EA closing Visceral Studios -

Bioware's fate if Anthem flops.

It does seem like an all-in approach on MP and microtransactionry.

They are milking it... LucasArts should never have been dissolved. Disney should have taken that opportunity to in-house it, and expand the team and their profits.

Everything is about gambling and greed. Two things I abhor.

This is what Soderlund meant about Mass Effect returning down the line as fresh, if it even does. More micro transactions, loot boxes, shared worlds. Milk more money to support games which have become too big to create now. A base game is not enough. It's why Andromeda still has multiplayer updates. The only way games like Dead Space and Mass Effect return to their roots, or return at all, is if they are sold off to an independent developer. I don't hate multiplayer, but this shift in focus away from single player is... annoying.

I think I've seen that with BW instead, a couple of times.

who are those players they test their concept game with? And why do they mention fundamental shifts in the marketplace without saying what those shifts are ?

LucasArts was a shit studio though by 2005, mostly because of that issue of greed. Their reputation post KOTOR 2 was mud and went downhill in terms of quality control from that point on. Them being dissolved was a good business move on Disney's part, and giving the license to EA was a good move since it puts a bunch of titles into their plates to make and be massive vs worrying about an in-house studio team. It's a laissez faire strategy.

Speaking of business...something to keep in mind regarding development costs, as we got a bit of a confirmation regarding the dev costs of Dead Space 2 which was released in 2011. These type of numbers are rare to get...even if they are not exact like Zach Wilson admits they aren't. 

But the numbers do match the average costs - roughly $60 million for the budget and a possible $60 million matching marketing. Marketing costs have shifted heavily since then, less massive ad campaigns and more online word of mouth now a days, but its probably comparable. Of course...the shift of a service model is lucrative...but it's not really gambling or greed...it's making ends meet.

Sad, but ultimately true. Of course now that that ship has sailed it's likely not going to change, although the only way it will is if we actually adjust game prices to their actual costs...if a game was sold digitally or at retail for the near $100 it should be...perhaps things would be different, but thats all academic now. 

...No more Dead Space?

(DE3 and BF:Hardline can burn in hell tho')

This.

EA only really cares about their money makers i.e. DICE, EA Canada (FIFA series) and the Sims Devs. Bioware is expendable and I predict Anthem will flop hard.

Surprised it took this long for this to get mentioned

Legend tells that EA's alchemists are able to harness the saline solution from player tears and create massive batteries to power their servers.