Bioware: We Do What We Want

Speaking to Eurogamer, Bioware heads Ray Mazuka and Greg Zeschuk state that Bioware is largely independent in what it does, and that EA isn’t forcing them to do anything.

“One thing we commonly see is when fans don’t like something we do, they put in the comments, ‘Oh those EA guys, they’re making BioWare do…’ And I always chuckle because we are EA, we’re BioWare – we’re both, and we still have huge autonomy in terms of what we do,” said Zeschuk.

“We’re not being forced to do anything or told to do anything. We make the decisions. We take input.”

These days, Mazuka and Zeschuk aren’t part of the rank-and-file development process. Mazuka bosses the RPG/MMO label at EA, and Zeschuk is overseeing The Old Republic. They also participate in EA’s green-light process, which means they most likely have a bit of say in what gets/doesn’t get made. This means they typically delegate other duties to their experienced team leaders: Mike Laidlaw for Dragon Age and Casey Hudson for Mass Effect.

So remember, if Bioware does rather questionable, like, hypothetically speaking, turning an old-style RPG into a more “action-y” and “mainstream” title, and ret-conning quite a bit of lore and rendering some of your choices from a previous game void, and getting rid of mod support, then it’s all Bioware.

Again, this is just hypothetical. I’m sure it won’t happen. If it does, remember to complain at, or praise, the right people.

Via – Eurogamer