Bioware is dead

[u/Dhenn004]

[u/Informalwizards]

Anyone paying attention saw this coming for a long time now. Still sad to see it happen and I hope the best for those that lost their jobs.

[u/Quiet_Independence_1 → u/Informalwizards]

Figured it was gonna happen after the sell of EA but was hoping I’d be wrong cause I was hoping for a new mass effect.

[u/LuntiX → u/Quiet_Independence_1]

I was hoping they'd be sold, not executed in the streets for profit.

[u/EloeOmoe → u/LuntiX]

I was hoping they'd be sold

There's really nothing to sell.

[u/NegativeEBTDA → u/EloeOmoe]

I'd buy the Dragon Age IP for a dollar. There's absolutely value to be had from these properties.

A wholesale reboot of the Dragon Age brand going back to the tone of DA:O would be so fun.

[u/EBtwopoint3 → u/NegativeEBTDA]

EA owns the IP though.

[u/yesyoucantouchthat → u/Quiet_Independence_1]

Really bummed about mass effect. They teased something years ago and I just realized I haven’t heard anything about it since

[u/Dhenn004 → u/Informalwizards]

Im not incredibly upset... the talent who made the games they listed are already gone. But its just the sign of the times. American/western gaming is on life support

[u/The_Poop_Shooter → u/Dhenn004]

The talent didn’t vanish, it moved. A lot of it went to smaller studios, and that’s where some of the best western games of the last few years came from: Baldur’s Gate 3, Hades II, Clair Obscur. The big publishers are struggling. Western gaming isn’t.

[u/coconutty_wireless4g → u/The_Poop_Shooter]

This. Anybody in the working world, especially corporate, know that if the company holds back great talent, they will move elsewhere. EA, Sony, Xbox aren't the only publishers so devs have either gone to the other ones or self publish.

[u/18strawberryfields → u/Dhenn004]

A bit of stretch. Its not the heyday of western gaming that was the 360 era.

But - Bioware just passed the torch to CDPR and Lorian. They just out-classsed them in nearly every way in the WRPG/CRPG open world format.

Rockstar is about to release what will likely be the largest grossing game in history.

Epic Games, Riot, Creative Assemby, and Sumo are all going strong.

EA, Activision, and Ubisoft have been taken down a notch, but still sell games by the boatload.

[u/Farsoth → u/18strawberryfields]

Owlcat games is on a tear and growing as a developer a lot as well. Their Expanse game is shaping up to be pretty spectacular.

Exodus is looking to be an amazing spiritual successor to Mass Effect in some ways. Hell, Drew Karpyshyn is involved.

[u/Galactic-Fruits → u/Farsoth]

Owl cat is cooking with their CRPGs

[u/GrandEmperessVicky → u/Galactic-Fruits]

I wasn't a fan of their Pathfinder games but Rogue Trader has me in a chokehold rn

[u/Mantiquirk → u/Dhenn004]

Bioware still had the talent, that's what's so tragic. It just got utterly squandered by EA's bone-headed live-service nonsense demands. That's half the reason DA:V and Anthem ended up the way that they did.

[u/Membership-Bitter → u/Mantiquirk]

Dude Anthem was fully on BioWare. This has been a well known fact for a while now. Ex employees have come forward that EA gave BioWare free reign to do whatever they wanted. The only thing EA forced them to do was keep the flying mechanics as that was going to be removed

[u/NobodyUKnowFriendo → u/Membership-Bitter]

Still remember Casey called it Dylan, the 'Bob Dylan of video games'.

Guess Bob died twice.

[u/BuildyMcITGuy → u/NobodyUKnowFriendo]

Bob Dylan is in fact, still alive.

[u/Mundane-Opinion-4903 → u/Mantiquirk]

Actually, if open letters are to believed, ea might be the only reason anthem was as good as it managed to be. . . And that the entire clusterfuck around it was mostly biowares fault, or rather managements fault. Over reliance on "bioware magic" or last minute crunch to literally anybody else. Its said that half the staff didnt even know what they were making till the e3 "real gameplay footage" came out then had to scramble to make what was in the trailer.

The whole thing was a hot mess and a crystalized example of corpo beauracracy and too many managers

[u/Mantiquirk → u/Mundane-Opinion-4903]

My contention is that Bioware had no business making a live-service title in the first place. A decision to pivot an RPG developer into that style of game out of nowhere reeks of corporate meddling from the very beginning. If EA salvaged it, it's because they wanted the live service gamble to desperately succeed.

[u/I_travel_ze_world → u/Mantiquirk]

They previously made Star Wars The Old Republic MMO.. a live service game wasn't outside their past experience.

hell I was playing Neverwinter Nights multiplayer in 2002.. Bioware was never a single player only studio.

[u/Mantiquirk → u/I_travel_ze_world]

SWTOR was made by BioWare Austin, a completely separate team that got spun up specifically to make that. BioWare Edmonton (the RPG-focused studio) tried to pivot into live service themselves with Anthem. That was the real misstep.

[u/tallwhiteninja → u/Mundane-Opinion-4903]

Dragon Age: Inquisition turning out okay was the worst thing to happen to Bioware. Their development process was already awful by then, but the result did well enough they didn't see a need to change. That led to the Andromeda and Anthem train wrecks.

