Edmonton-based BioWare sees fan community top two million user mark

Edmonton AB-based video game developer BioWare Corp. says the number of registered users on its fan site has surpassed two million – half a million more than it had at the beginning of this year. The company, lauded by many as a Canadian success story in the hotly competitive video games market, hosts a community site at www.bioware.com. Fans, say the joint CEOs of the company, are a critical part of the company’s spectacular sales figures to date, and the fan site is one way to ensure customer loyalty. The fan site was launched around 1996, says co-CEO Ray Muzyka, and a formal registration process was implemented in 2001 to coincide with the interest around the company’s new title, Baldur’s Gate. Subsequent titles, including the massively popular Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Neverwinter Nights have driven more fans to the community. Another boost has been seen as game players anticipate BioWare’s next title, Dragon Age, a role-playing game for the PC, as well as the upcoming Jade Empire. Co-CEO Greg Zeschuk, says, "There’s a couple of things that occur in the community. First of all, there’s sort of customized news for all of the BioWare games. We talk about what we’re doing and have releases on upcoming content. Our fans are pretty intently interested in what we’re up to, so it’s almost a special place to get the low-down on what we’re doing first. In addition to that, there’s some features related to our games, for example, with Neverwinter Night. The community is linked into the game itself, where you can actually do buddy lists, see who’s playing the game online. There are guilds. There are groups of people that can get together and have their own area to communicate. There are the contests…Probably the biggest thing is the opportunity to chat with people with similar interests. All the fans are quite fervently interested in BioWare’s upcoming products like Jade Empire and Dragon Age. So, this gives them an opportunity to talk about them and interact with the developers as well, and go on to the message boards and the forums to discuss what’s going on." Having two million registered users for its game-related site makes BioWare unique in Canada for independent shops, and the company’s success is looked up to by players in other jurisdictions, such as Toronto and Montreal. While the industry elsewhere calls for government help to kick start the Canadian games industry, Muzyka and Zeschuk say their success has been due to good business practices and organic growth, not government handouts. Muzyka says the company has been the recipient in past of support from agencies such as the Industrial Research Assistance Program, Western Economic Diversification and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. But he notes, the company’s success was never been dependent on the aid. Rather, he says, the low tax environment in Alberta has played an important role. Asked whether the company would support measures such as a video-game-only envelope from Telefilm Canada, Mazyka says, "We’re from Alberta, so we tend to prefer less government intervention, frankly, out here. I think we really support the way government gets involved in programs like education." Adds his partner, "Because it’s a consumer-based business, people go out and buy our products if they’re good. It really is merit-based in that people tend to vote by buying your stuff. If it’s good, they’ll buy it, and if it’s not, they won’t. There’s no real way you can get around that or change it. If you’re propping up companies that may not be able to compete in that space, you’ re ultimately not going to be successful."

Edmonton-based BioWare sees fan community top two million user mark

Broadcast | August 6, 2004

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