'm only saying that NBD made an asshat comment, nothing more. I have no "narrative" or anything like that. Maybe he should read Dice's comment and try to understand where Linchpins comment came from in the first place.

 

[Dicehunter]

I'm only saying that NBD made an asshat comment, nothing more. I have no "narrative" or anything like that. Maybe he should read Dice's comment and try to understand where Linchpins comment came from in the first place.

I honestly think if I worked at Bioware and that guy was there I would have thrown him out the top story window, Annoys me that nothing was done but if the tables were turned the person would have been fired, Taken to court, His livelihood ruined and personal life made a living hell.