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Bioware co-founder says Microsoft’s ‘moronic’ advice ruined Jade Empire’s odds of becoming a franchise
It's all too easy to forget that Bioware used to be the cream of the crop. Its flagship franchises aren't all that hot nowadays, but that's a different can of worms. According to a Bioware co-founder, however, the studio might've had more flagship IPs had it not been for Microsoft. More specifically, this information comes from Dr. Greg Zeschuk, who spoke about his experience of working under Microsoft's publishing umbrella as part of a recent My Perfect Console podcast. As first spotted by Gamesradar, Zeschuk stated that Microsoft gave him the single worst piece of advice he's ever received in his video game production career: to release Jade Empire on the absolute tail-end of the original Xbox/PS2 console generation. Image via BioWare/Steam. "Absolute moronic advice from [Microsoft]," says Bioware co-founder Greg Zeschuk "Microsoft was like 'no no, you should release [Jade Empire] now, right at the end of the cycle, because it's a great time," Zeschuk stated. "It was the worst advice, absolute moronic advice from them, the stupidest thing ever," he continued. "We could have rezzed it up, we could have amped it up. We could have said no. I just think it would have been a way more successful product at the beginning of a cycle than the end." It's a sensible enough take, of course, especially considering the fact that Jade Empire definitely found its audience as a rather unique martial arts role-playing game. Its take on Chinese mythology positions Jade Empire as a kind of a super-early predecessor to Black Myth: Wukong if anything, and it would've been fascinating to see the two collide... if we had a new Jade Empire game to begin with, that is. You can still play Jade Empire on PC, of course: it's readily available in its Special Edition via GOG, and it's about as worthy of your attention in 2025 as any other classic Bioware game. Which is to say, the odds are good you'll prefer it over Bioware's more recent output. I do think Zeschuk was onto something with this, because the follow-up to the original Xbox was the legendary Xbox 360 console. It's hardly worth arguing that X360 was the absolute pinnacle of Xbox popularity at the time, and having a top-notch RPG such as Jade Empire on it would've surely gotten more eyes on it. The post Bioware co-founder says Microsoft’s ‘moronic’ advice ruined Jade Empire’s odds of becoming a franchise appeared first on Destructoid.
It's all too easy to forget that Bioware used to be the cream of the crop. Its flagship franchises aren't all that hot nowadays, but that's a different can of worms. According to a Bioware co-founder, however, the studio might've had more flagship IPs had it not been for Microsoft.
More specifically, this information comes from Dr. Greg Zeschuk, who spoke about his experience of working under Microsoft's publishing umbrella as part of a recent My Perfect Console podcast. As first spotted by Gamesradar, Zeschuk stated that Microsoft gave him the single worst piece of advice he's ever received in his video game production career: to release Jade Empire on the absolute tail-end of the original Xbox/PS2 console generation.
"Absolute moronic advice from [Microsoft]," says Bioware co-founder Greg Zeschuk
"Microsoft was like 'no no, you should release [Jade Empire] now, right at the end of the cycle, because it's a great time," Zeschuk stated. "It was the worst advice, absolute moronic advice from them, the stupidest thing ever," he continued. "We could have rezzed it up, we could have amped it up. We could have said no. I just think it would have been a way more successful product at the beginning of a cycle than the end."
It's a sensible enough take, of course, especially considering the fact that Jade Empire definitely found its audience as a rather unique martial arts role-playing game. Its take on Chinese mythology positions Jade Empire as a kind of a super-early predecessor to Black Myth: Wukong if anything, and it would've been fascinating to see the two collide... if we had a new Jade Empire game to begin with, that is.
You can still play Jade Empire on PC, of course: it's readily available in its Special Edition via GOG, and it's about as worthy of your attention in 2025 as any other classic Bioware game. Which is to say, the odds are good you'll prefer it over Bioware's more recent output.
I do think Zeschuk was onto something with this, because the follow-up to the original Xbox was the legendary Xbox 360 console. It's hardly worth arguing that X360 was the absolute pinnacle of Xbox popularity at the time, and having a top-notch RPG such as Jade Empire on it would've surely gotten more eyes on it.
The post Bioware co-founder says Microsoft’s ‘moronic’ advice ruined Jade Empire’s odds of becoming a franchise appeared first on Destructoid.
