First off, those stating that nothing will change are correct. The way the system works in most corporations, the CEO is the top manager of the company, but he answers to the board. The chairman of the board, Probst, now doubling as CEO, is the top dog. Probst, who leads the board, which makes most of the executive decisions for the corporation, will now also take the decisions he made with the board and carry them out as CEO until they find a replacement.
The earnings report for the 1st quarter of 2013 will come out by the end of April, which means they're already pretty much calculated. With Riccitello being suddenly fired (and "mutually decided it was time to part ways" is as close to actually saying "we fired him" as I've seen in a major corporate memo without the fired person being charged with a crime), then you can guarantee that EA's profits will be way less than the forecasted numbers. Bad earnings reports on top of some of the more idiotic things that have happened on his watch, and some of the stupid statements that have come directly out of his mouth are a recipe for this kind of corporate beheading.
Now if someone over at Sony would just see this as a sign to finally throw John Smedley off the ledge....
EA like most big enough companies are mired by the "God Complex". It means this: in a big enough company, the decision making people usually earn BIG MONEY. When you earn big money, at one point you think you are infailible. They develop a God Complex, they become opaque to ANY advise and critique.
And it's not only the EA bosses. Lead designers suffer from the same delusions. Take Daniel Erickson from SWTOR. Mister "People don't want to play alien races." Never seen any man utter so much bollocks with so much convinction. It's big money earners God Complex. "I am infailibe. I am always right. I need no advise. I am above all critique."
Here is the newsflash, EA: NOBODY is above critique. NOBODY is so clever that he/she is always right. Everyone needs advise now and then. EA has a problem with respect. They have ZERO respect towards games. They force some alien idea into games, just because some God Complex overpaid bonzo feels this is the new trend and "his new vision". That is why their failure with games is always the same. They try to force some "trendy" idea into games, where they do not belong, greedily gazing at all the more money they want to make, instead of just focussing on a good game.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Originally posted by Elikal what did Bioware do? Did they take the good parts of SWG and expand on it? No, Bioware-EA did what they always do: they tossed EVERYTHING out of the window and started with their own absurd idea to shoehorn a SW MMO into their KOTOR concept.
personally i found this past comment troubling pre-SWTOR release
this deserves more recognition, great post. The pet rock sold a lot, but stoneware dealers did't change their businesses. Why should every mmorpg whore itself out to try to gain the WOW market?
what did Bioware do? Did they take the good parts of SWG and expand on it? No, Bioware-EA did what they always do: they tossed EVERYTHING out of the window and started with their own absurd idea to shoehorn a SW MMO into their KOTOR concept.
personally i found this past comment troubling pre-SWTOR release
this deserves more recognition, great post. The pet rock sold a lot, but stoneware dealers did't change their businesses. Why should every mmorpg whore itself out to try to gain the WOW market?
Had SWTOR actually copied WoW (/roll command, combat log, macro and addon support, not to mention the wealth of content), it would have actually been a pretty sick MMO.
Originally posted by RefMinor Is F2P working for SWTOR?
Returned after half year aprox and full of players everywhere. But true, there is only 1 PVE server even if updated to sustain more players at same time.
But wondering what you consider under "working"? For me F2P in any game mean horde of cheap people, usually with bad manners, not caring about anything ... in worst case will recreate new dummy account.
what did Bioware do? Did they take the good parts of SWG and expand on it? No, Bioware-EA did what they always do: they tossed EVERYTHING out of the window and started with their own absurd idea to shoehorn a SW MMO into their KOTOR concept.
personally i found this past comment troubling pre-SWTOR release
this deserves more recognition, great post. The pet rock sold a lot, but stoneware dealers did't change their businesses. Why should every mmorpg whore itself out to try to gain the WOW market?
Had SWTOR actually copied WoW (/roll command, combat log, macro and addon support, not to mention the wealth of content), it would have actually been a pretty sick MMO.
Content comes with time, or do you think it launched over 8 years ago with the same amount of content it has now? Yes, there was sarcasm there. The other things can stay in WoW where they belong. If you need an addon to tell you to move or you are going to get whacked by an AOE then you might want to stay in WoW where thought is not needed. Just a heartbeat and that is just an option.
The word "you" is meant to be read as a general term and not directed at doodphace.
I wonder how many more careers need to be destroyed before the gaming community is satisfied with their bloodlust...
It's sad to see this happen to people; it's a result of the companies not getting their requirements right. They're going after shallow features, aren't given the proper budget and timeline, and possibly over promising. We're seeing the market correct itself. MMORPGs are tough to develop and shouldn't be undertaken by every company. I believe it should be a smaller market so their careers are spent on games that are successful rather than the turnover we currently.
