The Rise and Fall of BIOWARE

Рет қаралды 7,051

7 ай бұрын

The Tragic Decline Of Bioware. A Video Essay going through Biowares life span to see where exactly they went wrong and what caused it, answering the question, What happened To Bioware? and Did EA really Ruin Bioware?
Yes, this is a reupload because I realize how distracting the on screen subtitles are.
My Patreon For Rich people ---- / handsomemain
Buy a new gaming pc here - starforgesystems.pxf.io/nLnOJ7
KZfaq Videos I recommend watching around the subject---
• Mass Effect 3 -10 Year...
• How BioWare Fell From ...
• The content that was c...
• MASS EFFECT Explained ...
• Anthem - The Review (2...
• The Tragedy of Anthem
• An Avoidable Disaster ...
• Dragon Age Origins: "T...
My Sources (KZfaq wouldn't allow me to post them all because of the length of description, so Ig here's just the amount I can share lol, so much for that.) ---
www.theverge.com/2023/1/23/23...
www.denofgeek.com/games/drago...
www.pcgamer.com/ex-bioware-de...
dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Dra...
www.ign.com/articles/former-d...
www.resetera.com/threads/what...
www.thegamer.com/mass-effect-...
www.techradar.com/features/ma...
/ some_interesting_facts...
www.gameinformer.com/opinion/...
www.rockpapershotgun.com/anal...
www.destructoid.com/former-dr...
www.eurogamer.net/years-later...
www.escapistmagazine.com/biow...
www.tweaktown.com/news/93017/...
gameworldobserver.com/2023/08...
www.thegamer.com/bioware-layo...
dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Dra...
www.theguardian.com/technolog....
cogconnected.com/feature/what...
blog.bioware.com/2023/08/23/a...
gamerant.com/bioware-rebuild-...
gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDK2
www.pcgamer.com/the-making-of...
www.windowscentral.com/gaming...
kotaku.com/dragon-age-inquisi...
kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthe...
www.washingtonpost.com/video-...
www.ign.com/articles/2010/01/...
www.bioware.com/about/
www.bioware.com/games/#previo...
gamingbolt.com/bioware-would-...
store.steampowered.com/app/62....
www.pushsquare.com/news/2023/...
www.summerfallstudios.com/
www.gameinformer.com/2021/02/...
www.summerfallstudios.com/about
www.archetype-entertainment.com/
humanoidorigin.com/
www.pushsquare.com/news/2021/...
www.gamesradar.com/dragon-age....

Пікірлер: 85

@ingwerschwensen8115 7 ай бұрын

What kind of an off the cuff vid is this? Every time some background information, and be it simply a correct name, or the status of a certain award, is called for you "don't know", or you "guess". You obviously didn't care to do the one ounce of extra research needed to provide your viewers with a reliable story. Since I care for such things as normal thorough reserarch in videos on topics like these, because without it watching a vid becomes pretty useless, and annoying, I stopped watching. And set my playback speed back to Normal now that I don't have to listen to you anymore rattling through your presentation at top speed.

@thegodforger923 7 ай бұрын

The hell crawled up your ass and died? There's a difference between providing criticism and bashing someone. (Yes, I'm aware of the hypocrisy, it's intentional. The purpose being to throw your own douchy attitude back at you to show how shitty it is.)

@HandsomeMain 7 ай бұрын

I did a shit ton of research actuallly lmao

@raoufbouchami1322 7 ай бұрын

@@HandsomeMaindon't listen to him, i liked ur vid. Keep going bro

@GriffRunning 6 ай бұрын

If you think there’s no research into this video you’re absolutely insane

@Brittanysplittany 4 ай бұрын

You’ve made it, you got a hate comment 🥹

@user-kz7dy1tg3r 6 ай бұрын

As the founder of a tiny indie studio, it’s good to see how once great studios slowly degraded with time. Hopefully if my studio manages to get big, we don’t let outside influences take over.

