Quote Originally Posted by Spino
In defense of CA, Bioware had a hell of alot of leverage in dealing with publishers after the phenomenal success of Baldur's Gate and its expansion pack. When they followed it up with Baldur's Gate II, an even bigger seller and considered one of the best rpgs of all time, it became essentially a seller's market for Bioware's properties and ideas. I'm sure all subsequent contracts gave Bioware sweet deals and a great deal of say with regards to content, support, etc.
Not to mention Bioware were holding the D&D license, and have practically no competitors in the realm of top town stat-run RPGs. Combined with a quite obvious reputation for extreme quality (they're like Blizzard used to be, it's frightening) and enthusiastic post-release support, any publisher can be pretty much guaranteed a cash cow of massive proportions, complete with craploads of expansions and continued consumer interest through the support Bioware provide. Publishers would be shitting kittens to get their hands on that much moolah.