The REAL Reason Why Bioware Dropped Andromeda...

Maxis is still around, you know. Just not the Emeryville studio. 

If I recall, Westwood shot itself in the foot when half of the staff quit when EA took up development of Tiberium Wars. There is a lot of conflicting reports on that one, some saying EA was imposing a lot of mandates Westwood didn't like, others saying they were quitting so they can remain independent, it was a mess.

OSI had an issue of growing too quickly, and EA shutting them down was a bad idea due to Ultima IX I agree on that one. That said, Origin was divided into several different teams (sound familiar) and each were relatively autonomous.

If I recall correctly, this strategy has been the sort of M.O for EA for a while under Riccitelio and Wilson...effectively giving companies free reign to make a game but when it doesn't work, they act accordingly.  That is another thing...the old style of managing would close down studios as the returns diminished. 

To an extent that exists still of course, but EA has clearly been giving companies a lot more time and chances to get work done. Case en point, the transfer of the Montreal staff still employed to Motive. There is a lot to criticize under the Probst days though but as far as i'm concerned, but the current behavior is not too outlandish of what I expect from a commercial business.

Thus is the nature of the artform in the end, as cold as it is. Less about growing a pair of anything or criticizing really...if anything the constant bitching about EA being a "sell out coporation" is old hat. In the end, you either like the product they create or you don't. It is frankly dismissive to accuse a company for behaving like every other company out there in the hobby. You're not an iconoclast for doing that, you know. 

After all, you think Nintendo got to be the juggernaut they are today by playing nice? Or Activision's "pillar" strategy with their three/four big games a year? How about Valve resting on their laurels without developing anything relevant since DOTA 2, or Rockstar and their price grinding with GTA V?

They all evil corporations ruining the hobby too right? Or is it now a question of degrees? 

It is a question of degrees, but to answer your question: yes, they are all trying to ruin the hobby.

Indies.

I assumed they were just cutting their losses. Rockstar isn't going to do singleplayer DLC either.

I follow his channel, so yeah - he really isn't. Just watch MEA related stuff. And I'm also sure he presents his points better than 90% of the posters here, considering most can't handle the notion of someone criticizing MEA for what it is. The guy's practical and realistic, and that's he's one of the best.

That's the whole breaking point of the video. I have a hard time imagining someone running a short con, going public about it. Meaning the Origin Access promotion doesn't fit anywhere in this model. If you know you are about to cash in on an unpolished turd, you keep your mouth shut about it. You let the hype carry the whole mess. Opening up the first ten hours of that unpolished turd to the general public, at a time when preorders still could be cancelled, doesn't make any sense in the theory this guy is running. At the release day the web already was flooded with memes, which hurt sales big times. Otherwise the pricedrop wouldn't have happened within two weeks. A first, far as I am aware, with any Bioware game.

It is like anything, there is possibly a kernal of truth to it but we can't really read the minds of the people involved.

I think EA did know the game was having issues, but I also think that it still would have been successful considering their "fake reviews" they did before-hand were in an 85 score range, if I recall.

I honestly don't know, but it kind of doesn't matter. 

I can't focus on the video because I'm too distracted by OP's username tbh.

It felt like EA knew it was going to look bad at release or had doubts and said, "Let's allow the reputation of the brand carry it through. We'll give everyone 10 hours of access to decide and we'll hold an embargo until the release date." We all so how that plan turned out. YouTubers smelled blood in the water and let me tell you... March was a bad month for my patreon recipients. Google was losing content creators and shooting itself in the foot with its new ad rules. Then... ANDROMEDA! A gift for click-bait. EA saved the day... if you're a bandwagon loser with a camera that thinks SJWs ruined his life.