[u/Peeezer3 → u/Dhenn004]

Have a good friend at the studio. He was around for ME3 as a junior and worked his way up in a non story or art department. Not every single person is gone just the ones people know the names of.

[u/YeOldTravman → u/Dhenn004]

Western gaming on life support?

[u/18strawberryfields → u/YeOldTravman]

And its getting lots of upvotes --- a month before Rockstar is about to release the biggest, and highest grossing, game in history.

And Bioware failed because they fell behind in Classic and Western RPG - which are arguably at peak now -- with CDPR and Lorian knocking it out of the park.

Not because Western RPGs are dead.

[u/Im_Porkin_It → u/Dhenn004]

Western gaming on life support? That's an exaggeration if I've ever seen one.

[u/LostOne514 → u/Dhenn004]

Western gaming is not on life support. People have got to stop with this doomer mentality. There are issues with the industry, but there are problems with everyone around the world. There are still plenty of western games releasing that are doing great and reviewing well. Studios close and new ones pop up in their place.

[u/Umitencho → u/Dhenn004]

On life support? Nope, Bioware is just one company whose death we saw coming for years. Since the 360 era, the indie market has blown up and many good games and franchises has come out since then.

Western gaming no longer relies on the Big Three & it's partners to thrive, and that is good.

[u/Dhenn004 → u/Umitencho]

30+ devs have closed since 2022 due to corporations laying them off and shutting down studuos. And 25% of the workforce has left game development all together.

[u/A_Little_Fable → u/Dhenn004]

US maybe. EU has both Larian and CD Projekt Red, which are top 5 game developers at the moment.

[u/TokyoRPGFactory]

All their great games are decades old. EA killed them long ago.They don't have any founding members left anyway.

[u/Minimob0 → u/TokyoRPGFactory]

Last game I enjoyed by them was released in 2011. 

I get a lot of people love their games, I just… they haven’t made anything amazing in a long time. 

They have been on life-support for years. 

[u/Alucard-VS-Artorias]

[u/runs_okay → u/Alucard-VS-Artorias]

this 10+ year old meme still holds true

[u/Confron7a7ion7 → u/Alucard-VS-Artorias]

I will never forgive them for what they did to Westwood studios. Red Alert 2 and C&C: Generals Zero Hour were 2 of the best RTS games ever made.

And I still have never found a game with multiplayer like C&C: Renegade.

[u/freezyjer → u/Alucard-VS-Artorias]

Visceral

[u/DeadWombats → u/freezyjer]

RIP Dead Space

[u/dmdearing → u/Alucard-VS-Artorias]

Liara is somewhere in that grave... That hurts

[u/Sufficient_Bad_4160]

I fucking despise Electronic Arts with every fiber of my being. I genuinely struggle to think of another publisher that has done as much damage to the gaming industry as EA has. The amount of talent they've wasted, the legendary studios they've shut down, the beloved franchises they've run into the ground, all while squeezing every last penny out of their customers, is genuinely fucking depressing.

These motherfuckers have bought some of the most talented studios in the industry, milked them for whatever they're worth, and then thrown them in the trash the moment they stopped being profitable enough. They took studios with actual passion, creativity, and talented people behind them and turned them into corporate zombies chasing trends, microtransactions, and quarterly profits. And when things inevitably went wrong, it was the developers who lost their jobs while the executives walked away just fine.

I swear to God, I genuinely hope EA goes bankrupt tomorrow. I want to see them lose everything they've spent decades building, not because I want the people working there to suffer, but because I'm so fucking tired of watching a company with that much money and influence repeatedly screw over the very industry that made it successful in the first place.

And the most depressing part? None of it fucking matters. FIFA will keep selling like crazy, people will keep throwing money at Ultimate Team, and EA will continue making billions regardless of how many studios they shut down or how many franchises they ruin. You could write a fucking essay about everything wrong with this company, and tomorrow millions of people would still happily hand them their money. It's honestly infuriating.

[u/Drippledrops → u/Sufficient_Bad_4160]

They’re more venture capitalist than they are a gaming corporation at this point. I mean, the majority of their company is owned by Saudi Arabia. People who are blaming BioWare for its downfall are unaware of how these types of practices are destroying the gaming industry. They’re naive if they think the decisions ruining their games are at the helm of the developers who go overworked and underpaid.

[u/ChronicBuzz187 → u/Drippledrops]

how these types of practices are destroying the gaming industry.

It's literally how every creative industry got destroyed.

When art becomes product and the customer becomes a "target".

[u/esperind → u/Drippledrops]

glad to see someone recognize who actually owns this stuff. Despite certain narratives, Saudi Arabia actually owns like all of american media: entertainment, sports, news, social media platforms like Twitter/X, etc. SA expects returns on their investments, and that leads to all of these cut throat practices and consolidation.

[u/Wolfey34 → u/esperind]

I think it’s fundamentally flawed to turn this into a “Saudi Arabia vs America” thing. It’s not. It’s a capitalism thing. Making it about nations is missing the point, the American billionaire will exploit you the same as the Saudi Arabian billionaire

[u/Remotecube → u/Drippledrops]

Oh, BioWare deserves its fair share of blame, too. The staff who made the magic happen in the original DA/ME series are long gone. And even those games had notoriously terrible, crunch heavy development cycles before EA was involved with ownership.