@HandsomeMain 6 ай бұрын

Been loving a lot of indie games lately so thats cool to hear

@user-kz7dy1tg3r 6 ай бұрын

@@HandsomeMain It’s the hope. I want the company to grow, but I don’t want us to sell our soul for money.

@VeRG1L_47 7 ай бұрын

You can read Drew Karpyshyn's last name like "Kar-pee-shin"

@Aishyo 7 ай бұрын

Goodbye Bioware, I'm not excited about Dread Wolf especially after Baldur's Gate 3 stepped in on some "I'm you but stronger" type shit. All these cinematic trailers but no official gameplay footage yeah, it's over for them. Which is sad I really did love the story of Dragon Age and wasted a lot of time combing through the lore. Great video.

@HandsomeMain 7 ай бұрын

I'm still holding onto "eh we'll see" since the team has a lot of older characters and most of the set up has already been done in the past, but yeah, I don't really see how anyone could be hyped for it or anything like that.

@kylemelo6921 7 ай бұрын

I'm not excited anymore. Bioware Magic is gone.

@HandsomeMain 7 ай бұрын

@@kylemelo6921 Sad and true. But a man can dream

@beccangavin 5 ай бұрын

I watched Mark Darrah play BG3 and I have zero hope for Dreadwolf. He doesn’t seem to understand why we like BG3. The tutorial wasn’t detailed enough for him because it didn’t tell him what choices to make or where the hidden objects were hidden and exploring the world was too much work or something. He just wanted to use the search feature constantly so he wouldn’t have to use the clues on the screen to find things. It was hard to watch….I mean he couldn’t figure out the character creator and said it was limited because he didn’t change any of the options. (As a side note, I get some people like the geomorphing but I swear I created characters that looked…all right in Inquisition’s character creator only to get into the world and watch my elf’s teeth clip through her face while she was talking to people. If I’m assembling faces I prefer the potato head type of assembly to those stupid grids.) I was excited to hear what he had to say but none of it was worth listening to. He sounds a little bitter about Larian doing what BioWare used to do…but they did it better. BG3 is light years better than Inquisition. Light years. And the difference isn’t in the graphics. Every aspect from story to character arcs to level design and battle variety was better.

@dragonreacts8 7 ай бұрын

I was prepared to call Bioware the new Squaresoft... Oh how the mighty have fallen...

@HandsomeMain 7 ай бұрын

Now that's a name I haven't heard in a while

@wisdomcoffee 5 ай бұрын

KZfaq recommended this and just wanted to say you have a great voice for gaming analysis stuff like this. Hope you keep at it!

@loganstafford249 7 ай бұрын

You have done very well researching your points and delivering them in a precise manner. We will watch your career with great interest.

@Tom-hi3jn 7 ай бұрын

Yes, what he says.🍿🥤

@HandsomeMain 7 ай бұрын

hmmm, indubitably so, yes

@miliart7695 7 ай бұрын

Yes, Senator Palpatine.

@SonAlexander 15 күн бұрын

Extremely articulate and well spoken dissertation of the history of BioWare. Well done.

@WhiteManOnCampus 5 ай бұрын

The flippant answer to BioWare’s fall is that they got bought by EA. But that better explains more niche developers like Westwood getting folded into larger projects and losing what made them good in the first place. BioWare was a cash cow, and its downfall is better explained by inter office politics running ever more rampant and the veteran designers and writers being chased out by manufactured scandals, chased away by torch-wielding mobs of envious losers who have failed to live up to the legacy of those they so despised. But as it turns out, if you chase away people with talent, it doesn’t make you better. It just means there’s nobody to make your shit less awful.

@jaysizzleyt5766 4 ай бұрын

Hey, great video, dude. I was listening to this while at work, and hearing all these games I didn't know Bioware made and how they grew and fell was pretty interesting.

@user-kz7dy1tg3r 6 ай бұрын

I saw your upcoming videos list and I can’t wait to watch all of them.

@HumanityKilledArt 7 ай бұрын

great video, sometimes KZfaq recommends great videos.

