Bioware GM Acknowledged Truth in Kotaku Report

Yesterday, I reported that EA responded to Kotaku’s report on the hot mess that was Anthem, and how mismanagement, poor vision and decision making, and all-around incompetence led to the game we have today: a bog-standard Destiny clone without a single exciting or new idea to spice up the monotony of the looter shooter gameplay. EA and Bioware’s initial response to this article, as we learned, was unsurprisingly negative, with the studios saying that such hurtful articles aren’t helping anyone, that they’re proud of all the people who worked on the game, and that development of big games is a complicated process.

Turns out, not even Bioware believed their own public statement. Because a day and a half later, Kotaku got their hands on an internal email from Bioware general manger Casey Hudson that shows the studio is actually painfully aware of these issues that plague them.

When I was offered the opportunity to return to BioWare as GM, I came into the role knowing the studio was experiencing significant challenges in team health, creative vision, and organizational focus. I was - and continue to be - excited to help drive improvements in those areas because I love this studio, and above all I want to create a place where all of you are happy and successful.

I’m not going to tell you I’ve done a good job at that, and on a day like today I certainly feel like I haven’t. But some of the steps we’ve taken towards this include a more focused studio mission and values, so that we have clarity on what we are here to do and how we define a high standard for our studio culture.

The email also underlined the fact that while Bioware is aware of and troubled by the issue of development burnout and stress culture, and that the only reason they didn’t comment on the Kotaku article itself was because it “named specific developers”, which, I suppose is fair enough. It did name names, although I’m not sure it directly “blamed” anyone for Anthem turning out the way it did.

Regardless, the real question is how Bioware plans to change – and how, if at all, it will improve Anthem in the future. That much we have yet to see.