After the controversial mess that was DA Veilguard, ME was the last intellectual property left standing. Unfortunately the new ME project has been in development literally since Andromeda dropped, over 9 years ago, and they've never had anything meaningful to show for it on N7 day. 9 straight years of disappointment, then going out with a whimper.

[u/horrorpunx138 → u/Sufficient_Bad_4160]

I'm no fan of EA but people within BioWare's own ranks, for years, have made some truly awful decisions.

[u/meatballranger → u/horrorpunx138]

Bioware leadership is to blame far more than EA

[u/whosline07 → u/meatballranger]

Except EA acquired Bioware in 2007? The founders who lead all the good stuff left in 2012 and EA appointed a new head after a year of nobody. The creator of Mass Effect left in 2014. The writer of the first two ME games and Anthem left in 2018. The director of Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, and Dragon Age Origins also left in 2018. I'm sure plenty of decisions came directly from Bioware leads, but EA appointing them since 2012 and hovering in the background with their idiot leaders probably influenced a lot.

[u/SpookySkeltals → u/whosline07]

So most of the people who did everything good at the studio already jumped ship? Sounds like we arent losing much with the studio closing then

[u/Technical-Layer-3255 → u/Sufficient_Bad_4160]

I don't understand the sports games. I'm a NHL fan. You see people complain about how bad the games are, but then they act like they are forced to buy it. You want to play online with your friends who all hate the new game? Keep playing the old one together, and let the dork who wants to buy the new one have no-one to play with. Like, just don't buy it. You're telling me 22 and 24 are better... Pop em in. Stop buying the new ones.

[u/TheVerySpookyGhost → u/Sufficient_Bad_4160]

Ill never forgive the fuck up that was Command and Conquer 4. Yeah let's take away the fuckin base building from a base building game and kill the franchise🤑

[u/yknx4 → u/Sufficient_Bad_4160]

They managed to destroy maxis, the sims and Simcity franchises which were a huge success. So I’m not surprised lots

[u/Hot_Swimming_112 → u/Sufficient_Bad_4160]

Ea took my beloved mmorpg, ultima online, in the late 90’s and ruined it. I haven’t fucked with them since.

[u/Impressive-Ebb6498 → u/Hot_Swimming_112]

shout out to the Ultima Online players, Chesapeake representing!

[u/Gassyking → u/Sufficient_Bad_4160]

If you read the behind the scenes accounts of what was going on at Bioware, all their problems were their own, not EA's.

Anthem for example, was all Bioware and their atrocious managements fault. This not an EA thing, Bioware just gravely lost their way

[u/Sylvers → u/Gassyking]

Very true. I love dumping on EA as much as anyone. But shockingly enough, they kept Bioware funded WAY longer than I thought they had any right to ask.

You can't push flop after flop for over a decade and somehow get another more hundreds of millions to fund the next likely flop.

[u/Englishgamer1996 → u/Sylvers]

I recall during the Anthem deep-dives that suggested the guys from EA had to encourage the devs to leave/implement flying into the game, so the only good thing about that game was a result of EA’s intervention lmao

[u/Bitter-Tip705 → u/Sufficient_Bad_4160]

I’m actually shocked they didn’t go outta business years ago but I forgot sports games are like the only thing keeping them afloat

[u/CDHmajora → u/Bitter-Tip705]

They at least are still doing a few decent Star Wars games.

Jedi Fallen Order and Survivor are genuinely fantastic games (outside of performance issues at launch for survivor). And at least for now, we have a 3rd one in development. And while I’ve not played it, the new galactic racer has raving reviews.

But outside of those… urm… yeah. Battlefield and FIFA it is.

Edit: Galactic racer isn’t actually from EA. My bad! Must have mixed it up with that tie fighter game they made a few years ago.

[u/SeoulDucky → u/Sufficient_Bad_4160]

This is why the support and excitement for GTA VI is baffling to me. They were clearly union busting and retaliating and mistreating their developers. But no one seems to care. They just want the game. Same as FIFA and Madden fans I guess. I won't be buying it, but that makes no difference. 

[u/xBlack_Heartx → u/Sufficient_Bad_4160]

[u/Wamb0wneD → u/Sufficient_Bad_4160]

Honestly, not that different from Microsoft these days. The amount of studios they are closing is nuts.

[u/May-flies → u/Sufficient_Bad_4160]

As much as I share your distaste for EA, they can't be solely held responsible for Biowares downfall :/ it's to no small degree their own doing 

[u/chuckles73 → u/Sufficient_Bad_4160]

On the other hand, maybe once-great sell to EA to rake in more money after they've already released their masterpiece. 

The people who made the amazing games with passion and creativity leave for other companies or start their own. 

Maybe EA is just where companies go to get some more cash when they're dead already.

[u/CaleanKnight → u/Sufficient_Bad_4160]

As much as it is fun to shit on EA...

BioWare committed suicide... they haven't done anything really good in more than a decade, they've been little more than a corpse since then and honestly, it is far more surprising that EA kept just shoveling money into that hellhole.

Well... until now... my guess is that someone at EA asked them about the next Mass Effect and if they have anything to show... and BW just couldn't give them anything.

[u/loginomicon → u/CaleanKnight]

The last Dragon age was the death knell for sure.

[u/IrvingIsTheBest → u/Sufficient_Bad_4160]

EA needs to die for the world to heal.

