BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk considered taking over EA 'from the inside', but he was thwarted by an MMO

Greg Zeschuk attends Star Wars: The Old Republic launch at Best Buy in Times Square. — (Image credit: Getty Images)

There's a parallel universe where BioWare's co-founders staged a coup on the back of a Star Wars MMO launch and took over EA, changing it from the inside. At least, that was a dream harboured by Greg Zeschuk, before he left the company with fellow founder Ray Muzyka in 2012.

Chatting with Simon Parkin on his My Perfect Console podcast (cheers, Time Extension), Zeschuk discussed his final days at the company he founded, which had been acquired by EA four years prior. The last game to be released under Zeschuk and Muzyka's reign was Star Wars: The Old Republic—and Zeschuk had high hopes for it.

"I lived in Austin for two-and-a-half years making Star Wars the Old Republic [and] I knew that was kind of a one-way trip," he said. "If it was super successful, super duper successful, Ray and I would have probably launched a bid to try and take over EA from the inside, being the corporate pirates that we are. But it needed to be like $2 billion a year successful. But it didn’t work out so I was like, 'Ah, I'm fine.'"

The Old Republic was a huge endeavour: a massive MMO, with completely distinct stories for every class, full voice acting, and dialogue featuring BioWare-style ethical dilemmas. It was also one of the most expensive videogames ever developed. The Old Republic was far from a dud, and perseveres today, though it's now developed by Broadsword, not BioWare Austin. But this was the era of the prospective WoW-killer, and SWTOR was no WoW-killer—just like every other contender.

Chilling out on a speeder — (Image credit: EA)

Zeschuck isn't a fan of big companies, he said, so I suspect he would have had a bad time running one. "Big companies exist to exploit properties. They exist to exploit games. Most of the big North American guys, they’re just good at ‘Hey, let’s just squeeze the most money out of this franchise.’ They don’t kind of create a lot of them, and I kind of realised early on that I like making games. I don’t like just operating."

EA has long been held up as the reason the BioWare of today isn't what it once was, emphasised by the stories of mismanagement, interference and the publisher's obsession with live-service cash cows. But, as Zeschuk notes, plenty of great things have come out of the studio since the acquisition—including most of the Mass Effect and Dragon Age games. "It was actually a pretty successful run." This run, though, seems to be well and truly over.

Zeschuk's episode of My Perfect Console is available for Patreon subscribers now, and will be out for everyone else later this week.

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Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.

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