Players aren't patient, you're right. But should we be? Should buying games that are different than advertised be acceptable? I realize there are different sets of expectations among the player base, but keep your promises. We're not going to get better games until companies understand what we want. I think Kickstarter is a great model and could be used to develop a game more democratically; I feel that'd be the most successful. Unfortunately, it seems companies are learning what's wrong rather than what's right. They see their losses, their subscriptions drop, and see that they made a mistake. They see the've overreached. They're seeing the problem, they're acknowledging the problem, but not drafting a solution. Solutions cost money, far more than stoploss measures.
what did Bioware do? Did they take the good parts of SWG and expand on it? No, Bioware-EA did what they always do: they tossed EVERYTHING out of the window and started with their own absurd idea to shoehorn a SW MMO into their KOTOR concept.
personally i found this past comment troubling pre-SWTOR release
I don't think he's necessarily wrong in this respect. Let's look at what WoW established.
1. Open world, without loading between zones.
2. Group Finders to facilitate grouping between players.
3. Cohesive class design where role was well defined
4. Tiered crafting
5. Mounts - both air and land
6. Clean and moddable interface
7. Content for hardcore and casual players alike
For the amount of money that is invested in these games, you'd think some sort of standards agency would be developed. I think that a lot of upcoming games look at WoW on a superficial level - they see the graphics, the toolbar, the models, etc. and think that's what made it successful. That's not it. It brought people together. They polished their gem. However, not every developer has a diamond - some have tiger's eye or sapphires. My point is, make your game clean, fun, and accessible. Make it easy for people to get together and enjoy playing with each other. In my opinion, that's what made the phenomenon it was/is. The cultural factors or external factors can't be replicated. It might have just come out at the right time.
Originally posted by Psychow I wonder how many more careers need to be destroyed before the gaming community is satisfied with their bloodlust...
It's sad to see this happen to people; it's a result of the companies not getting their requirements right. They're going after shallow features, aren't given the proper budget and timeline, and possibly over promising. We're seeing the market correct itself. MMORPGs are tough to develop and shouldn't be undertaken by every company. I believe it should be a smaller market so their careers are spent on games that are successful rather than the turnover we currently.
Players aren't patient, you're right. But should we be? Should buying games that are different than advertised be acceptable? I realize there are different sets of expectations among the player base, but keep your promises. We're not going to get better games until companies understand what we want. I think Kickstarter is a great model and could be used to develop a game more democratically; I feel that'd be the most successful. Unfortunately, it seems companies are learning what's wrong rather than what's right. They see their losses, their subscriptions drop, and see that they made a mistake. They see the've overreached. They're seeing the problem, they're acknowledging the problem, but not drafting a solution. Solutions cost money, far more than stoploss measures.
I don't feel bad for these guys at all. When things go well (or even just average) they pull down fat bonuses and stock options. When things tank, they get the boot. That is just how the game works and even they know that. Plus, former CEOs of big companies are rarely unemployed for long.
Originally posted by Nadia Originally posted by Elikal what did Bioware do? Did they take the good parts of SWG and expand on it? No, Bioware-EA did what they always do: they tossed EVERYTHING out of the window and started with their own absurd idea to shoehorn a SW MMO into their KOTOR concept.
personally i found this past comment troubling pre-SWTOR release
I don't think he's necessarily wrong in this respect. Let's look at what WoW established.
1. Open world, without loading between zones.
2. Group Finders to facilitate grouping between players.
3. Cohesive class design where role was well defined
4. Tiered crafting
5. Mounts - both air and land
6. Clean and moddable interface
7. Content for hardcore and casual players alike
For the amount of money that is invested in these games, you'd think some sort of standards agency would be developed. I think that a lot of upcoming games look at WoW on a superficial level - they see the graphics, the toolbar, the models, etc. and think that's what made it successful. That's not it. It brought people together. They polished their gem. However, not every developer has a diamond - some have tiger's eye or sapphires. My point is, make your game clean, fun, and accessible. Make it easy for people to get together and enjoy playing with each other. In my opinion, that's what made the phenomenon it was/is. The cultural factors or external factors can't be replicated. It might have just come out at the right time.
I think when people talk about the success of WoW, they often forget that "accessibility" was a key factor as well: Original WoW could basically run decently on a rock. So a person could hear about it and immediately pick up and play it, without having to worry if their hardware was up to the job. Very few other games could ever make that claim and some have been on the opposite side of that as well, to their determent (Launch EQ2 and Vanguard spring to mind). And that is outside of everything about gameplay: the most important bit was making something that the largest possible audience COULD play, and then everything else after.
At that level, CEO, they care nothing about the game itself. They are running a business, and whether it's small steam turbines, or an MMO, matters not. Changing the person at the top will have little to no effect on any games.
Originally posted by Psychow I wonder how many more careers need to be destroyed before the gaming community is satisfied with their bloodlust...
