What the End of BioWare’s Journey Means for Future Game Developers

On Wednesday, October 21st, EA wrote a statement confirming that they shut down legendary studio BioWare. For any Mass Effect and Dragon Age fan, such as myself, this news brings with it many feelings: shock, frustration, and, yes, even anger. BioWare games were a foundational part of growing up, especially my teenage years.

In the article below, I talk about the studio’s history, the decision that led to EA’s announcement, and what their closing signals for the video game industry as a whole. 

Epic Beginnings, Middling Conclusions 

Founded in 1995 by a few doctors in Edmonton, Alberta, BioWare became one of the most revered studios in the video game industry in the 90s and early 2000s. Baldur’s Gate, Knight of the Old Republic, Dragon Age, and of course the Mass Effect Trilogy, were all incredible experiences. 

Dragon Age Inquisition, released in 2014, sold very well and won Game of the Year. After this major win for the studio, however, things started to trend downward. 

Mass Effect: Andromeda was supposed to begin a new epic journey for the franchise. Instead, it was panned by critics and players, with a buggy launch and mediocre writing signaling a very strange turn for what was up until this point a studio that only released hit after hit. Andromeda sold so poorly that it led to the shut down of their Montreal office in 2017. 

A few years later, Bioware released Anthem and continued their downward trajectory. This shared-world third person action game was not very successful by any metric; sales, player count, and critical attention were all less than expected. It’s worth mentioning that it had some cool concepts, such as a flashy combat system and enjoyable open world traversal which, in short bursts, upheld a real power fantasy.

After Anthem, BioWare was given one more chance to turn their bad fortune around, and they got to work on what would become Dragon Age Veilguard. 

Veilguard started as Dragon Age 4, but quickly ran into problems. EA forced BioWare to turn the game into a live service product, codenamed Joplin. Years went by, and after more development issues, they restarted again, this time under the codename Morrison. It was during this second pivot, that the development returned to single player. 

Unlike other single player BioWare games, Veilguard was not given a multi-year extension. Instead, they had to take their live service product and reshape those assets into workable single player experience.

I played and completed Veilguard back when it was released in 2024, and I found the game to have a lot of great qualities. It certainly lacked the depth of writing and side characters that the original Mass Effect games had, but it had an engaging enough story and a combat system that was easy to learn. Unfortunately, the game’s dialogue and narrative decisions lost the sharp bite that previous Dragon Age games were known for. 

Either way, Veilguard completely missed EA sales expectations, and we’re now at the end results of this long series of blunders: the shutting down of Bioware. At the time of closing, the studio had roughly 50 people left on the payroll, all of which were hard at work on the pre-production of the next Mass Effect game. 

Silver Lining: The BioWare Legacy Lives On 

The legacy of Mass Effect and Dragon Age is in the studio’s love of narrative systems, dialogue choice, and gameplay that is both easy to engage with yet deep enough to discover your own style. It’s these ingredients that have inspired many developers.

Here are a few new games on the horizon worth checking out: 

Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic – A narrative-driven action RPG led by the ex-director of the Mass Effect trilogy, Casey Hudson. You’ll step into the role of a Force user on a journey through a galaxy on the edge of rebirth. 

Exodus – A cinematic single-player action RPG set in a new, far-future sci-fi universe. The studio is made up of many ex-Bioware employees, including Drew Karpyshyn, who was the lead writer on Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2.

The Expanse: Osiris Reborn – No ex-Bioware developers here. But this third-person Action RPG has Mass Effect DNA in its core. It’s set in The Expanse universe, and you play a merc caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, trying to hold a crew together. Your choices will shape your story. Sounds familiar, right?

What does this mean for the future of the video game industry?

We’ve written before about keeping the big studio layoffs in perspective. While the likes of EA, Xbox/Activision, and Sony are restructuring their gaming divisions, the video game industry, as a whole, is still growing. The caveat to this fact is just where it is growing. 

Over the last few years, Asia Pacific and China have seen the most growth. And indie titles, especially co-op and shared world experiences, are the most purchased in these specific regions. This tells us that the regions that are increasingly interested in games are not typically looking to buy the latest tent pole release from Sony or Xbox.

Another thing to remember is that while large publishers cut studios, some of them return as independents. Double Fine is the latest success story, and Compulsion Games completed a similar agreement earlier in 2026. 

But mostly, while trust in large publishers wanes, indie studios gain more and more attention. Indie games are cheaper to make and to buy, and they are crafted by smaller teams. Even more importantly, they have much the creative freedom to explore new approaches to narrative or return to forgotten gameplay mechanics. 

I’m sure many of you reading this have been inspired by BioWare games of yore, but seeing legendary studio close its doors forever isn’t a sign that you shouldn’t pursue your dream career. 

Instead, it means that the way you pay homage to the games you love might be different than you initially assumed. Rather than working at the likes of BioWare, you may end up at a studio such as Exodus developer Archetype Entertainment, working with the foundations of what made those games great, and building ever higher.