http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-04-09-the-doctor-is-out-greg-zeschuk-on-bioware-ea-and-the-uncertain-console-future
"Everyone's kind of holding out hope for the new consoles, but I honestly don't think they're going to be that big a deal. I worry a lot that unless Microsoft or Sony pull something magically out of a hat, it's pretty much the same old, same old repackaged and I don't think they're going to change the dynamic of the retail market," Zeschuk commented. "I don't see how they can - the market is what it is."
Zeschuk went on to praise recent successes within the console market, citing Activision's Skylanders series, which he finds particularly impressive.
"Well, you still see successes in the market. Honestly, Activision and Blizzard have been doing really well, and they've been very disciplined and focused, but how long can they continue?" said Zeschuk. "They've been relying on a smaller number of titles, but no title works forever, and obviously they will be working hard to replace the games they're working on. So they're probably one of the shining examples of company that's done well by really doubling down on a very narrow amount of things, and trying some different stuff - I'm actually really impressed with Skylanders."
Talking about his time working with EA, Zeschuk also had a lot of positive things to say, noting that the company allowed BioWare complete creative control over its games. A major contrast to EA being recently voted the worst company in America by Consumerist readers. "I really enjoyed my time at EA. It's interesting, people make a lot of assumptions about us and our feelings and how they treat people, but honestly we were treated really well. I made a lot of friends there, and I respect the people there a ton," he said
"EA gives you enough rope to hang yourself," he added. "It was really interesting because we really made all the choices we wanted to make ourselves; these are all things we wanted to try. And that's something to remember - while we were independent we didn't have quite the resources we had as part of EA, and then we got to EA and it was like "wow we can do all this stuff." We had to be really thoughtful about what we wanted to focus on."
"Everyone's kind of holding out hope for the new consoles, but I honestly don't think they're going to be that big a deal. I worry a lot that unless Microsoft or Sony pull something magically out of a hat, it's pretty much the same old, same old repackaged and I don't think they're going to change the dynamic of the retail market," Zeschuk commented. "I don't see how they can - the market is what it is."
Zeschuk went on to praise recent successes within the console market, citing Activision's Skylanders series, which he finds particularly impressive.
"Well, you still see successes in the market. Honestly, Activision and Blizzard have been doing really well, and they've been very disciplined and focused, but how long can they continue?" said Zeschuk. "They've been relying on a smaller number of titles, but no title works forever, and obviously they will be working hard to replace the games they're working on. So they're probably one of the shining examples of company that's done well by really doubling down on a very narrow amount of things, and trying some different stuff - I'm actually really impressed with Skylanders."
Talking about his time working with EA, Zeschuk also had a lot of positive things to say, noting that the company allowed BioWare complete creative control over its games. A major contrast to EA being recently voted the worst company in America by Consumerist readers. "I really enjoyed my time at EA. It's interesting, people make a lot of assumptions about us and our feelings and how they treat people, but honestly we were treated really well. I made a lot of friends there, and I respect the people there a ton," he said
"EA gives you enough rope to hang yourself," he added. "It was really interesting because we really made all the choices we wanted to make ourselves; these are all things we wanted to try. And that's something to remember - while we were independent we didn't have quite the resources we had as part of EA, and then we got to EA and it was like "wow we can do all this stuff." We had to be really thoughtful about what we wanted to focus on."