@HandsomeMain 7 ай бұрын

Ur a great video too

@Strawberria 4 ай бұрын

Jade Empire was my first Bioware game. Maybe because it was my first I feel this way, but totally underrated game! Just fantastic. Even had John Cleese! IT is a shame we never got to see another game in that world.

@HandsomeMain 3 ай бұрын

I hope we get another rpg within the setting again honestly. Untapped market

@carteljameson8395 3 ай бұрын

The fall of Bioware began with Knights of the Old Republic. They were a top tier RPG studio before. But going the more mainstream route, you can trace their incessant need to simplify everything about their games all the way back to KOTOR. The morality system especially is egregious in comparison to what they were doing in Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate. That was the beginning of the end. Especially considering Obsidian completely outclassed them with the sequel. The one exception post-2002 is Dragon Age Origins which was essentially the cRPG evolved and is really the only borderline great RPG they've made in the past 20 or so years. To be clear, I'm not saying they didn't make great games. They just didn't really make great RPGs anymore. I enjoy Jade Empire, ME2, and ME3 as the great action games that they are, but they're not great RPGs. And their reputation as an RPG juggernaut post 2002 is not really earned.

@madpoet 7 ай бұрын

Dude, great content - thanks for posting. I am old gamer and remember all this going down. Interesting how the industry has changed, the rise of consoles w/ a lack of cross platform, coming back around to platform agnostic. Thank you Valve!

@HandsomeMain 7 ай бұрын

2007 - 2013 was my favorite gaming Era but it's also the same time everything started going downhill lmao, but ya I'm still a valve fan forever after left 4 dead

@brodieorr5393 7 ай бұрын

Man, bioware makes me sad...

@HandsomeMain 7 ай бұрын

Sad where it went but I'm still happy with what I got from them overall

@brodieorr5393 7 ай бұрын

@@HandsomeMain yeeah. I men I'm a younger fan, so dao was my first bioware game and they fell off pretty quick after that

@HandsomeMain 7 ай бұрын

@@brodieorr5393 Ya, at least for me they've never beaten it, but I still think what they made before it and even me 2, 3 and swtor are fun

@bamhamer 7 ай бұрын

Spoiler: they got bought by EA. The end

@Threesnap 7 ай бұрын

Sounds right to me! I haven't brought any games from them since ME: Legendary edition and Mass Effect 3 or EA either for that matter.

@NV..V 6 ай бұрын

Boooom.

@Onishiro 4 ай бұрын

Then Hack Walters was put in charge of writing for Mass Effect after 2 was nearly finished and they stopped putting attention into details or caring about what their actual audience wanted, instead focusing on themselves, focus groups, and investors. Great writers like Drew Karpyshyn and Chris L'Etoile got fed up with the new regime and left, spurning others to continue leaving and bleeding out their talent. With Casey Hudson and his artistic visions and the founders gone, Mass Effect and this company as a whole is but a mere husk.

@jtn81x 29 күн бұрын

Yeah, a company does not make games. The people that work at the companies do. None of the people that made great games work at Bioware so they won't do any more great games. Its the same thing with Blizzard. The company might own the IP but the talent is no longer there.

@stealtharrow1 6 ай бұрын

Say what you want but inquisition was my first bioware game since then ive 100 percented the mass effect trilogy twice and origins. I might never have played a bioware game without it

@HandsomeMain 6 ай бұрын

Hey, Inquisition is still a great game. Hell, it's the only Bioware game any of my friends or family have played lol

@GriffRunning 6 ай бұрын

Inquisition is great

@noctoi 3 ай бұрын

Gods damn it, now I want to play the ME trilogy again, but I *despise* the Origin client 😭😭😭😭😭😭

@HandsomeMain 3 ай бұрын

Always worth the hassle tho

@noctoi 3 ай бұрын

@@HandsomeMain It is! ME will always be the best in my heart. I love two, but the original is just special (like DA:O). Even though I truly dislike the third game, it has some brilliant moments as well. I think if I only had the basic games, I'd probably skip it, but I got the Legendary Edit for my birthday a couple years ago and that makes it like an epic week long movie. Definitely makes the Origin nightmare worth it 🥰 Ugh fine, you twisted my arm... now what was my password again? 🤦🤦🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

@jtn81x Ай бұрын

Mass Effect 3 called to inform you about something called a password manager. Your choice even matters, like it used to do in Bioware games. Use it, never forget a password again and forever live in peace, or don't use it, keep using "noctoi123" and get the Krogan genophage and some Russian co-owners.

