Eh. Bioware died a long time ago.

Electraudi Artsrabia strikes again.

Right. Sucks for the people working there, but the BioWare we miss was already gone, so it doesn't hurt that much.

Alternate headline:

“The reanimated corpse of your loved one is now at peace.”

I gotta be honest, this is not unexpected at all.

BioWare released 4 games since 2017, one of which was just a remaster/collection of the older Mass Effect titles. The other three games were Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem, and Dragon Age Veilguard, all of which aren't exactly considered the studio's best work. These games did not sell well, obviously (and in some cases there are EA earning reports that confirm this), leading to studio closure. Honestly I am surprised this didn't happen sooner. The talent that actually made BioWares reputation probably havent been at that studio for a while.

Yeah when EA purchased them.

This makes me sick to my stomach. I know the last dragon age and mass effect weren't good. But I was still hopeful despite knowing better. There at least was a chance the next ME would be good. I didn't get far in veilguard, and I'll probably never finish it, but I still want to fuck around in Thedas. Like others have said this isn't a surprise, but it hurts me to see this happen to what was once my favorite studio.

I should go.

Yeah, but now we miss out on playing a rushed mass effect game and getting to complain about it not measuring up for a couple weeks. Now I have to find something new to do in August 2027

The talent that actually made BioWares reputation probably havent been at that studio for a while.

Exactly. A few key figures left not long after the EA buyout. The rest trickled out over time. The Wikipedia article for Dragon Age Veilguard has an entire section dedicated to the revolving door of key staff leaving or being laid off over the course of its almost 10 year development.

It's far from everyone, but a few names from the old Bioware are currently working on this game set to release next year, which is billing itself as a sort of spiritual successor to Mass Effect:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exodus_(2027_video_game)

Edit: And there is also a spiritual successor to KotOR in development with involvement of a few other key names from old Bioware.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Fate_of_the_Old_Republic

It's hard to believe that titles like Mass Effect: Andromeda, Anthem and Dragon Age: The Veilguard couldn't save them.

It sucks to see them die, but they did played an hand in their downfall.

They understand the cost of everything, the value of nothing

It has been a long time since I bought an EA game, yeah. Bioware was their only developer that I cared for.

They made my 2 favorite game series of all time. While we all known they fell a long time ago, this still makes me sad.

I'm a big fan of Bullfrog (own every game) and saw the writing on the wall when Bioware got bought.

In fairness, Anthem was set up to fail. Bioware hadn't built such a game and then being pushed along by EA it was doomed.

Andromeda had its own series of issues.

EA Games: Value Nothing

I keep hearing that EA isn’t responsible for this, because BioWare games have gone to shit recently. Does anyone honestly believe that EA’s takeover, corporate culture, and demands on the studio didn’t contribute to the drop in quality?

EA and other corpos’ death grip doesn’t start at the end when it all falls apart. The death grip is there from the moment you sell.

This is really sad.

If they wanted me to care about more than one paragraph, they could have left-aligned like responsible adults. Center alignment is godawful to read.

Spoken like a true leftist. /s

did people not remember westwood, and trashing command and conquer after RA3, that was unforgivable.

There at least was a chance the next ME would be good

You have better chance to win a lottery

Probably doesn't help, and fuck their current owners, but EA has been notorious for buying and killing studios for more than 30 years.

The plot of Ultima 7 was full of references to it. The big bad was a reference to EA corrupting people to join his side, he tried to destroy magic in the world, his power was split in three artefacts shaped like EA's logo, and his two main agents in the world had E and A initials.

Funnily enough the game was basically finished when EA bought Origin Systems who made Ultima, so they just published it as-is.

They hadn't released a game that made back its development cost in over a decade, they were a billion dollar money hole.

ThatsTheJoke.jpg

That means all BioWare games should become free now, because a closed studio can't get the money? /s

Of course EA will have no problem getting money on their behalf, all while slashing the developers. If you waited for a call to legitimately pirate BioWare games, this is it.

All of their recent releases were below average, I'm not surprised they closed down. Sad because this studio had created some really good games in the past.

Origin? That decade happened under EA's banner, the company seemed rather healthy before that from what I could find.

And that doesn't change that EA was already being nicknamed "destroyer of worlds" by them back in 1992.

BioWare itself was a corporation, and that's the problem. It ruined itself just as much as EA ruined it.

An outcome like this is inevitable when your goal is infinitely compounding returns on investments.

