Mass Effect. Dragon Age. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Baldur’s Gate. Neverwinter Nights. Some of my all-time favorite RPGs, designed by a single developer with a vision for cinematic storytelling, beloved companions, and connected stories.
But after a string of mediocre releases, the once mighty BioWare, like too many AAA developers, has become a shell of its former self.
BioWare isn’t quite dead yet, but after the underperformance of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, they are “reimagining how we work at BioWare.”
General Manager Gary McKay recently put out the following statement:
Today, we are turning towards the future and preparing for the next chapter in BioWare’s story. As we announced in August 2023, we are changing how we build games to meet the needs of our upcoming projects and hold ourselves to the highest quality standards.
Now that Dragon Age: The Veilguard has been released, a core team at BioWare is developing the next Mass Effect game under the leadership of veterans from the original trilogy, including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, Parrish Ley, and others.
In keeping with our fierce commitment to innovating during the development and delivery of Mass Effect, we have challenged ourselves to think deeply about delivering the best experience to our fans. We are taking this opportunity between full development cycles to reimagine how we work at BioWare.
Given this stage of development, we don’t require support from the full studio. We have incredible talent here at BioWare, and so we have worked diligently over the past few months to match many of our colleagues with other teams at EA that had open roles that were a strong fit.
Today’s news will see BioWare become a more agile, focused studio that produces unforgettable RPGs. We appreciate your support as we build a new future for BioWare.
This may be the first time BioWare is only working on a single announced game, and that’s whatever the next Mass Effect game looks like.
The big question is: how many times can BioWare release a disappointing, underselling product?
The Beginning of the End
BioWare’s downfall noticeably began with Mass Effect: Andromeda’s buggy and middling release in 2016. But the seeds were sown several years earlier, when founding members Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk retired from the gaming industry altogether. That was in 2012, following the infamous (but highly successful) release of Mass Effect 3 (still one of the most divisive games in history), as well as BioWare’s first MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Dragon Age: Inquisition released in 2014 and was another big success. It was enjoyed by fans and critics as a more open-world RPG with BioWare’s signature storytelling and memorable companions.
But the years afterward were fraught with departures of long-time veterans, including Mass Effect creator Casey Hudson, Mass Effect writer Drew Karpyshyn, and Dragon Age writer David Gaider.
Mass Effect Andromeda was a shocking disaster, built with a new team and a new game engine, and starring a new cast of characters in an all-new setting. Its release sullied one of the most beloved series in gaming history, shuttering the franchise for years — which to be fair, narratively concluded with Mass Effect 3.
Instead of a rare misstep, however, Andromeda showcased what was to come.
Anthem was BioWare’s first non-Mass Effect or Dragon Age game in a decade, releasing in 2019. But development was infamously troubled, from mismanagement to key personnel coming and going, to overall questions of what the game was. BioWare continued to struggle with the Frostbite engine as well.
Ironically, Anthem’s failure as a co-op game motivated EA and BioWare to strip any multiplayer elements out of the next Dragon Age game, and stick to a purely single player experience (Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age: Inquisition had co-op multiplayer modes with varying degrees of success).
When new things fail, fall back on your bread and butter. BioWare continued to work on the next Mass Effect, releasing a teaser trailer in 2020, and the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition in 2021. But Mass Effect still had that Andromeda-stank, and “Mass Effect 5” remains in early development.
Meanwhile, the next Dragon Age game was in more active development. It even underwent an official title change just months before releasing in November 2024.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard corrected some of BioWare’s past mistakes. It focuses on a purely single player experience, without any co-op multiplayer or live service junk. It continues where Inquisition left off a decade ago, with many returning characters. The Veilguard also finds a nice compromise between the larger world of Inquisition, with smaller zones and areas of interest.
Yet once again, development was plagued with developer turnover, and in Fall 2023, a 50-person layoff. Companions, normally a key component of a BioWare RPG, were disappointingly bland and forgettable – or even annoying, and the story lacked real choice and consequences. Many longtime fans bemoaned the gradual series shift to real-time action from the first Dragon Age’s more tactical combat (an evolution from Baldur’s Gate).
While Dragon Age: The Veilguard is far from a disaster (and sits at a very solid 82 Metascore from critics), few were left satisfied. On release, The Veilguard broke records for most players on Steam for a BioWare game, though I could argue that’s not much of a feat compared to the last two releases. And user reviews (and Steam reviews) are abysmal.
Despite decent sales, publisher EA revealed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard underperformed expectations. After only two months, The Veilguard has received its final patch and update, confirming it won’t receive any expansions or DLC. Developers have been shuttered to other studios, and game director Corinne Busche recently announced her departure.
It’s an ignominious end for BioWare, who are left holding the bag of once-cherished IPs.
Can “Mass Effect 5” redeem the series and the developer, or does it even matter anymore? Will we ever see another Dragon Age game (and do we need one)? Will BioWare simply be put out to pasture later this year?
Instead of working through depressing hypotheticals, I want to end with a celebratory eulogy.
Dear BioWare,
You crafted some of my favorite role-playing games. You revolutionized what a tactical, D&D-inspired RPG looks like with Baldur’s Gate (ironically that torch has clearly been passed with Larian Studio’s incredible Baldur’s Gate 3), and again with Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights. Success led to partnerships and acquisitions, but you maintained your leadership, passions, and talents, growing into a gigantic studio capable of tackling multiple AAA single-player RPGs and a gigantic MMORPG.
You gave us Mass Effect, one of my favorite sci-fi universes and stories. The way each game fed into the next in an ongoing story was sheer magic — all with the hurdle of a personalized player character whom we made wholly our own.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is one of the most successful MMORPGs of all time this side of Warcraft. It brilliantly translated the unique pre-Star Wars setting from your Knights of the Old Republic series with the cinematic story-telling (and voice acting!) of Mass Effect into one of the best Star Wars games ever.
Dragon Age: Origins was another astonishment: a fully 3D, tactical RPG set in an original fantasy world, with all the elements of Baldur’s Gate but on a much wider scale. Sequels veered a bit from that original dark fantasy tale, but still impressed with big stories and even bigger companions.
It’s tough to make a game. It’s even harder to consistently pump out big sequels with high expectations. Your story is a sobering reminder of the challenges of modern game development, and perhaps of corporate management and over-extension. But that shouldn’t diminish the incredible work you’ve done.
Thank you, BioWare.