Electronic Arts shut down BioWare, the longtime video game studio behind the "Mass Effect" and "Dragon Age" franchises, after years of disappointing releases and controversy over its games' identity-politics themes.BioWare, founded in 1995, has closed after 31 years.Bloomberg reported that the studio "has struggled in recent years with critically panned titles such as ‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’ and ‘Anthem,’" and that the "studio’s most recent game, ‘Dragon Age: The Veilguard,’ missed sales expectations and led EA to gut the studio last year.""Now, after more than three decades of shared adventures, BioWare is closing and early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending, the studio said in an Oct.
21 company blog post.GAMING-WORLD VETERAN WHO RIPPED ‘WOKE’ CULTURE SCORES TRUMP-BACKED BATTLEGROUND PRIMARY WIN"There is nothing easy about writing those words.Our focus right now is on our incredibly talented team who put their hearts into these games and supporting one another through this transition."BioWare became famous for games like "Dragon Age: Origins," a critically acclaimed dark fantasy role-playing game.
However, the series’ most recent installment, "Dragon Age: The Veilguard," underperformed, attracting approximately 1.5 million players during its launch quarter, nearly 50% below EA's expectations, according to the company. A gamer plays the video game "Dragon Age: The Veilguard" developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts on the Xbox console during Paris Games Week Oct.22, 2024, in Paris, France.
(Chesnot/Getty Images)Former "Dragon Age" lead writer David Gaider later said another installment was unlikely under EA and that the series previously survived because it had outperformed expectations."The Veilguard" also drew controversy for its transgender and nonbinary themes, including a character creation option allowing players to add top surgery scars.In one scene criticized online, a character accidentally misgende...