It's sad to see this happen to people; it's a result of the companies not getting their requirements right. They're going after shallow features, aren't given the proper budget and timeline, and possibly over promising. We're seeing the market correct itself. MMORPGs are tough to develop and shouldn't be undertaken by every company. I believe it should be a smaller market so their careers are spent on games that are successful rather than the turnover we currently.
Players aren't patient, you're right. But should we be? Should buying games that are different than advertised be acceptable? I realize there are different sets of expectations among the player base, but keep your promises. We're not going to get better games until companies understand what we want. I think Kickstarter is a great model and could be used to develop a game more democratically; I feel that'd be the most successful. Unfortunately, it seems companies are learning what's wrong rather than what's right. They see their losses, their subscriptions drop, and see that they made a mistake. They see the've overreached. They're seeing the problem, they're acknowledging the problem, but not drafting a solution. Solutions cost money, far more than stoploss measures.
I don't feel bad for these guys at all. When things go well (or even just average) they pull down fat bonuses and stock options. When things tank, they get the boot. That is just how the game works and even they know that. Plus, former CEOs of big companies are rarely unemployed for long.
I'm not talking about the CEOs and what not. I feel sorry for the workers.
I'd like to be able to say "good riddance" and "he got what he deserved", but let's face it people: He's laughing all the way to the bank considering the obscene amount of money he'll be leaving with for doing a piss-poor job. Like every CEO or similarly powerful person in the business community it's not he who will have to suffer the consequences of his actions and decisions. It's the people below him who lost jobs because of those decisions. As for Riccitiello himself he'll be off with a full bank account and will probably have some cushy bigshot job lined up in some other company in short order if he wants it, like every other bigtime CEO in the world. These people act and think the way they do because they can get away with it and let others suffer the consequences of their bad decisions every damn time.
Comments
EA like most big enough companies are mired by the "God Complex". It means this: in a big enough company, the decision making people usually earn BIG MONEY. When you earn big money, at one point you think you are infailible. They develop a God Complex, they become opaque to ANY advise and critique.
And it's not only the EA bosses. Lead designers suffer from the same delusions. Take Daniel Erickson from SWTOR. Mister "People don't want to play alien races." Never seen any man utter so much bollocks with so much convinction. It's big money earners God Complex. "I am infailibe. I am always right. I need no advise. I am above all critique."
Here is the newsflash, EA: NOBODY is above critique. NOBODY is so clever that he/she is always right. Everyone needs advise now and then. EA has a problem with respect. They have ZERO respect towards games. They force some alien idea into games, just because some God Complex overpaid bonzo feels this is the new trend and "his new vision". That is why their failure with games is always the same. They try to force some "trendy" idea into games, where they do not belong, greedily gazing at all the more money they want to make, instead of just focussing on a good game.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
personally i found this past comment troubling pre-SWTOR release
BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk
Feb 2011, a year before SWTOR released
http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/10/bioware-wow-is-the-touchstone-for-the-old-republic/
[World of Warcraft] is a touchstone. It has established standards, it's established how you play an MMO. Every MMO that comes out, I play and look at it. And if they break any of the WoW rules, in my book that's pretty dumb," Zeschuk said.
this deserves more recognition, great post. The pet rock sold a lot, but stoneware dealers did't change their businesses. Why should every mmorpg whore itself out to try to gain the WOW market?
Had SWTOR actually copied WoW (/roll command, combat log, macro and addon support, not to mention the wealth of content), it would have actually been a pretty sick MMO.u just fell in a funny forum trap.
Content comes with time, or do you think it launched over 8 years ago with the same amount of content it has now? Yes, there was sarcasm there. The other things can stay in WoW where they belong. If you need an addon to tell you to move or you are going to get whacked by an AOE then you might want to stay in WoW where thought is not needed. Just a heartbeat and that is just an option.
The word "you" is meant to be read as a general term and not directed at doodphace.
It's sad to see this happen to people; it's a result of the companies not getting their requirements right. They're going after shallow features, aren't given the proper budget and timeline, and possibly over promising. We're seeing the market correct itself. MMORPGs are tough to develop and shouldn't be undertaken by every company. I believe it should be a smaller market so their careers are spent on games that are successful rather than the turnover we currently.
Players aren't patient, you're right. But should we be? Should buying games that are different than advertised be acceptable? I realize there are different sets of expectations among the player base, but keep your promises. We're not going to get better games until companies understand what we want. I think Kickstarter is a great model and could be used to develop a game more democratically; I feel that'd be the most successful. Unfortunately, it seems companies are learning what's wrong rather than what's right. They see their losses, their subscriptions drop, and see that they made a mistake. They see the've overreached. They're seeing the problem, they're acknowledging the problem, but not drafting a solution. Solutions cost money, far more than stoploss measures.
I don't think he's necessarily wrong in this respect. Let's look at what WoW established.
