Dan Fasulo

I cannot believe I am writing this. Vince Zampella, a titan of the video game industry, the co-creator of Call of Duty and co-founder of Respawn Entertainment, not to mention a dear friend, died in a car crash yesterday in Los Angeles.

EA has announced it plans to be acquired for 55 billion dollars by a consortium of investors led by Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

Jason Schreier has released a scathing article regarding what went wrong during Dragon Age The Veilguard’s development: Here are the highlights: - BioWare was under immense pressure to succeed after the failure of Anthem and Andromeda with The Veilguard to stay afloat. - Original concept (codename: Joplin) was a smaller, single-player experience. - EA forced a pivot to a multiplayer live-service format (codename: Morrison) in 2017. - Creative director Mike Laidlaw resigned over the shift. - Matt Goldman replaced him and aimed for a lighter, “pulpy” tone fitting for online gameplay. - Anthem’s failure in 2019 raised internal doubts about repeating mistakes. - Pandemic disruptions and leadership resignations further complicated development. - In 2020, the project was abruptly pivoted back to a single-player game, without proper pre-production. - Team was given just 18 months to overhaul structure and rewrite the story. - Tight timelines led to rushed decisions and a lack of meaningful choice in gameplay. - Multiple delays didn’t allow redesigns “just extensions of flawed structures.” - Feedback from alpha testing in 2022 pointed to a lack of impactful narrative decisions. - Last-minute attempts to reintroduce meaningful choices were shallow and constrained. - BioWare brought in a second team (from the Mass Effect project) in 2023 to help finish the game. - Cultural clashes arose: Dragon Age team was laid-back; Mass Effect team was top-down and structured. - Mass Effect leaders rewrote and added new scenes, including the game’s emotional finale. - Dragon Age leads were frustrated, denied similar resources, and excluded from key meetings. - Long-standing resentment emerged over EA favoring Mass Effect internally. - Original multiplayer version’s snarky tone felt outdated. - Concerns it would resemble Forspoken led to last-minute dialogue rewrites. - Voice actor strike and overtime demands hindered these changes. - Initial trailer looked like Fortnite, alienating the RPG fanbase. - Marketing failed to properly convey the game’s actual tone and genre. BioWare’s Future. - BioWare contributes around 5% of EA’s annual revenue. - EA primarily profits from sports and shooter games. - Analysts say EA may continue supporting BioWare due to the potential payoff of hit RPGs. - However, its long decline raises real questions about whether EA will ultimately shut it down. - Analyst Doug Creutz: “If they shuttered the doors tomorrow I wouldn’t be totally surprised.” Yeah seems like this game’s development was a disaster in every way and the blame lies at EA forcing the live service structure and then reverting it, wasting so much time and talent then not even letting them fully start over, what a mess.

Yoko Shimomura accepting her BAFTA Fellowship: "I feel that if the music I have made touches the hearts of even one person and resonates with them in some way, then there's nothing that makes me happier on this Earth." Her music truly saves lives 😭

WWE just changed the game once again!

That face.