EA shuts down BioWare after years of disappointing releases
Electronic Arts has closed BioWare, the studio behind Mass Effect and Dragon Age, after a run of underperforming games and public controversy over their themes.
Electronic Arts has shut down BioWare, the longtime video game studio behind the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises, after a series of commercially and critically disappointing releases. The studio, founded in 1995, closed after 31 years, and the company said early development on the next Mass Effect project is also ending.
The closure was announced in an October 21 company blog post. Bloomberg reported that the studio had struggled in recent years with critically panned titles such as Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem, and that its most recent game, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, missed sales expectations and led EA to gut the studio last year. In the post, the studio wrote that «about writing those words» was difficult and said its focus was on its talented team and on supporting one another through the transition.
BioWare built its reputation on acclaimed role-playing games, most notably Dragon Age: Origins, a dark fantasy title that was widely praised. The series’ latest installment, however, underperformed. According to the company, The Veilguard attracted about 1.5 million players during its launch quarter, nearly 50 percent below EA’s expectations. Former Dragon Age lead writer David Gaider later said another installment was unlikely under EA and that the series had previously survived because it had outperformed expectations.
The Veilguard also drew sustained criticism over its transgender and nonbinary themes. The game included a character creation option that allowed players to add top surgery scars, and one scene criticized online showed a character accidentally misgendering another character, who is nonbinary, followed by a fictional apology ritual. Two months after release, Inverse reported that the game had faced backlash over its handling of identity politics, a debate that has also followed other recent video games.
The game’s director, Corinne Busche, who is transgender, discussed the role identity played in the project. «I’m an openly queer, trans woman,» Busche told Inverse. «It shaped everything about who I am, and it’s been the source of a lot of joy, a lot of difficulty and perspective.» Over the past decade, several video games have sparked similar controversy over the inclusion of progressive political themes.
Marty O’Donnell, a Republican congressional candidate and the composer for the Halo video game series, told Fox News Digital that he believes BioWare’s closure reflects a larger pattern. «For the last few years, BioWare hasn’t been in touch with its fans as it got infected with woke ideology, including a scene in Dragon Age where a character came out as non-binary,» O’Donnell said. «The game failed to sell, which surprised no one who understands the industry.» He added that he knew BioWare’s founders, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, and was glad they left before EA took the company in the direction he described, and he predicted more studios would close until executives recognized that fans want politics out of their games.
The shutdown marks the end of one of the best-known developers in the industry, whose games shaped a generation of role-playing fans. The studio’s closure comes after a period in which its most high-profile projects struggled both commercially and critically, leaving its legacy tied to earlier successes rather than its recent output.
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