[u/Habib455 → u/Sufficient_Bad_4160]

"These motherfuckers have bought some of the most talented studios in the industry, milked them for whatever they're worth, and then thrown them in the trash the moment they stopped being profitable enough"

From what I've heard and seen, that doesn't seem to be the case for bioware. EA has been bankrolling their failures for over a decade at this point, I'm surprised they weren't shut down the moment Veilguard flopped, but a whole two years after.

On top of that, if ANY of the shit about Anthem's development is true, then Bioware is damn near wholly responsible for their own downfall. Emphasis on damn NEAR

[u/Safe_Masterpiece_995]

Fucking insane. Mass Effect and Dragon age will never get anothe rgame

[u/umbrella_CO → u/Safe_Masterpiece_995]

Oh those IPs will probably be sold or handed to another EA dev team

[u/xGiladPellaeon → u/umbrella_CO]

I think that won't happen, look at how they handelnd Command & Conquer as an IP.

[u/dobman01 → u/xGiladPellaeon]

Command and conquer is where its at because EA thinks the rts genre is pretty much dead.

Biowares games probably won't be handed off or they would have said something in the meantime the IPs will sit in the basement for probably a decade or so before somebody thinks to trot them out again

[u/Verzwei → u/xGiladPellaeon]

The C&C + Red Alert remaster is the only EA game I've bought in more than a decade. It was a really good remaster that did everything right. New HD artwork that didn't look like a bad upscale, but you could use the original pixel graphics if you wanted. Remixed OST by Frank himself, but you could use the original if you wanted to. They kept the old FMV even though it looks like ass on modern screens, and included a bunch of behind-the-scenes content. And they released it at $20 USD on Steam, with no requirement nor background download of any external EA software such as Origin.

Basically the only thing I would want out of EA at this point would be similar remasters of Tiberian Sun, C&C 3, and Red Alert 2 + 3.

[u/ISpeedwagonl → u/umbrella_CO]

Lol doubt it. Just look at dead space

[u/wannabe_inuit → u/ISpeedwagonl]

Tbf Dead space would be harder to sell

[u/Brauny74 → u/Safe_Masterpiece_995]

EA did continue Sims after Maxis. I mean there's a lot to be said about the mess i and its DLC approach are, but it's kinda alive

[u/halfty1 → u/Brauny74]

The Sims shifted to The Sims Studio (which is kind of a Maxis substudio) long before that.

Technically the Maxis brand also never died, they just closed the main Maxis studio and put other studios under the Maxis umbrella.

[u/Shtarl → u/Safe_Masterpiece_995]

This so sad. Mass effect is my favourite franchise ever. I do have very high hopes for Exodus though. Gameplay looks very like Mass Effect and with Drew Karpyshin (one of the key old Bioware writers) writing story it might just fill that gap.

[u/Secure-Pain-9735 → u/Safe_Masterpiece_995]

As BioWare is owned by EA, the IP simply shifts to EA. Which means…. Oh.

[u/Funmachine → u/Safe_Masterpiece_995]

That's not entirely the case. EA still owns the license to those, and there have been weirder revivals.

[u/Fun_Procedure946 → u/Funmachine]

But they just straight up cancelled the upcoming mass effect game and didn't even attempt at transferring it to another studio to make it. Safe to say that both mass effect and dragon age are dead for the foreseeable future.

[u/CDHmajora → u/Fun_Procedure946]

Yeah but they announced it SIX YEARS ago and still had nothing to show on it except a 10 second CGI of a manakin wearing an N7 trenchcoat.

It wasn’t gonna be coming out any time soon regardless. Odds are there wasn’t even anything WORTH transferring to another team considering BioWare are famous for doing fuck all for 5+ years and then cobbling a game up in the last year of development with BIOWARE MAGIC shitloads of crunch for the devs while management sits on its ass.

[u/Dhenn004 → u/Safe_Masterpiece_995]

Tbh... I think thats fine lol sometimes things should end

[u/stadce071012 → u/Dhenn004]

I’d rather the IPs die with dignity than be butchered

[u/ace_15]

I grew up in the 00s when this company simply could not miss. Kotor, Jade Empire, Mass Effect (my personal gripes with the dialogue wheel and move to voiced protagonist aside) and Dragon Age Origins were all the games that made me. I even remember they made that Sonic RPG for the DS and I thought "huh wonder how that will turn out" and even THAT one was apparently good.

I know 'it's not the Bioware you remember' has been the often said statement for... at least a decade now but still - have to pay respect to the place where basically every single one of my most important RPG memories were made. I knew from the very moment I booted up the Baldur's Gate 3 early access back in 2020 that it was going to be an all timer RPG for the very simple fact that it was copying so much of Dragon Age Origins' homework - a sound strategy that obviously worked very well for Larian. "This feels like a 00s Bioware game" was my first thought and unsurprisingly, that game is magic.

It was also kind of patriotic to know that in my mind, the best RPGs in the world were coming out of Canada. That was a fact that always tickled me.

I could go on forever about the countless moments that live in my mind forever thanks to Bioware's games - the big Revan reveal in KOTOR1, finally beating the encounter on the shore in Two Rivers during Jade Empire (I don't know why but that one was really hard for me as a kid), skeet shooting with Garrus on some roof on the Citadel in ME3 or the endless top tier banter between the party members of the Warden in Origins (Morrigan fake propositioning Sten and then awkwardly backing out when he commits to the bit himself is a forever highlight). It was a special company.

