I fully believe there's a huge amount of money and effort in making a studio -- but it seems like killing off a known brand wholesale like this just should result in a new brand that is the successor.

'Friendship ended with Bioware, Now OrganicWare is my best friend' kind of energy. We were never there for EA's involvement. We wanted These People*.

*First link I found, you get the point, but it might not be accurate for the whole team.

Gaming is getting harder with economy and silicon prices -- but that means we can just take the stories we want to tell and do so without 4A graphics.

Sounds like the GTA world offbrand

Alternate headline:

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

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

Yeah when EA purchased them.

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

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.

The founders and original lead developers - Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk - created over a dozen games before they sold the company.

Idk what else you'd want. They did their thing and then they cashed out to live their lives doing other things.

Bioware wasn't even supposed to be a video game company. It was originally founded to pioneer medical technology and only pivoted when their side project - Shattered Steel - outperformed expectations.

Sometime people need to stop being mad because one participate Treats Train has finally ended it's run. Be glad for the games you got, not sad because it's over

After all, you've still got Larian and Paradox and Owlcat and a thousand other indie studios making equivalent games.

They sold out to a private equity firm, who in turn sold them to EA.

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

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.

Just to push back on this, this is long overdue.

EA closing down studios they buy is the expected inevitable outcome

Anyone who lets EA acquire them deserves this. It's not even a secret, so fuck everyone at BioWare who sold their company to this. You can be sad, but you don't get to be surprised

Batteries Included – Purchased in 1987 and closed that same year. Origin Systems – Purchased in 1992. Closed in 2004. Bullfrog Productions – Purchased in 1995. Closed in 2001. Maxis – Purchased in 1997. Closed in 2015. (Studio name still used by EA.) Westwood Studios / EA Pacific – Purchased in 1998. Closed in 2003. Kesmai – Purchased in 1999. Closed in 2001. DreamWorks Interactive / Danger Close Games – Purchased in 2000. Closed in 2013. Black Box Games – Purchased in 2002. Closed in 2013. NuFX / EA Chicago – Purchased in 2004. Closed in 2007. Hypnotix – Purchased and shut down in 2005. Team folded into EA Tiburon. Mythic Entertainment – Purchased in 2006. Closed in 2014. Phenomic Game Development – Purchased in 2006. Closed in 2013. Headgate Studios / EA Salt Lake – Purchased in 2006. Closed in 2017. Pandemic Studios – Purchased in 2007. Closed in 2009. J2MSoft – Purchased in 2008 and folded into EA Korea. Playfish – Purchased in 2009. Closed in 2013. Chillingo – Purchased in 2010. Began shutting down in 2017. Fully closed in 2023. Industrial Toys – Purchased in 2018. Closed in 2023. BioWare – Purchased in 2007. Closed in 2026.