And do not pretend that they didn't told you that it's wokeness that killed the modern game industry! ~/s~

all of which aren’t exactly considered the studio’s best work

That's very mildly put

Andromeda, while a decent game today, was an absolute shitshow on release that was incredibly buggy. Not even thinking about the face animations that still haunt me to this day.

Anthem, while mechanically being genuinely great, severely lacked content and had seemingly no plan for the future.

And Veilguard was absolutely bankrupt from a gameplay standpoint. It was the most boring and most shallow game in the franchise, even more than inquisition and that was already fairly shallow. Not even mentioning the horrendous story and writing.

We should just go after all the money of the people who sell the studios. Everyone always forgets that for every game studio Equity Almighty destroys there's a former owner sitting on a fat pile of cash that a whole group of people worked together to build, 120% tax on all assets of the assholes who traded a cool company for a pile of cash from the most evil people in the world.

We used to hate the sellouts for being sellouts. Now they just aren't talked about, like selling out is inevitable and in many ways the whole point.

Yeah, because EA gave Bioware a chance to bounce back, in fact multiple chances. You could say EA killed the Bioware of old which the talent leaving the studio, but the new Bioware could've bounced back. They had everything they needed to succeed. A credible studio name that people trusted and a bunch of beloved IPs that people would give a chance. They even had EA giving them more than one shot to not fail (which is more than most EA studios get) and also plenty of time to get it right. All Bioware had to do was put out a good game and they simply couldn't.

So let me ask in reverse. Let's say Bioware was indepedent. What would Bioware have to fuck up for you to say its their fault for going under? Because to me they ticked all those boxes already. Had it been any other studio they'd already be dead and forgotten.

Agree with everything you have to say. We have become far too tolerant on bad behaving peers. Now they get called innovative and lots allude to be like them. It’s the new fame. Few people get rich in a conscientious way.

Persued 'live-service' games, using game engines that don't fit, constantly shifting direction of games in development, focusing on a generic streamlined cinematic experience then telling a good, character-driven story with impactful and controversial choices, use Denuvo, stop releasing modding tools, ...

If an independent studio does this stuff... Then they should look for better managers.

The first games that felt off to me where DA2 and ME3, but I played through them, they were still enjoyable. DA:I was bland and boring, so I dropped it, after that I didn't see a return to the studio that I remembered.

American. Modern American game-industry.
Which sadly is the majority.

How dare you say this???
They value money and the shareholders muuuuuuch more than you do!

I do hope that was a deliberate jab at Bungie. Because that's exactly what Bungie did when they were independent and the reason they got bought out by Sony was because they were spiraling into their demise. Even now I think if Bungie goes under the blame lies with Bungie and not Sony. With that in mind I think it would be illogical to see two different studios go down the same path and then blame one studio but excuse the other studio.

C&C 4 was so bad, Kane decided to go back to Italy where it all began and run a cinephile YT channel

I'd argue slightly before. EA purchased them about the same time Mass Effect came out, which means they didn't play a part in development. I would say Mass Effect was the beginning of the end for them. Yeah, it was great, but it was the game where they started dumbing things down and moving away from the CRPG into bland action games. Mass Effect was the start of the path towards Anthem and then trying to make Dragon Age into a multiplayer live-service thing, which ended up as Veilguard.

Oddly enough, of their top 10 best selling games, Mass Effect was the lowest, and newer games were better selling. So sales figures say otherwise. Dumbing things down is bad for one audience, but good for another.

https://gamerant.com/highest-selling-games-developed-bioware-ranked-how-much-sold/

I'm assuming it was a deliberate jab at how Bioware have been handled because that's exactly what they did

Mass Effect 1 & 2 were great though...

Ah, they edited their comment as I was writing up mine. What they wrote before was exactly what Bungie did when they were independent. And if they did exactly the same things why would be assume EA killed Bioware but Bungie get them in their dire state on their own? Even with what the other person now changed the question stays the same. Why should we assume EA made them do those things instead of considering the possibility that they chose to do those things on their own? We have an example of a company making those same decisions all on their own and I think the relationship between EA and Bioware (especially when compared to some other studios like Visceral) EA did put some trust and autonomy into Bioware. I just don't see how it's inconceivable that Bioware could make those bad decisions on their own.

I really wish we could get another great Mass Effect game, but I knew not to get my hopes up. I played Andromeda, after all.

Note too the shit stains that now own EA.

The Morons in Japan are trying to blame online piracy. Makes me wanna swallow some nails..

Such a tragedy. Black Isle and Bioware were such a great combo in the late 90's.

Just following the fate of Bethesda and Id: kiddos, your heros will die. So it goes.

CDPR hopefully will not make these same mistakes... or they already have.