Shoutout to Greg Zezchuk and Ray Muzika - the original founders. Shoutout to everyone who ever contributed on those projects. David Gaider, Drew Karpyshyn, Casey Hudson etc. Every designer, every actor every programmer... their work lives on in some of the best games ever made.

I hope everyone at the company lands on their feet. Going to be reminiscing about their games the rest of the week <3

[u/PepperBeef2Spicy → u/ace_15]

This one gets it, all those amazing times by Bioware, that 00s era was golden.

Pour one out for Bioware today 🍻

[u/Boxing_joshing111 → u/ace_15]

Besides Pokémon I hated rpg’s until I played kotor on release and my mind changed instantly. Modern games owe a ton to BioWare’s cinematic approach nevermind the worldbuilding and hundreds of little touches that make the world cohesive. Also, these games are hilarious. Deadeye Duncan dropping that blaster might be the funniest moment in any game.

[u/Stranger371 → u/ace_15]

the big Revan reveal in KOTOR1

Nothing came close in all these years. Nothing.

[u/countryd0ctor]

How utterly ironic that this happens when we have two spiritual successors for Mass Effect in the development from different devs right now.

[u/metalbusinessbear2 → u/countryd0ctor]

Oh wow, I only knew of Exodus. What's the other?

[u/Deckard_Red → u/metalbusinessbear2]

Probably thinking of Expanse Osiris

[u/Rad_Dad6969 → u/Deckard_Red]

People should limit their expectations. First time in 3D action space for that studio. They make amazing RPGs and im excited to see what they cook up for a story. But im not expecting to be wowed by gameplay.

(And exodus looks the other way around to me. Ive seen a few videos where characters made me cringe)

[u/Odd-Asparagus7633 → u/Rad_Dad6969]

In fairness, the most Bioware wowed us with gameplay the worst the writing got... I think I'd take a slightly jankier gameplay experience if it meant better writing.

[u/TheDMRt1st → u/Rad_Dad6969]

Expanse: Osiris Reborn’s character dialogue definitely sounds pretty bad in the gameplay I’ve seen so far which is such a shame.

[u/Gunbladedoom]

Always sad to see people lose their jobs, but frankly, the BioWare we once knew died a long time ago.

[u/Dhenn004 → u/Gunbladedoom]

Yep, we arent really losing much but to me it hits more on the "sign of the times"

[u/a_left_out_tomato]

Can you guys give dragon age to Larian first?

[u/Dhenn004 → u/a_left_out_tomato]

Now THAT would be cool. Though only if they want to. No forced projects. Its how we end up with anthem lol

[u/a_left_out_tomato → u/Dhenn004]

Baldur's gate 3 and Divinity original sin 2 were like, exactly what I wanted for a dragon age sequel. It's like Larian sucked the freakin soul out of Bioware.

[u/West-Tough-4552 → u/a_left_out_tomato]

Unfortunately it will just die and rot away

[u/SmoulderingAsh]

Mass Effect 5 being cancelled is a genuine gut-punch to me.

[u/WolfofDunwall → u/SmoulderingAsh]

According to that statement it was still in early development after being announced six years ago. I doubt it was ever going to come out. 

[u/Zuraj → u/SmoulderingAsh]

After veilguard its for the best honestly

[u/TheEmperorsWrath → u/Zuraj]

The only part of Veilguard that received a positive reception, the final act, was mostly made by the Mass Effect team. Once Bioware realized how poorly development was going, they got the Mass Effect team over to Veilguard. The rest of Veilguard, the bad parts, were made by the Dragon Age team.

The Mass Effect team and the Dragon Age team have had a conflict for years. When management brought the ME team in to work on Veilguard, they immediately clocked that it's a bad game and tonally inept. Still, they seized control of the ship, excluded the Dragon Age heads, overhauled the game as much as they could in the final stretch of development, and according to that article Jason Schreier wrote, they were the main reason Veilguard was just mediocre rather than an unplayable catastrophe

So, I'm really not sure it is for the best :/

[u/Zuraj → u/TheEmperorsWrath]

That is true but if after 6 years it was still in early development that is usually a death touch anyway.

[u/Melodic_Crow_3409]

The BioWare we knew died over a decade ago. All the key players that made BioWare so great have been gone for a long time.

[u/noelle-silva → u/Melodic_Crow_3409]

As is the case with a lot of these major developers

[u/No-Translator7711]

early development on a game that was announced 6 years ago after your last game was realeased 2 years ago, no wonder they are getting closed

[u/ReincarnatedRaptor]

Putting Anthem on there like its a badge of honor was a choice

[u/nexus180]

Even after all this time…. Bittersweet…

[u/Current_Ranger_7954 → u/nexus180]

We all knew it was coming the day EA bought them. It has been far more painful to see all the crap EA did to the studio with their fucking exec bonus

[u/Perfectlybleak]

The prophecy has been fulfilled.

[u/ClydeYellow]

Early development? The announcement came, what, six years ago?

[u/ConanTheLeader → u/ClydeYellow]

Meaning it was in development hell and that we avoided a disappointment.

[u/ArugulaPhysical → u/ClydeYellow]

Probably why its dead

[u/Parmachdontstop]

I’ve had this meme saved FOR YEARS.

