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BioWare "bet the company" multiple times in order to grow

Zeschuk encourages developers to take calculated risks in order to succeed

BioWare's Greg Zeschuk told the DICE Summit in Las Vegas this week that in order to grow the company, he and co-founder Ray Muzyka bet the business on a number of big deals.

It was necessary to take these big risks in order to expand into the market-leading role-playing game maker it is today, said Zeschuk, suggesting other companies should be entrepreneurial and take calculated risks.

"Stay entrepreneurial," he said. "Obviously in the past that's where we came from. We started our own company and it grew to where it is today. We've always been conscious of trying to strive for opportunities and growth.

"You have to be willing to take risks," he continued. "Certainly on an entrepreneurial basis there were times when we bet the company. Over the years we paid for the entire Neverwinter Nights game ourselves. If it didn't work we probably would have crashed and burned, we came very, very close.

"We actually bet the company when we joined Elevation Partners and when we joined EA. These are all calculated bets that we made to try and get us to be more successful," he added.

Last night at the AIAS Interactive Entertainment Awards the two were inducted into the Hall of Fame, while Xbox 360 RPG Mass Effect 2 bagged a series of awards included the coveted Game of the Year.

Although the videogame market is changing rapidly it's also producing new avenues to diversify and find a successful niche, according to Zeschuk.

"There were points when we thought we have to do this, to take action and make that bet. You've got to be aggressive. Today's a time of great disruption but it's also a time to make opportunity."

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Matt Martin

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Matt Martin joined GamesIndustry in 2006 and was made editor of the site in 2008. With over ten years experience in journalism, he has written for multiple trade, consumer, contract and business-to-business publications in the games, retail and technology sectors.