Hot scoops from inside EA - honest....!

[ThunderPeel2001]

So I'm sure everyone has already seen this...

http://ealouse.wordpress.com/

Interesting rant that's ultimately meaningless.

[Roderick]

Pretty sad story, including scary thoughts about KotoR. I thought Bioware treated its employees with a little more respect though? Or did this not happen on their watch?

[brkl]

Well, KOTOR does look awful, so that part checks out.

[MrHoatzin]

Big companies are dumb.

There is no meritocracy.

[syntheticgerbil]

Well, I do like that part of the equation here is people are shipping jobs to places in Austin, TX, making it easier for me to get a job (according to comments and the '"louse"), but it probably will still be like Kingz says either way, so eh from a selfish standpoint I suppose.

[Lu]

Yea, I don't think this will change anything. This sounds eerily familiar to some of my friends' stories who got laid off last year, which is why I'm sympathetic to his cause. Not so much sympathetic to his tone, though. I understand the bitterness and resentment and the inability to do something about management, but geez. The entire thing reads like a childish temper tantrum, but I guess I kind of understand.

Hope he'll land a new, better job. Feeling that it might not be in the gaming industry next time.

[Hermie]

Yea, I don't think this will change anything. This sounds eerily familiar to some of my friends' stories who got laid off last year, which is why I'm sympathetic to his cause. Not so much sympathetic to his tone, though. I understand the bitterness and resentment and the inability to do something about management, but geez. The entire thing reads like a childish temper tantrum, but I guess I kind of understand.

Hope he'll land a new, better job. Feeling that it might not be in the gaming industry next time.

Pretty much this. He could learn a thing or two from the Realtime Worlds blogger guy.

[Thompson]

It wasn't only the tone he was using but the fact that he was also being typical internet nerd rage guy.

"...omg it makes NO sense..."

"...LOL. Now he’s in charge of Bioware Mythic."

"You didn”t know Paul loves one of those old Ultima games sooooo much he’s making a literal copy of it for Facebook? Well, the cats outta the bag. Too bad it sucks ass."

"Something like a 20Gig installation, and most of it is voiceover work. That’s the best they have. The rest of the game is a joke."

I'm not going to disagree with the content, just the internet douchy-ness.

[DanJW]

Well, KOTOR does look awful, so that part checks out.

TOR is not KOTOR. Different games. Bad branding move I think, a evidenced by the confusion.

I'm hopeful for TOR, but more and more it looks like a WoW clone. The voice-acting could well be the best thing about it - I see no reason for them not to be proud of it.

Yeah, I can sympathize. It definitely sounds like a lot of the games industry that I experienced for myself. The tone sucks, it's true - but there's something about being overworked and being fed too much sugar and being crammed in the same office with the same people and being forgotten about, something about being a cog in the games industry machine that does something to your head. You end up ranting like that. It's kind of a delirium. It passes once you've been out for a while, or you find a calmer position in a nicer company.

That delirium can also skew your perceptions a bit though. Not completely - theres likely a few grains of truth there - but quite a bit.

Edited October 13, 2010 by DanJW

[Orv]

While I'm not the biggest fan of EA, I have to agree with Dan. His perceptions of what occurred in those offices are probably somewhat skewed. And again, with Dan, some of it is probably true.

I like Warhammer, I still play it from time to time. But, it didn't exactly do spectacular. That said, it has lasted a full two years, which is something a fair number of MMOs in the world can't say these days.

Ah well, the internet rolls on.

[Raff]

TOR is an abomination in my eyes. MMOs reliant on scripted single-player content just don't make any sense to me.

[Hermie]

Speaking of anonymous employees venting on their blogs... http://icefrogtruth.blogspot.com/

This one is from a supposed Valve employee about how Icefrog is a douche?

[mikemariano]

I can't get enough of this stuff. Somebody convince Eggers he should start telltaleexposed.wordpress.com.

He may want us to think he left on good terms, but we deserve the truth*!

*And by truth I mean "entertaining lies about Jake and Sean."

[Twig]

Is Warhammer actually a failure? Or is it just "not as popular as WoW"?

I really honestly don't know, but I would be surprised if it's not profitable...

[Patters]

I can't get enough of this stuff. Somebody convince Eggers he should start telltaleexposed.wordpress.com.

He may want us to think he left on good terms, but we deserve the truth*!

*And by truth I mean "entertaining lies about Jake and Sean."

Well he doesn't work there anymore.

[Roderick]

I also doubt that Old Republic will be extremely bad. It may be a little middling as far as MMO's go, but the first reaction I got from people around me was that it wasn't bad at all.

[brkl]

Well, the gameplay looks atrocious, so if there's something cool and entertaining going on it has to be buried pretty deep. That, and Bioware's selling point NPC interaction is just lame. What I've seen of it anyway. So maybe it's a good game, but everything I've seen sure looks terrible.

[twmac]

I am in two minds about this blurb. I understand the frustration and anger. But having worked in the industry for over 6 years I am pretty sure there are some guys who have been and gone who are saying the exact same thing about me as I tend to speak my mind and a lot of people don't like it when I do.

There is stuff I can relate to, but again, I can imagine some pretty vindictive people I have worked with putting me on the receiving end of this kind of vitriol.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Absolutely. This is just one person's (embittered) version of events. I can totally see this sort of office gossip going on from a couple of disgruntled employees, while everyone else eaves drops and wonders what their problem is.

I wouldn't be at all surprised is The Old Republic kicked arse. I certainly wouldn't put all my stock into one artist's opinions about any project. As someone who has been involved in leading big projects, I know how frustrating it can be when people don't understand why a certain decision has been made... you just want them to do their best work under the constraints, and not keep having to explain why. (Of course, I've felt the frustration on the other side, too, and it's awful, if not worse.)

Anyways, that's my 2c.

[juv3nal]

I also doubt that Old Republic will be extremely bad. It may be a little middling as far as MMO's go, but the first reaction I got from people around me was that it wasn't bad at all.

If that $300 million figure is true, a middling end product isn't going to be making them any money.

[ThunderPeel2001]

That 300 million figure is shocking... and does make him sound quite high up if he's privy to that sort of information.

I wonder what the most expensive game ever made is?

[David]

*And by truth I mean "entertaining lies about Jake and Sean."

Pah, the truth is much more entertaining than anything I could concoct.

[Forbin]

I found the icefrog post much more interesting.

[Lu]

The IceFrog thing is likely a hoax, is what I'm hearing.

[Forbin]

it did seem to have the tone of a jaded community member