The Wingless defends Electronic Arts’ acquisition of Pandemic Studios
After last week’s revelation of Bungie buying itself back out from Microsoft and going independent, gamers high on the news of studios “loosening themselves from the handcuffs of monolithic corporations” were summarily deflated to hear yesterday’s announcement of Electronic Arts being poised to acquire both Pandemic Studios and BioWare in a deal potentially totalling US$825-860 million.
The hate some gamers have for EA is all too real. It’s so real, we at OverClocked ReMix were able to center our 2005 April Fool’s Day joke on it with EA ReMix, not only pretending we were bought out that day, but later claiming that EA’s legal representation had sent up a cease-and-desist letter, successfully fooling many of the people who were wise to the original joke. People were cursing EA up and down for being that evil, accepting EA’s killjoy threat of litigation as genuine without a second thought. For whatever reasons, that large logo above (we love pushing buttons) makes some people assume the worst.
As a gamer haven, it’s no surprise that OC ReMix has its own forum-goers lamenting the Pandemic/BioWare buyout. But recent Pandemic hire and senior user interface designer John “The Wingless” Burnett had his own words on the matter from the inside, defending the positives of the deal and putting much of the gamer hatred for EA into perspective:
As part of the EA deal, I’ll give you my two cents.
You know what bothers me MOST about the deal? That nobody fucking CARES that we’re (Pandemic) are even involved in the deal. Nothing crushes morale when you’re part of a $800+ million dollar deal (the biggest in industry history) and you are less than a footnote in the great shitstorm of internet reprisal.
Regardless, all of you going, oooh woe betide my beloved Mass Effect that isn’t even out. What are you upset about? Seriously, what is terrorizing you so much? That EA will somehow befoul it? How? They bought the company(s) because they are doing well by themselves. EA is in it to make money, and this particular regime of EA rule knows that you leave well enough alone, especially when it’s generating revenue. The only time they’ll step in is when we, the game developer, fail to deliver.
In essence, we get more money, more backing, probably the biggest marketing powerhouse in the industry and a lot more press.
And for those of you horrified by sequelitis… seriously, why the fuck do you care?
Three years in the industry have no made me loathe everyone who ISN’T in the industry. It’s a hell of a thing.
Will EA sabotage Saboteur? (Note, we at VG Frequency are clearly an exception to The Wingless’s loathing.)
Obviously, it remains to be seen what effects and/or potential reshufflings will ultimately result from the buyout. Yet it’s important to note that what some gamers conclude to be a tragedy, some employees on the creation side believe to be…an opportunity.
Of course, even employees have mixed feelings. As The Wingless said later in the day…
Now… if you ask me whether or not the EA acquisition is good in the short or the long term… you will get some wildly different answers from me…
…
…
…ellipses