r/videogames • u/Dhenn004 • 8h ago

News / Trailers / Articles Bioware is dead

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1.9k

u/Informalwizards 8h ago

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.

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u/Dhenn004 8h ago

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

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u/YeOldTravman 8h ago

Western gaming on life support?

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u/18strawberryfields 8h ago edited 8h ago

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.

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u/YeOldTravman 8h ago

My thought exactly, just wanted to make sure I understood OPs point properly. GTA6 is expected to cost the US $1B in lost revenue due to people calling out sick. source

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u/18strawberryfields 8h ago

That's actually pretty funny

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u/Still_Bit_7527 7h ago

Why are people even so hyped, the combat is so boring

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u/LowObjective 7h ago

people have never played GTA for the combat...

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u/Still_Bit_7527 7h ago

Then what for? I have played San Andreas and 5 but I didn't get it

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u/hugglesthemerciless 6h ago

it's a big open sandbox that lets you do a lot of different things, mostly relating to mayhem and chaos

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u/Saint_of_Grey 5h ago

Me hoping GTA6 flops horrendously to kill AAA studios once and for all

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u/SirVixofthePooSea 5h ago

GTA 6 does not mean that the Western gaming industry is doing well at all.

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u/Boxing_joshing111 6h ago

The movie industry is still crumbling despite the new Spider-Man making two billion or whatever. There’s some truth to what they’re saying.

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u/18strawberryfields 6h ago

But Western gaming has not had the dip Movies had -- they got a massive boost by Covid (everyone being home, alone and bored made for a great gaming market) -- and now have come back to earth with more normal trends. Not dying. Just changing. Some old studios are dying as new ones take the mantle. (like CDPR, Larian, and Remedy).

Also -- Box Office is actually having a pretty strong bounce back in 2026. Strongest year since pre-Covid.

Not spider-man alone-- there where 5 massive "AAA" blockbuster successes this year. And a ton of wildly successful low budget smaller films from studios like A24 like Backrooms.

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u/Boxing_joshing111 6h ago

A new studio gets gutted or shut down every month, this is clearly a rough time for western devs.

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u/Dhenn004 8h ago

Pointing out the survivors doesnt mean the western gaming economy isnt bloated and infested with lay offs and closures lol

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u/Practical-Alarm1763 6h ago

No. It's going stronger than ever. The torch is just being passed to smaller more talented studios. The large well known franchises are on life support though. This is likely due to bloat and talent deciding to leave for other opportunities. Bioware has been failing since around 2014-2015.

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u/Dhenn004 8h ago

Yes. Especially in America. Xbox, Sony and EA all have laid off thousands and closed dozens of devs.

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u/YeOldTravman 8h ago

That’s just the corporate machine doing what it does best, fucking over consumers. This is really a logical leap you are taking.

How are we deciding who an American corp is (eyes on Sony and ea)?

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u/Dhenn004 8h ago

Based on whos working there and their location...

World wide is down in general, but western developers have seen 30+ (probably way more) devs shut down and a reduction of about 25% in the workforce.

We're looking at like 50,000 people have been laid off since covid.

And yes corporations are largely the cause of this. Didnt say otherwise. Western gaming, particularly north america is seeing a pretty big decline. Europe is fairing a bit better.

But Asian devs arent experiencing the drop at the level NA is.

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u/PileOGunz 8h ago

Go woke go broke is going to kill western games if they don’t learn.