1. Open world, without loading between zones.
2. Group Finders to facilitate grouping between players.
3. Cohesive class design where role was well defined
4. Tiered crafting
5. Mounts - both air and land
6. Clean and moddable interface
7. Content for hardcore and casual players alike
For the amount of money that is invested in these games, you'd think some sort of standards agency would be developed. I think that a lot of upcoming games look at WoW on a superficial level - they see the graphics, the toolbar, the models, etc. and think that's what made it successful. That's not it. It brought people together. They polished their gem. However, not every developer has a diamond - some have tiger's eye or sapphires. My point is, make your game clean, fun, and accessible. Make it easy for people to get together and enjoy playing with each other. In my opinion, that's what made the phenomenon it was/is. The cultural factors or external factors can't be replicated. It might have just come out at the right time.
It's sad to see this happen to people; it's a result of the companies not getting their requirements right. They're going after shallow features, aren't given the proper budget and timeline, and possibly over promising. We're seeing the market correct itself. MMORPGs are tough to develop and shouldn't be undertaken by every company. I believe it should be a smaller market so their careers are spent on games that are successful rather than the turnover we currently.
Players aren't patient, you're right. But should we be? Should buying games that are different than advertised be acceptable? I realize there are different sets of expectations among the player base, but keep your promises. We're not going to get better games until companies understand what we want. I think Kickstarter is a great model and could be used to develop a game more democratically; I feel that'd be the most successful. Unfortunately, it seems companies are learning what's wrong rather than what's right. They see their losses, their subscriptions drop, and see that they made a mistake. They see the've overreached. They're seeing the problem, they're acknowledging the problem, but not drafting a solution. Solutions cost money, far more than stoploss measures.
I don't feel bad for these guys at all. When things go well (or even just average) they pull down fat bonuses and stock options. When things tank, they get the boot. That is just how the game works and even they know that. Plus, former CEOs of big companies are rarely unemployed for long.personally i found this past comment troubling pre-SWTOR release
BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk
Feb 2011, a year before SWTOR released
http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/10/bioware-wow-is-the-touchstone-for-the-old-republic/
[World of Warcraft] is a touchstone. It has established standards, it's established how you play an MMO. Every MMO that comes out, I play and look at it. And if they break any of the WoW rules, in my book that's pretty dumb," Zeschuk said.
I don't think he's necessarily wrong in this respect. Let's look at what WoW established.
1. Open world, without loading between zones.
2. Group Finders to facilitate grouping between players.
3. Cohesive class design where role was well defined
4. Tiered crafting
5. Mounts - both air and land
6. Clean and moddable interface
7. Content for hardcore and casual players alike
For the amount of money that is invested in these games, you'd think some sort of standards agency would be developed. I think that a lot of upcoming games look at WoW on a superficial level - they see the graphics, the toolbar, the models, etc. and think that's what made it successful. That's not it. It brought people together. They polished their gem. However, not every developer has a diamond - some have tiger's eye or sapphires. My point is, make your game clean, fun, and accessible. Make it easy for people to get together and enjoy playing with each other. In my opinion, that's what made the phenomenon it was/is. The cultural factors or external factors can't be replicated. It might have just come out at the right time.
I think when people talk about the success of WoW, they often forget that "accessibility" was a key factor as well: Original WoW could basically run decently on a rock. So a person could hear about it and immediately pick up and play it, without having to worry if their hardware was up to the job. Very few other games could ever make that claim and some have been on the opposite side of that as well, to their determent (Launch EQ2 and Vanguard spring to mind). And that is outside of everything about gameplay: the most important bit was making something that the largest possible audience COULD play, and then everything else after.------------
2024: 47 years on the Net.
It's sad to see this happen to people; it's a result of the companies not getting their requirements right. They're going after shallow features, aren't given the proper budget and timeline, and possibly over promising. We're seeing the market correct itself. MMORPGs are tough to develop and shouldn't be undertaken by every company. I believe it should be a smaller market so their careers are spent on games that are successful rather than the turnover we currently.
Players aren't patient, you're right. But should we be? Should buying games that are different than advertised be acceptable? I realize there are different sets of expectations among the player base, but keep your promises. We're not going to get better games until companies understand what we want. I think Kickstarter is a great model and could be used to develop a game more democratically; I feel that'd be the most successful. Unfortunately, it seems companies are learning what's wrong rather than what's right. They see their losses, their subscriptions drop, and see that they made a mistake. They see the've overreached. They're seeing the problem, they're acknowledging the problem, but not drafting a solution. Solutions cost money, far more than stoploss measures.
I don't feel bad for these guys at all. When things go well (or even just average) they pull down fat bonuses and stock options. When things tank, they get the boot. That is just how the game works and even they know that. Plus, former CEOs of big companies are rarely unemployed for long.
I'm not talking about the CEOs and what not. I feel sorry for the workers.