EA has decided to shut down BioWare as part of a broader company restructuring plan. Cutting 400 jobs across the whole company, 50 of those jobs are at BioWare, which amounts to the entirety of the studio and its closure. Thus bringing an end to a company with 30 years of history.
A studio with a great history
BioWare was founded in 1995 by Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip in Edmonton, Canada. Their first game, Shattered Steel, was released in 1996 exclusively for PC and, although it wasn’t a huge success, it gave them enough room to release two years later what would be their big hit: Baldur’s Gate. From then on they would become a legendary studio in the RPG sphere, releasing games like Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, or Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.
Their best-known and most beloved franchises are, without a doubt, Mass Effect and Dragon Age. Although the last two installments of both sagas have been divisive, at best, both redefined the concept of the modern Western RPG by including many concepts that today we take for granted. Whether it’s romanceable characters, controls adapted for controllers, or first-person control, BioWare were pioneers in the RPG when it came to implementing them with these titles.
In recent years, BioWare suffered some notable stumbles that kept sealing its fate. Mass Effect: Andromeda won over neither critics nor the public, and its next game, Anthem, was a major failure in every sense. Their latest game, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, although highly appreciated by critics, was very virulently attacked by a part of the public, causing it to have a divisive reception. That, added to EA’s purchase by Saudi Arabia, has caused this historic studio to close its doors. And that, in the process, not only is a part of video game history lost, but its next project is also canceled: a new Mass Effect that will now never see the light of day.
