The least you can say is that the announcement of BioWare's closure last week landed like a thunderclap across the games industry. After turning down a number of interview requests, studio co-founder Greg Zeschuk agreed to sit down with our colleagues at 80 LEVEL.
As a reminder, the man and his partner in crime Ray Muzyka (with whom he launched BioWare back in 1995) left the company in 2012, having sold it to Electronic Arts in 2007. So they have already had time to grieve. « I'm not saying it doesn't hurt or that it isn't rubbish, he says. I actually find it sad. In a way, it's a shame for the city of Edmonton, where we're from, because we'd shown that it was possible to build something big in a place that wasn't an obvious fit for it. »
Before adding: « I went through all those emotions a very long time ago. You have to step back and tell yourself: ˈThere, I've had my emotional moment.ˈ » Greg Zeschuk is mainly worried about the future of the staff affected by BioWare's closure. There are reportedly around fifty of them, bearing in mind that this is part of a wider restructuring plan set in motion by Electronic Arts. According to Bloomberg, no fewer than 400 jobs are set to go, some 3% of EA's workforce. « When you're looking for work, it's an ordeal that's both terrifying and sad », Greg Zeschuk laments.
Generative AI is no magic fix
He reckons executives absolutely must not believe it's easy to replace developers who share a history, who have learned to hone their craft over the years. « Oddly enough, some people think you can make really good games with strangers and generative AI. It doesn't work », he warns. In his view, the fact that most execs have never actually built a game from start to finish is a reality that explains certain decisions that run counter to the creative side.
In truth, Greg Zeschuk isn't all that surprised by the turn events have taken. When he heard that Electronic Arts had been bought by Saudi Arabia's public investment fund for 55 million dollars, he immediately understood that things were going to get seriously complicated for BioWare. « I think that was the killing blow, he says. That's the crux of it, in that Electronic Arts has become a completely different company. »
Greg Zeschuk has no inside information, but he believes the takeover was primarily aimed at the sports sims and « maybe Battlefield ». « Everything else is probably seen as surplus to requirements. BioWare makes unusual games, long and complex ones, he explains. It's far simpler to put out sports games every year. In some respects, it's a better business model. » It's impossible not to think of EA Sports FC and its annual instalment.
Some argue that BioWare's fate was already sealed the moment Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka sold the studio to Electronic Arts in 2007. Back in 2013, the man himself told Polygon that BioWare had always been robust enough to absorb the pressure (which he didn't necessarily describe as harmful) applied by the American publisher. Today, he rejects the notion that the studio was sold to Electronic Arts because it was facing financial difficulties.
« In fact, our decision was mostly about funding Star Wars in Austin and the fact that joining a big group could give us more stability, he points out. […] It was certainly a better call than taking on all the risk ourselves. »
Is Greg Zeschuk ready to save BioWare and Mass Effect 5?
Finally, 80 LEVEL asked Greg Zeschuk whether he might, one day, be interested in buying the Mass Effect rights and bringing BioWare back from the dead. « No, absolutely not, he replies. I felt it was time for me to go. I left the games industry with no intention of returning. I'm happy just being a consumer and playing. Of course I have my views on how to make games, but tempting as it is, it isn't worth the personal sacrifices, the cost and the time involved. Having seen how hard it is to make a game, I won't be going back. »
As a reminder, Greg Zeschuk has opened his own brewery, and business is booming. « I've got a completely different venture on the go. I'm neither sentimental nor nostalgic. It's as though that chapter of my life is closed for good. »
Fans launch a last-chance petition
Worth noting that Mass Effect fans recently launched a "SaveMassEffect" petition on Change.org, putting forward ideas to keep the series alive. As it stands, it has gathered 282,432 signatures. Further proof that the community isn't about to let the series die: Ariel Peña Aguilar (who started the petition), content creator Kala Elizabeth and Mer clubbed together to buy advertising space on one of the Broadway screens in New York, giving the initiative even greater reach.