[u/tallwhiteninja → u/Parmachdontstop]

That meme dates back to the original purchase lol

[u/AMaynard8091]

Personally, I think they’ve been dead in the water since the fiasco with the Mass Effect 3 ending and the petulant way they reacted to what was obviously a rush job. They haven’t released a game since that was above average.

At any rate, this is what happens when you sell out to EA. They start forcing you to meet deadlines, games suffer as a result, talent leaves, and then the studio gets shuttered because the people good at making games were pushed out by the parent company, whose only interest lies in appeasing the shareholders.

[u/mightbone → u/AMaynard8091]

Except where the death of Bioware was entirely self inflicted and nothing to do with EA deadlines.

Deadlines dont explain a game like Anthem spending 7 years in development to be one of the woest products brought to its market.

Its been well documented the leadership at Bioware just believed they could keep making magic and flip flopped and chased trends resulting in constantly missed deadlines and bad final products.

I loved their old titles but these smaller companies can suck just as bad as the big ones when they lose their identities and Biowares has been gone for a long time.

[u/SoupyStain]

I'd never celebrate people losing their jobs.

But Mass Effect 3 was their last truly great game. Inquisition was very contentious but it did have SOME fans, but their next games were too busy chasing trends instead of sticking to their bread and butter. Each subsequent game doubled and tripled down on the things people didn't care about, while not trying to go back to their roots.

Hopefully the devs can transition into more indy companies, so that they can make the games they want for the niche communities they want to appeal to and not be tied to huge budgets, expecting even larger returns,

[u/Dhenn004 → u/SoupyStain]

I will always fight people and saying ME 3 being great. The ending felt rushed but 95% of that game was an absolute fucking banger

[u/AdSmall3663 → u/Dhenn004]

The ending and how it was Casey Hudson that pushed for it was the sign to me that BioWare was dying. Since then everything from them has been increasingly worse and veilguard being the epitome of it now. It wasn’t the same team and minds in the end, probably better that they don’t destroy what little is left of Mass Effect- though I’m sad we may never see the universe again

edit: Hudson not Anthony

[u/Freddy_Pharkas → u/AdSmall3663]

Casey Anthony that pushed 

wat

[u/AdSmall3663 → u/Freddy_Pharkas]

I’ll never forgive her

[u/Ill_Independence2441 → u/SoupyStain]

Inquisition, while contentious amongst modern day fans, is Bioware's best selling game of all time. So technically that was their last great game, at least financially.

[u/fatsopiggy → u/SoupyStain]

Bioware never made a good game for more than a decade. Time to let that shit rest. The time between their 1st great game and their last great game is about as long as the time between their last great game and present day.

[u/benstone977 → u/SoupyStain]

Agreed, and if we're being honest Mass Effect 3 had some pretty big red flags to it.

The ending had such a backlash that they had to rush out a free dlc to expand on it to soften the blow and it's clear the last act suffered hard from strict deadlines.

Inquisition has its defenders and I enjoyed the game. But it isn't close to DA:O in terms of writing quality, pushed again further away from complexity and without rose coloured glasses it is stocked full of time-sink busy-work with a lot of wide areas as deep as puddles.

[u/Prior_Rip_1178 → u/benstone977]

Ending was rewritten over and over again. Some writers were not even made aware of the changes. Rushing wasn't even half the problem.

[u/Nachooolo → u/benstone977]

I mean. Even DA:O had massive red flags. It's just that the red flags were internal with the horrible production that was saved last minute with inhuman levels of crunch rather than external to everyone to see.

And things got worse for then on. I remember people were already saying that BioWare was dead by Dragon Age 2.

[u/benstone977 → u/Nachooolo]

Yeah I mean DA:Os issues were behind the scenes primarily. I know there's a few bugs in the game that are notorious but overall the actual product still holds up to this day. The quality wasn't sacrificed and the target audience was obvious.

I do get why Dragon Age 2 started the hate though. There's no two ways about it, the game was rushed out and cut corners at every single hurdle.

The obsession of making everything "action" with less depth started, every location had three waves of enemies. The same building and cave for literally every location. The entire endgame plot hinging on the idea that every mage with a line of dialogue inexplicitly turns themself into an abomination at the drop of a hat.

DA:2 had its charm, but it was riddled with problems.

[u/snahfu73 → u/SoupyStain]

Mass Effect 3 was an absolute mess when launched. All sorts of red flags about the future for Bioware. They have been a shadow of what they once were for quite some time.

[u/IrbanMutarez]

I hope someone buys the Mass Effect and Dragon Age IPs. A studio that knows what they are doing might be able to revive these franchises with some great games, or even remakes.

Looking at you, Larian.

[u/K0nkyDonk → u/IrbanMutarez]

Probably not going to happen. It's not woth the investment. And not because these franchises are bad/dead, but rather because they'd want ridiculous sums for turning them over. Taking them to the grave at least benefits those who own the franchises with the last bit of free money they make off of existing deals etc. Greed prevails.

[u/Still_Bit_7527]

Oh no, let's all pull a BHARV for them

[u/NotoriousBPD]

BioWare has already been dead in the ground for a long time. Their last games were Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age Inquisition.

[u/Danlod1]

Let’s be real, no one that made any of the games that we love has worked at Bioware for years, best case scenario is they sell the rights off on the cheap to a studio that cares

[u/DifferentProcess6765 → u/Danlod1]

I've been saying this about a lot of these classic studios for a while now.