@tnbspotter5360 Ай бұрын

Old bioware died with the ending of Mass Effect 3.

@HandsomeMain Ай бұрын

Sadly, but I still liked Inquisition and So far the gameplay of Veilguard is promising (Could eat those words later) I doubt the game sells nearly enough to justify keeping the studio around to make an even bigger Mass Effect tho

@darkishphoenix 7 ай бұрын

when I heard David Gaider had written Stray Gods I immediately put it on my wishlist and bought it after my first BG3 playthrough and loved it.

@HandsomeMain 7 ай бұрын

Ya same here. It's installed on my pc but I haven't had the chance to get to it. I hope it's writing is as good as his other works

@darkishphoenix 7 ай бұрын

@@HandsomeMain it was advertised as a musical rpg but really it's more of an interactive storywith choices like the telltale games (which I also really enjoyed). It's a good story, good voice acting, and pretty short so I've done three playthroughs

@HandsomeMain 7 ай бұрын

Nice, I've been wanting to try it out after seeing the demo a long time ago on steam, If it's short i'll try to actually make myself try it next week@@darkishphoenix

@Scourge1990 6 ай бұрын

Kotor and Jade empire are my favourite BioWare games

@HandsomeMain 6 ай бұрын

Out of all the remakes and remasters we get, it's baffeling that neither of these have happened

@Scourge1990 6 ай бұрын

@@HandsomeMain yeah.. but jade Empire graphics hold up rlly well imho

@HandsomeMain 6 ай бұрын

@Scourge1990 ya If had to choose only one bioware game for a remake I'd definitely say kotor needs it more. Jade empires gameplay isn't too bad currently either

@natepearce6718 7 ай бұрын

Why did you decide to make a scene mispronouncing karpyshyns name when he’s like the most beloved part of BioWare

@HandsomeMain 7 ай бұрын

I try to keep my man humble

@wordsmaybe2456 7 ай бұрын

I would really encourage you to provide some timestamps or some sort of organization to sources, rather than just dumping a list of links in the description. Stuff like the early infighting at Bioware is probably worth be VERY clear with the information you are sourcing.

@HandsomeMain 7 ай бұрын

Ya that's fair, I took a lot of breaks while writing the script so my only way of remembering the sources was dumping them into a word document lol, next video I'll have the stuff be more precise so people can look into the info themselves

@wordsmaybe2456 7 ай бұрын

What is the precise source for that anyway?@@HandsomeMain

@HandsomeMain 7 ай бұрын

For which part? Like the shattered steel dev infighting? I don't have the source page anymore but I think I can find it

@HandsomeMain 7 ай бұрын

@@wordsmaybe2456 www.vg247.com/remembering-the-early-days-of-bioware-with-co-founder-trent-oster here's an article of Trent Oster bringing some of it up

@kalandarkclaw8892 7 ай бұрын

Dragon Age = Fantasy Mass Effect

@jervey123 7 ай бұрын

Dragon age as a series kinda sucked overall, it has 1 decent game that was followed up by watered down sequels as it progresssd to the point where inquisitions is just some sorry excuse of a hack-n-slash with light rpg mechanics set in a large empty world sprinkled with busywork, this series should've culminated into something like baldur's gate 3, which must've been a big ironic slap to the face for bioware developers now if they even care at all

@HandsomeMain 7 ай бұрын

It is kinda wild how different each game in the series is. I like them all, but I wish we were in the timeline where bioware went more into dao and baldurs gate for the series instead of actiony

