BioWare Montreal absorbed by EA Motive. Mass Effect IP returns to Edmonton

I believe it's possible it's been canceled and it's possible it hasn't been canceled. That's what "waiting for the official word" entails. That's what normal people do... even the Kotaku article (well, the version I read, anyway) left open the possibility for Single Player DLC.

Whoever those people are that guessed at a merger, sure, they got it right. But it wasn't wrong for the rest of us to wait for confirmation. Again, it's just speculation until it isn't speculation. There's nothing wrong with pointing out that fact, or in waiting on official word.

Not sure what all this "caught with their pants down" stuff is. I haven't made any predictions, I've just said I'm waiting on official word and that I won't buy into any speculation as more than that... speculation.

When the Kotaku article came out... many on this forum jumped to conclusions that Bioware Montreal folks were being canned because of Andromeda, there was definitely going to be no DLC, Andromeda definitely wasn't a financial success, and that Andromeda Single Player DLC was canceled because of Andromeda being a flop. I simply didn't buy into any of that speculation, said I'd wait for official word. Maybe it would be true, maybe it wouldn't. I've been right so far in waiting, the speculation that DLC has been canceled hasn't been proven correct, speculation that Andromeda did poorly financially hasn't been proven correct, and speculation that Bioware Montreal was going away because of Andromeda wasn't proven correct either.

I also must add that theories and hypothesis change with new data all the time, that is if you are honest about things. For instance I was about 80% sure we would get at least one piece of SP DLC for Andromeda. At this point the level has fallen to 70, maybe even 60, because whatever else is going on...unti we get official confirmation this does not look good. Especially when Edmenton is already so busy with two major projects.

Putting evidence in its proper place =/= ignoring the evidence. I don't know why you have problems with folks just stating how things are. Speculation is speculation. It doesn't magically become a fact just because you want to gamble on it or like it or lean in its direction. 

You're welcome?

I really don't get what your issue with all this is. Plenty of people were skeptical of his sources when his article dropped and just preferred to wait for more evidence. You're the one assuming everyone thought he was lying.

Why on earth should EA/Bioware give public statements? The sheer speculation thrown around as fact is far more entertaining. Maybe that is why they have been silent for so long!

Well, when you put it that way...

Andrew Waples I follow the available evidence + this is textbook 1st World Problem. The only downside is being wrong on the internet.

haolyn I know several people said Schreier was lying. I never implied "everyone." This is a minor issue against some of the unpleasant posters here (eg fluffypouf, quarantine) and I have not been the only one calling them out for their unpleasantness. You can browse back this very thread to find a few more. Beyond that, it's meaningless.

vonuber I will buy Andrew Waples [1] single player ME:A DLC if I am wrong.

My guess is that this decision wasn't driven by MEA's performance per se. Even if Andromeda drove this year's revenues, you have to make some kind of change if there's a problem with the management structure or the atmosphere within a studio. If you believe Kotaku's article, it sounds like the relationship between Bioware Montreal and Edmonton (essentially Bioware HQ) broke down. If Montreal remained under the Bioware umbrella, these problems would only fester further. 

EA could have realised this midway through the development cycle, where there's nothing to do about it but push on. That'd explain why this merger might have been on the cards for a while now. 

Under EA Motive, the Montreal team gets a fresh start with local management and oversight. 

(I err...hope that makes sense. I'm kinda convincing myself at this point)

This is pretty much spot on - exactly what my take on it was. The idea that Andromeda's performance caused the merge is inherently silly - such a merger would have been planned before it was released in March, it's only August now.

However, it doesn't sound like no-one in EA was taking notice during its dev. Having to parachute people in to get a project on track is a temporary solution and I can easily see EA choosing to start a move and re-brand when it became clear that MEA was going down the toilet. The fact that it didn't is a happy accident for EA, they can't assume the next project would just go any better. In that respect, it wasn't Andromeda's performance that took down Montreal so to speak, it was its development.

This is part of the reason why I was suspicious of Jason's article, at least the specifics about people being moved around and expectations of sequels. The sources in question sounded like they were saying the moves came out of the blue, the sky was falling during dev, but they figured that if they could just get MEA out the door and rack some 80%s then it would be sequel time - that didn't make any sense. If things were that bad then why on earth did they think a sequel was on the cards? And why did no-one know about the merger while it was being enacted?

In reference to the stuff above about whether it was a merger or not - I can't speak for whether it was a sensible conclusion without hindsight, but given the issues above, the article author's bizarre behaviour and a hoax that happened to say the exact same thing, I can't see why it wasn't sensible to wait for official confirmation. 

That's not what we're discussing.  People are saying that if the game doesn't get DLC it's not because of its performance, or the reception of the game, or even the perceived market for DLC. It's because they don't have the manpower for it due to other projects. 

Which would mean either, they never planned on releasing any additional content under any circumstance and moved the personnel elsewhere, or that they don't know how to manage their resources and never had a plan to capitalize on the game had it very successful.  Both of which are highly unlikely.  

People are saying this has been going on since January, so it was already planned to merge them.  Really?  They were moving people from Bioware Montreal to EA motive while they were still in the home stretch finishing up Andromeda? 

EA would have had a plan in place to produce DLC and start working on the next ME game had it been warranted.

If your being genuine, then I appreciate the gesture. However, no offense, but I'm not giving my personal info to randos--especially on the Internet. Plus, if there is going to be dlc, it'll be like $15 USD (at least past history suggests that). It's not a big deal. 

If they don't think the market is there, they don't think it's there, whether they started the DLC or not.  They would still have to finish it, Q&A it, market it, and fix any additional bugs it may cause.  If they thought the market was there to make that worthwhile there would be DLC.