BioWare + Microsoft?

[Nova]

http://www.ferrago.com/story/3393

I really hope this isn't true :mad:

[Terry Penrod]

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Yes, I've been reading about this rumor today... a very depressing possibility isn't it?

However, remember that StarWars / KOTOR (owned outright by LucasArts) and NWN, BG, etc. (all official D&D licensed titles) are NOT the sole property of BioWare and therefore would NOT become exclusive to MS under any such agreement.

BioWare of course owns the rights to their proprietary game engines, modding tools and a certain amount of the original content in those superb CRPGs. But they never have had ownership of the greater intellectual properties. Therefore, EPs, sequels and other extensions to them, and similar games would not be effected by a deal like this. The true copyright owners would still have total freedom to develop future titles in all those areas for both the PC and for consoles - entirely independent of either MS or BioWare.

Cheers, Terry

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[Rafal Dudek]

You guys do know Microsoft develops games for PC's too right?

[Bruenor]

You guys do know Microsoft develops games for PC's too right?

Yeah, like the Links Golf Franchise. Oh wait... Nevermind...

[Ojnod]

midtown madness! motocross madness! monster truck madness! Why do all their games end in madness...

[Terry Penrod]

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Hopefully, the following will quell any more unfounded rumors that MS is buying / has bought BioWare.

Cheers, Terry


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FROM: http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=343492&forum=22&sp=15

Posted by Chris Priestly, BioWare Quality Assurance
Monday, 19 April 2004 05:59PM

Man every year as we get close to E3 along comes another rumor that we're being bought by Microsoft.

So here is our Official response to this rumor:

"BioWare's upcoming Xbox action-RPG, Jade Empire, is based on an entirely new BioWare intellectual property and slated for a Holiday 2004 release. Microsoft is the publisher for Jade Empire. Microsoft is a certainly a valued business partner with whom BioWare enjoys a very positive and cooperative relationship".

Basically, what it means is that we don't comment on rumors.

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[Kalbrecht]

It's not too bad a thing to happen, I think.

KOTOR wasn't Bioware's, but the massive success of the game on XBox is enough to make LEC and MS confident in Bioware's strengths and see the need to have them around as a longterm, reliable developer (even though yes, they aren't doing KOTOR2).

Then you also have Jade Empire - an action RPG for XBox. It's a game with massive potential, that can also help MS break some of their Asian market hoodoo. MS would naturally want to make a longterm investment in this kind of potential, as well as have first dibs on owning a successful world franchise for future MMORPGs etc - the only other possibility they have right now is Halo by Bungie.

I'm happy for Bioware if it happens. it's not like they've been doing a bucketload of PC stuff anyway, lately.

[Eddie Ismail]

and in his comments he confirmed that MS is actually buying BW, damn you MS

[Terry Penrod]

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and in his comments he confirmed that MS is actually buying BW, damn you MS


Whose comments and where and when did this person officially confirm the buy-out?

I see no such confirmation in any of the above quotes or links and have still seen no official announcement by either MS or BioWare.

Where did you read this?

Cheers, Terry

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[Eddie Ismail]

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Basically, what it means is that we don't comment on rumors. [/I]

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he didn't literally confirm it, but whenever someone says something like this, it means the deal is almost done, but they want to keep it on the down low

[Bruenor]

Well, Bioware is a pretty popular local company here in Edmonton and the story has been making the business section in the print papers here for a while now. They don't really mention anything new, except that there is some kind of deal between the two in place and will be announced at E3.

E3 will be interesting this year, even Sega has said they will have a big surprise that no one would ever guess from Sega (please say hardware, please say hardware....)

[Chylde Roland]

ewwww.... Bruenor! Are you saying you want to see a new Sega console?!?!?

[Gaim Mastr]

I don't think it's good for any one company to have a massive hold on any market. Especially when it comes to the few good RPG game dev companies.

I know that Turbine bought out Microsoft's interests in the Asheron's Call MMORPG franchise.

KotOR was good because it was developed by BioWare and published by LucasArts.

And one could argue that MS does have the ability to properly fund a worthwhile project, such as Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight. That game won it's share of awards. MS was also the publisher behind Rise of Nations, which won awards.

Also, when we look at Electronic Arts, we see THE dominant force in games. They've had their fair share of forgettable games. But they've also had their share of grade-A selections too.

My only concern with MS buying BioWare, or any other dev house is forcing them to concentrate resources and talent on console games. Then porting them to the PC as a mere afterthought.

[DejaFu]

ITS MADDNESSS

[Bruenor]

ewwww.... Bruenor! Are you saying you want to see a new Sega console?!?!?

Two Words: Sega Fanboy

I've got most of them, love them and play them to this day

Sega Master System
Genesis
Saturn
Dreamcast
Game Gear
Nomad
Sega CD
32X

Man, I loved everything Sega put out in terms of hardware.

[Ojnod]

I would love to see sega break out some new hardware. It would be even better if they did what HL2 did at last years show (make it seem like it was going to be released in the fall) and then acctually pull it off. If they did, they could take the market. There are plenty of people who liked sega and if they got the jump on PS3 and Xbox 2. All of their best games would be coming out at the time that those two would be launching their consoles.

But... it is probably gonna be something stupid like "Sega introduces 3 new titles to the sonic series"

[Terry Penrod]

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My only concern with MS buying BioWare, or any other dev house is forcing them to concentrate resources and talent on console games. Then porting them to the PC as a mere afterthought.


That is the "depressing possibility" I referred to earlier and a very real danger if MS buys-out BioWare the way they did Bungie.

Fact is that Halo became an exclusive Xbox launch title and the PC version was delayed endlessly. Even worse, it was not nearly the game that Bungie originally planned and that they had already put so much time, efffort and money into. It became a second-rate, crippled, incomplete and very late arriving shooter on the PC, instead of a groundbreaking new title that should have been released for Windows and the Mac years earlier.

If MS plans to do similar things with BioWare's own RPGs, we can pretty much write them off for all good new PC titles in the future.

But as I also stated above, there is hope in that the D&D and StarWars licenses do not and most likely never will belong exclusively to MS. This will at least allow a certain number of PC-oriented studios and publishers to develop new titles in the future as well as new sequels / EPs to a whole spectrum of existing CRPGs. Plus, there are a number of other good, non-MS RPG franchises available in several styles that can still be explored for the PC.

Cheers, Terry

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[DejaFu]

SEGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA rocks