BioWare Co-Founder Says EA’s Private Equity Acquisition Was ‘Final Nail In The Coffin’ For The Mass Effect Studio

BioWare co-founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka chose the (relatively?) quiet life when they retired from the Mass Effect studio in 2012 a few months after the launch of Mass Effect 3. Though the pair hadn’t been part of the company in over a decade, naturally, people might be interested to hear what they had to say about the studio’s closure last week under publisher EA and its new private equity owners. Zeschuk did his first interview following the end of the company he founded in 1995, and says that he had already mourned BioWare when he left the Edmonton developer 14 years ago. But he still had thoughts on how it all went down. “I’ve kind of gone through all the emotions like long, long ago,” Zeschuk told 80.lv. “You have to break from it and kind of go, ‘Okay, I’ve had my emotional moment.’” While he may have felt more detached after years of distance, he was still concerned for the people who were still at BioWare, and lamented that his old colleagues and people on the team he never worked with were being pushed out into a hostile job market. You can read the full interview for more of Zeschuk’s insight on how BioWare’s ability to put out games, even ones that weren’t as revered as its pre-Andromeda output, was still “a success” in that the studio was able to work within EA’s “framework.” But some of the more interesting parts of the interview are where Zeschuk reflects on BioWare’s original 2007 acquisition and whether or not he regrets it. Though there has been some conjecture that BioWare was in danger of going under if not for the EA acquisition, Zeschuk disputes that, and says that the studio was “in good shape,” and that the company was looking for a means to secure more funding for the Star Wars MMO The Old Republic that was in development at the BioWare Austin office. “We had options actually,” he said. We thought we chose the best option that was available to us at the time. The company had good possibilities going forward, but at the end of the day we felt, okay, we may be better as part of a bigger thing.” Now, nearly 20 years later, the studio is gone, and Zeschuk says that he believes EA’s acquisition by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake Partners, and Affinity Partners in August was the “final nail in the coffin,” and he that EA is a “completely different company” than when BioWare was initially acquired. Zeschuk expects that anything that isn’t sports or Battlefield is likely “extraneous” in the eyes of the new owners, and he has had to create an “emotional break” so as to not spend too much time “second-guessing” his decisions 20 years ago. Despite this, he does leave off the interview advocating for people who make games and saying that something like Mass Effect can’t be recreated with “random people and AI.” “The other harsh reality of almost all these companies, the people that go down the business track never really come from the development track,” he told 80.lv. “Because none of these people have ever made a game, like, never really sat and made one, like, from start to finish, even a small thing, they just don’t know how it works.” Despite those feelings, Zeschuk has no plans to return to the games industry or trying to regain the BioWare name and rights to Mass Effect. “I’m happy being a consumer and playing games. I have my opinions on how to make stuff, but as enticing as it would be, it’s just not [worth] the personal struggle and cost and effort required to make a great game. Having gone through the crucible of game development, I’m not going back in there.” Even if Zeschuk were interested, many assume that EA has no intention of parting with any of BioWare’s IP. tktktk, who was working on Mass Effect: Universe before its cancelation, said on a stream that the publisher “never actually sells anything” and just “[shuts] things down and sit on their licenses.” Even now, a Mass Effect TV show is in development at Amazon and won’t be affected by BioWare’s shutdown, so EA’s making money on BioWare’s work even if its developers are no longer on the payroll. That hasn’t stopped fans from holding out hope that the series can be saved and paying for billboards in place EA can’t avoid.