Most of them the only thing left from the last time they made a game people loved is a name above the door

[u/JhinPotion → u/DifferentProcess6765]

That's why the reports that Obsidian were working on Fallout again didn't interest me at all until some of the old names were specifically brought on board.

[u/XishengTheUltimate]

As much as it stings to lose a legacy name, at the same time, modern BioWare was not the team that actually made all those great games of the past. So we're not really losing much.

[u/usuhosocon]

The Bioware people loved died a decade ago. This was nothing but a husk infected with parasites.

[u/ApprehensiveFrame911 → u/usuhosocon]

This is how I felt with Volition when they got shut down after Saints Row 2022. All the talent was long gone by that point in time, and the closure felt more like a mercy killing than anything.

[u/Deitatiss]

It’s been dead for over a decade, today is just the funeral.
But it’s still sad. It reminds me of the great games they used to make. I love RPGs because of BioWare. It’s a shame we never got another Kotor, Jade Empire 2, or a truly decent sequel to the original Dragon Age

[u/KazuyaArslan]

Hey EA...

[u/East-Neighborhood976]

The sad truth is BioWare died long before today

[u/42tfish]

Tbf BioWare has been dead for years now. The corpse is finally being buried.

[u/JRshoe1997]

Bioware has been dead for years at this point. Just a walking skeleton of its former self. Considering all the flops they have had this is not shocking news. Whats even more surprising to me is that they announced working on another Mass Effect title years ago and it was still in early development before the shutdown. Thats insane.

[u/WhoAmIEven2]

Not even sure what they wanted with Veilguard.

It felt like a whole lesson in morals, rather than a being a dark, fun RPG. Also that everyone were supposed to be friends and love each other, together with some of the cringiest dialogue I've ever seen in a fantasy RPG.

Only reason I'm mad though is because now Bioware will never have the chance to kick out the trash and redeem themselves. Quality-wise, they haven't made a good game since Mass Effect 2, maaaaaybe Mass Effect 3.

[u/tallwhiteninja → u/WhoAmIEven2]

ME3 is very nearly as good as 2 until the last few hours. I still prefer actually playing it over playing 1, even if 1 is much better written.

Also, Dragon Age: Inquisition is good. Not great, but good.

[u/Content_Function_322 → u/tallwhiteninja]

I agree about Inquisition. The gameplay is kind of a drag but I genuinely enjoyed the characters and the story. I loved upgrading the Keep and actually being the Inquisitor. It felt earned. The banter was also great. Origins will forever be my favorite but Inquisition is a (not so close) second. Hated Veilguard and never even finished DA2

[u/Wadae28 → u/WhoAmIEven2]

Dragon Age Inquisition was their last good game.

[u/CaravanCult → u/WhoAmIEven2]

I believe that the too seldomly talked about reason for many beloved studios churning out crap is that their younger, newer devs, are not inspired, trained, or raised in the way the old timers were.

The short way to put this is that the new blood don't read books.

Another apt comparison applies to Star Trek fans. Look at any of the older series for an example of what is emblematic and adored about that series. Then look at the modern renditions. They don't even resemble the foundational genre of the thing.

[u/WhoAmIEven2 → u/CaravanCult]

Feels a lot like they want to self-insert and put their own problem and self-esteem issues in whatever they write, rather than writing idealised characters.

[u/Person_Apple]

Bioware died a while ago. They're just finally burying the body.

[u/Xerosnake90 → u/Person_Apple]

Yup. Still sad to see

[u/mrev_art]

Bioware died a while ago. Its zombie has finally stopped moving.

[u/Which-Ad-725]

Guess Jade Empire is never making a return. 😢

[u/srjod]

Wild to throw up Anthem. Game had the coolest bones but was a complete and utter disaster.

[u/OmeletteDuFromage95]

Goddamn.. an industry legend in the dirt. Its not like this was a total surprise but I did think EA would give them one last shot.

[u/Active-Reindeer-4931 → u/OmeletteDuFromage95]

Andromeda. Anthem. Veilguard. 

Their newest project is still in early development after 6 years.

I would say they've had plenty of chances already. 

[u/kolt437]

At this point in time, my reaction is simply "OK."

It is not like it's THAT Bioware that was shut down.

[u/TheSqueeman]

EA just made it very fucking easy to never buy one of their games again, no skin off of my nose, they ain’t gonna get a single penny from me again

Simplest gaming choice out there

[u/HitandRyan → u/TheSqueeman]

I haven’t bought an EA game since 2012 and I don’t feel like I’ve missed much. In fact, it gives me a sense of pride and accomplishment.

[u/Otherwise_Tooth_8695 → u/HitandRyan]

[u/cchari → u/TheSqueeman]

Apart from EA Sports games, they don’t have much else. For me, stop buying games from them isn’t a difficult decision at all.

The last one I bought was NFS Unbound, and even that series seem to be dead.

[u/AS0116 → u/TheSqueeman]

I really hate that there will always be loads of people who buy madden, the ncaa games and fifa or eafc or whatever its called now, so EA will never stop being some of the biggest pricks in the industry

[u/Shymu1 → u/TheSqueeman]

I stopped buying games from EA when they killed Dead Space

[u/EvilCatArt]

I fucking hate EA and this completely ensured I will never buy a thing from them again.