@FeuerblutRM 7 ай бұрын

DA2 actually was my favorite, too bad it was rushed and way too short. Loved the dramatic parts of the story (losing at least 1 sibling, losing your mother...). Loved the Corypheus DLC as well. DA1 was kinda annoying because the strategy/combat system was clunky and another annoyance was DA1 crashing what felt like every 5 minutes on my Windows 10 due to being so old and poorly optimized for modern systems & 4K. Another annoyance was the amount of quests you could not finish if you missed something in the play-through and then not being able to return to the quest area. Basically had to read the Wiki alongside your gameplay to not miss important collectables. 🙄 DA:Inquisition is okay, however I was pissed because all the romancable companions are ugly as fuck in vanilla. Had to first mod the shit out of them to increase their fuckability. Also the romance options felt so limited compared to DA2... I'd never romance Solas but if I wanted to he is only into female elf chicks? Rassist bastard! Also bringing back Corypheus as the main villain was lame... Took away a huge part of Hawkes triumph. I hope for a DA1 remake in the near future...

@HandsomeMain 7 ай бұрын

@FeuerblutRM Hawkes story is my favorite of the bunch and its a shame that we didn't get to see it fully realized. It's also crazy that we live In a world where the last of us and horizon get a remake and not dao

@FeuerblutRM 7 ай бұрын

@@HandsomeMain Couldn't agree more! 👍♥️

@jervey123 7 ай бұрын

@@FeuerblutRM you think dragon age origin's battle system is clunky? This is the first time I heard anyone say that, it was advertised as a spiritual successor for baldur's gate, the battle system was working as intended but it was too easy and heavily watered down compared to its predecessors and contemporaries in the CRPG genre, it was like baby's first CRPG but the story was great and there was a massive drought in the market for these old school tough as nails RPG and it was the first that really broke through the mainstream. You hear people talking about baldur's gate 3 now and singing its praises, but these types of games have never been mainstream before dragon age and there aren't really that many people who played the older games because while those games like baldur's gate or planescape torment are masterpieces, they're also games that make you want to tear your eyeballs out... And I described DA1 as "baby's first CRPG" it should be obvious how I feel about the rest of the series, DA2 especially feels like an insult, they made the game dumber to pander to the "gamer bro" demographic the industry was targeting at the time... Well at least we now have larian studios who are practically the "new old bioware" like the old doctors never left and the bioware of today can go die and rot in a ditch for all I care, we don't need them anymore

@frozen1762 2 күн бұрын

It's simple like all other studios- everything woke turns to shit.

@minakatahizuru 3 ай бұрын

Get Woke Go Broke

@jtn81x Ай бұрын

Mass Effect 3 is the best bad game ever made and still one of my favorite games of all time. It's a million times better than Dragon Age 2 or Inquisition. I'm waiting for Larian and Obsidian to crash and burn and then there are no more good game companies. And we can all just quit gaming, take up some other hobby like playing guitar or something. I hear Fender, Gibson, Ibanez and so on still make good guitars.

@HandsomeMain 29 күн бұрын

"The best bad game ever made" Is actually a great way to put it lmao

@OnionChoppingNinja 5 ай бұрын

EA happened. There, I saved you 28 minutes of your life ;)

@Brittanysplittany 4 ай бұрын

I like how he goes into detail and explains each game. It’s fascinating! The real waste of time is your comment being rude for no reason.

@cttommy73 3 ай бұрын

EA. Basically EA happened. Larian would have been finished long ago had they been bought up as well.

@Genlocks 7 ай бұрын

Good video, but you shouldn't be so flippant about knowing you're mispronouncing someone's name! Just apologise if you get it wrong, saying you're just gonna say weird stuff when trying makes you sound rude, and I know you're not trying to be

@semiramisubw4864 7 ай бұрын

bruh imagine there are bollocks of languages on this planet which uses letters different while speaking

@NV..V 6 ай бұрын

If he wasn't flippant and snarky and condescending,, he'd have no personality at all...GREAT information and research, but petulently and haphazardly presented. Borderline insufferable at times.