The end of BioWare?

People come, people go. Things don't stay the same, only change is permanent.

Most of those guys stayed far longer than is typical for the industry. Can it hurt a company? Yes. But there's no avoiding it.

I'm less concerned with who left, people come and go all the time, than I am about the quality of their games and the slide they have been in ever since EA took over. 

The end of Bioware?  If Anthem doesn't score BIG it may be.

Perform well according to whose standards? Your long-time BioWare fan who still plays ME1 and Jade Empire or EA's benchmark for RoI?

Oh wow i have missed forum smartmouths like piles 😀

But i did mean the end of bioware as we know it i didnt think i needed to say it.

Hunh, I must not be a fan, then. I don't consider them anywhere near dead.

I was being tongue-in-cheek, since most of the "BioWare is dead" or "BioWare is on its way to the gallows" posts seem to mean the former--"BioWare doesn't make games like I want them any more so they've turned their backs on their money source and they're going to go out of business!!!!11!1!!1!" Obviously EA only cares about sales and on-going income from a game.

I don't think the majority of gamers care what name is on the box. A game looks cool, they play it for a while and move on once something else catches their attention.

Forum posters, reviewers and Youtubers  i.e. people who dedicate a lot of time to a specific game or brand number in the thousands but games sell millions. Our perception of the business end of game development gets skewed by neglecting these circumstances. We may not influence game developers and publishers as much as we like to think.

Bioware will be shut down if EA sees it benefiting the bottom line. Fanboys and people crying out for a boycott of EA do not represent the bulk of EA's income. It is those millions in between that will ultimately decide the fate of Bioware.

 I don't know I think you are underestimating the power of a name, while it is true that a lot of people don't care who the game is made by and will get the game if it looks cool you can't deny that certain names can attract certain attentions (good and bad) and a game from a well known and liked developer will have more of a chance than a game from a relative nobody. Just look at how much hype there is surrounding Cyberpunk 2077, we know nothing about the game apart from a few concept images and a vague trailer yet you got tons of people digging for information and watching it closely due to the sole fact that it is being developed by CDPR a studio that gained a lot of goodwill and love for their work on the Witcher series, hell look at Bethesda, people wont shut up about the next Elder Scrolls Game despite the fact no official statements regarding it's existence give us any idea what is happening yet you know the moment it is announced people will lose their shit merely because it is an Elder Scrolls game and a Bethesda game, even if you are one of those gamers who does not care about the names behind the game it will be very hard to miss this announcement due to the number of gaming blogs and youtubers who will inevitably cover it based on name recognition alone giving it far more exposure than the game made by a developer who is yet to make a name for themselves.

The same used to apply to Bioware with that name carrying a lot of weight and many buying their games based on name alone, however nowdays there is a lot of baggage behind the name and Anthem will tell whether or not the name still carries enough weight to sell a product or whether the studio is past it's use by date.