[u/Deckard_Red → u/EvilCatArt]

I predicted this would happen with EAs new owners, they weren’t exactly the type to encourage a game that celebrates LGBT+ characters

[u/d3fiance]

BioWare has been releasing shite for over a decade now. ME:Andromeda, Anthem and Veilguard were all unmitigated disasters. At some point enough is enough and while it is yet another shitty move from a huge publisher, it’s one of the more understandable ones recently

[u/jabbathepunk → u/d3fiance]

There’s a strangely childlike sadness I feel about BioWare closing. Not necessarily because of what the studio is today, but because of what it represented to me growing up. In some way, its continued existence felt like a tether to my childhood, as though a small piece of that time was still alive in the present. As long as BioWare was around, it felt like that chapter of my life hadn’t entirely closed.

And yet, I can look at this rationally. The BioWare I fell in love with arguably ceased to exist a long time ago. They haven’t produced anything that captures that same magic in well over a decade, and I can understand how things eventually reached this point. In that sense, the closure isn’t entirely surprising, perhaps not even undeserved from a business perspective.

Still, will be missed.

[u/Hurricrash]

Yes can thank the devs for Veilguard. Glad they got their social messaging in though.

[u/No-Chain3835]

Not surprised. ME: Andromeda, Anthem, DA: Veilguard. They kind of shot themselves in the foot with these lackluster titles

[u/New-Two-1349]

It's like putting down a sick pet. :(

[u/AliceDescartes]

Good riddance. Wasn't BioWare anymore.

[u/EldritchAgony284]

EA is such trash. Bioware was one of my favorite RPG studios. This is shitty news.

[u/Constant-Release6779]

They aren't even remotely close to being the same Bioware they were. We're getting to the point in the games industry where we are starting to clock lifespans for studios. The Ship of Theseus for dev studios is hitting hard in recent years for aging studios. 

Goodbye, Bioware. I'll remember you for your best, and not your worst. 

[u/Majestic_Balance1887]

Not surprising after Veilguard.

[u/GamesForPlebs]

Couldn't cut another fifa game had to be a studio who made timeless games. I wish I could call EA's mom and let her know how how disappointed I am in her son

[u/HeavyHighway6433 → u/GamesForPlebs]

Why would they cut the game that gets them a guaranteed 1-2 billion dollars every year? 

[u/ELIte8niner → u/HeavyHighway6433]

For a studio that hasn't had a successful game in 12 years. People really can't figure out that businesses exist to make money.

[u/Sellier123 → u/GamesForPlebs]

I mean, when was the last "timeless" game they made?

[u/goliathfasa → u/Sellier123]

Anthem. It was truly timeless.

[u/JesusKong333 → u/GamesForPlebs]

I believe EA's mom is the Saudi prince now

[u/TheyStillLive69 → u/GamesForPlebs]

They've made three big failures (both in revenue and reputation) in a row.

[u/Superc1ipping → u/GamesForPlebs]

Well the Fifa games make money so

[u/FakeMik090]

I know how people see this, but just a little heads up. Bioware you know and love, aint the bioware that was shut down. The studio you loved was long time gone. It wasnt around for actual decade at least.

The Bioware that was shutdown, is the Bioware that created Veilguard.

And just a remind, a point of business is to make money, and so if you dont bring money, you are out.

[u/Imemberyou]

They had their chance with the last Dragon Age, which was technically excellent but dogshit story-wise.

[u/GeorgeLovesDreamies → u/Imemberyou]

It was a bad dragon age game in every aspect you could tick off

[u/descendantofJanus → u/Imemberyou]

Idk about "technically" either. They looked like plastic Pixar characters cosplaying as Dragon Age.

[u/Curiously_home]

While it is tragic this is what happens when you consistently make garbage games

[u/mrpanicy]

Bioware was dead the moment EA bought them.

They keep buying things then mismanaging them which pushes the talent out, misunderstanding the success that made them enticing to buy and thus stifling future successes, and then demanding quarterly returns over generational releases.

This is just putting the corpse of a great studio out of it's misery.

[u/Agentkeenan78]

[u/Wolven_Essence]

Knew it was coming. But damn if it doesn’t hurt a little to see a former legend go the way they did.

[u/Metalheadzaid]

I'm a firm believer if they had just taken dragon age inquisition's gameplay, put it into a new game and made it 4 player coop they'd have had a hit.

Plays like an MMO, but smaller and tighter story and scope. Easy cash money, and no one has replicated that style so far.

[u/EMBARRASSEDDEMOCRAT]

Man the Trans Qunari killed Bioware!

[u/joystickwizard]

Brutal. I know they aren't what they used to be, but this hurts. The Mass Effect and KOTOR series are my favorite games. I was holding out hope for the new Mass Effect.

[u/TheReviewerWildTake]

Yeah, after Veilguard slop it couldn`t ended any different :D
This studio was an empty shell with cringe idiots at the head.

[u/Optimus_7]

Im very sad.. Bioware shaped me as a gamer.. I still play Mass Effect and Baldurs Gate

[u/YoyoTanyaKai]

Bioware is a carcass of it former self for a while.
The core member who made Dragon Age Origin, Mass Effect, Knight of the Old Republic aren't there anymore.
It's sad, but it's inevitable.

[u/Caryslan]

To be honest, I am surprised Bioware lasted as long as it did.

Many studios EA buys don't even last a decade under their ownership.