EA Didn’t Force BioWare To Make Anthem, Says Jason Schreier

There’s a narration among community members that Anthem has been made by Electronic Arts’ decision and not for a will of BioWare to experiment with online games.

There’s a narration among community members that Anthem has been made by Electronic Arts’ decision and not for a will of BioWare to experiment with online games.

This version has been debunked by insider and well known journalist at Kotaku Jason Schreier, who claims that, instead, the idea came out of the Edmonton-based developers’ offices.

“I keep seeing people spread this idea that EA forced BioWare to make an online game. Not true. EA actually gives its studios a lot of autonomy,” said Schreier on Twitter.

“Executive pressure is more subtle than ‘Make this game!’ – it’s resource maneuvering and ‘Where’s your version of FIFA Ultimate Team?’.”

“That’s not EA going to BioWare and saying “you need to make us a Destiny clone” – it’s EA saying “if you want resources, show us how your game is going to make long-term revenue.” Huge difference there!,” he added.

So, what Schreier is saying here is that Electronic Arts, as any other publisher out there, is interested in having games in its portfolio that are able to make money over a long timespan.

That’s apparently the sole requirement it asks its studios, like BioWare, to respect at this stage, never putting its hands on the creative operations nor deciding which features should be in a game.

Hopefully, this makes community’s ideas a bit clearer when it comes to the way publishers such as EA and developers work together.

On top of that, anyway, it’s worth noting that BioWare is still working on making Anthem bigger and bigger, and we could be seeing the first results of that work very soon.

I keep seeing people spread this idea that EA forced BioWare to make an online game. Not true. EA actually gives its studios a lot of autonomy. Executive pressure is more subtle than “Make this game!” – it’s resource maneuvering and “Where’s your version of FIFA Ultimate Team?”

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) 14 marzo 2019