I'd like you to take a look at a little game called Battlefield Play4free and tell me how you feel about it after an hour. It probably won't have as much meaning to you as you probably never saw the game before EA decided it wasn't pulling its weight, but..
I've played every single Battlefield game in existence. Except Operation Eagle, which came before 1942 and isn't really Battlefield. Yes, p4f was awful. But every single Battlefield game I've played was exceptionally enjoyable. 1 bad game isn't going to have that much sway over my opinion of DICE, I assure you.
Anyway, I confess I liked ME3 and didn't have much of a problem with the ending. If you want to see the reasons people do there's plenty of sources online concerning it. But that's Bioware. I imagine if they had their way it'd be over after 3, but instead EA's making them create 4, something that's indubitably going to go awful. It'd be sorta like Halo 4 where it's set after what was supposed to be the last game in the franchise, but without the commitment of the fans that worked within the company. That's not to say Bioware doesn't like its own story, but I can't imagine they'll feel any compulsion to put as much thought into it as the first three titles..
Making them create 4? As I understand it, it's another game within the Mass Effect universe, not Mass Effect 4. There's nothing wrong with this idea. If there was, then technically Star Wars is a bad IP and we the TR team shouldn't making mods for it.
As for DICE making BFIII, I wouldn't have issue with that. Battlefront was originally a Battlefield ripoff in the first place (and objectively a rather poor one at that). What I do have an issue with is EA doing the publishing and making these stupid executive decisions that sacrifice the integrity of the game to pull some extra money in.
There hasn't been a DICE Game that I don't enjoy regardless of of EAs decisions.
Lastly, KOTOR. You do realize TOR was made by Bioware, riiiight? (and apparently is the KOTOR 3 campaign) The game they had to go F2P just a year or two after release because subscribers were leaving in troves? They're unlikely to make any other Old Republic title while that's still bringing in revenue.
Yes, I know it was made by them. It's a great game and the only Co-op RPG with interesting consequences for your actions.
Does this make ToR bad or something? Games going F2p in MMO format isn't bad in any shape or fashion. Just about every MMO has gone f2p and made droves of cash money. TOR apparently doubled its income just by going f2p.
Perhaps they won't release a KOTOR based title, but Bioware is still a great company. And I'm willing to try any Star Wars title they create.
Justified pessimism is always better than blind optimism. Hop on chat sometime so we can yell at each other, eh?
It's not blind optimism if all my past experiences with EA have been filled with fun and memorable moments.
How so? The only recent blunder I can think of is Kinect Star Wars. We had 1313 coming out, as well as First Assault and Battlefront 3 if FA did well. I don't see how they're cashcowwy, either. Sure, there are a few stinkers like Republic Heroes, but they don't have any F2P titles (except for CWA, and that's Sony), they don't rehash the same thing every freaking year, they don't even make DLC for their games, for pete's sake! How could you possibly say that?
They rushed out EaW/FoC, causing a slew of features to be cut. Like Diplomacy, 35 units that Petroglyph admitted existed, and 3 way galactic conquest.
KOTOR 2 was rushed in favor of Christmas sales due to how popular the first one was. And because of that we lost so much content and narrative direction.
LA Also cut Battlefront 3 in favor of the handheld version of Battlefront
TFU 2 was also made out of nowhere, rushed, and then simplified so they could make a quick buck.
There is nothing wrong with DLC. Yes, there are some notable cases where developers are bad about it. But keep in mind that EA is by no means the worst.