BioWare explained

BioWare
Type:Subsidiary
Industry:Video games
Hq Location City:Edmonton, Alberta
Hq Location Country:Canada
Products:List of BioWare video games
Num Employees:320[1]
Num Employees Year:2019
Subsid:See

BioWare is a Canadian video game developer based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1995 by newly graduated medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip, alongside Trent Oster, Brent Oster, and Marcel Zeschuk. Since 2007, the company has been owned by American publisher Electronic Arts.

BioWare specializes in role-playing video games, and achieved recognition for developing highly praised and successful licensed franchises: Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and . They proceeded to make several other successful games based on original intellectual property: Jade Empire, the Mass Effect series, and the Dragon Age series. In 2011, BioWare launched their first massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), .

History

Foundation

BioWare was founded by Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, alongside Trent Oster, his brother Brent, Zeschuk's cousin Marcel, and Augustine Yip.[2] [3] Of the founding team, Muzyka, Zeschuk and Yip had recently graduated from medical school at the University of Alberta, and had a background in programming for use in school.[4] Together with Yip, they had created a medical simulation programme. The three also played video games for recreation, eventually deciding to develop their own. Their success in the medical field provided them with the funding they needed to launch a video game company. To make their first game, they pooled their resources, which resulted in capital of $100,000. The company was incorporated on 1 February 1995, though formally launched on 22 May 1995.[5] [6]

1990s: Shattered Steel and Baldur's Gate

Their first game, Shattered Steel, began its life as a proof-of-concept demo, similar to the MechWarrior games. This demo was submitted to ten publishers, seven of whom returned to the company with an offer. A publishing deal for Shattered Steel was eventually signed with Interplay Entertainment. Brent Oster and Trent Oster left BioWare at that time to form Pyrotek Studios, which continued developing Shattered Steel but broke up a year later, with Trent returning to BioWare to finish the game.[7] BioWare's first game was released the following year. Shattered Steels release was described by IGN as a "modest success" with "decent sales". Two noteworthy points were the deformable terrain (player weapon damage caused craters in the environment) and zone damage (well-aimed gunfire could shoot mounted weapons off enemies). A sequel to Shattered Steel was planned for 1998 but never realized.

BioWare's founders and staff were keenly interested in both computerized and pen-and-paper variants of role-playing games. Their next development project, therefore, was determined to be a role-playing game. When Interplay financed "exploratory development", BioWare presented the publishers with a demo called Battleground: Infinity. Interplay suggested that the demonstrated gameplay engine would be well-suited to the Dungeons & Dragons licence which it had acquired from Strategic Simulations. Accordingly, Infinity was reworked in line with the Dungeons & Dragons ruleset.

The result was Baldur's Gate, with a development cycle of three years. During this time, the three doctors continued to practice medicine. The demands of development later prompted Muzyka and Zeschuck to leave medicine and move into full-time development. Augustine Yip decided to continue with his medical practice. Baldur's Gate sold more than two million copies after its release, nearly matching the sales of Diablo. Following the success of Baldur's Gate, the Infinity Engine was used for the games and the Icewind Dale series. The success of Baldur's Gate was followed by an expansion pack for the game: Tales of the Sword Coast.[8]

2000s: EA Acquisition, Mass Effect & Dragon Age

At this point, BioWare decided to return to the action genre. The company's initial thought was to develop a sequel to Shattered Steel, but eventually a sequel to MDK from Shiny Entertainment was chosen for development. MDK2 was released on PC, Dreamcast, and eventually PlayStation 2, offering BioWare their first taste of developing games for consoles. MDK2 drew the same level of praise as its predecessor but, despite the success, BioWare returned to the Baldur's Gate series for their next project.

was released in 2000, two years after the release of Baldur's Gate. Baldur's Gate II sold two million copies, matching the sales of the first game in the series. However, the success of both Baldur's Gate II and MDK2 was not enough to stabilize Interplay financially. Subsequently, BioWare began to work with Infogrames, which was later renamed to Atari. Neverwinter Nights was originally to be published by Interplay, but the company lost the licence of the game to Atari and part of their Dungeons & Dragons licence to BioWare. After selling their D&D licence to Atari, BioWare developed Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire. It had publishing relationships with Interplay Entertainment, Infogrames, under its new name Atari, LucasArts, and Microsoft.

The next few years saw a number of changes in BioWare's corporate status. In November 2005, it was announced that BioWare and Pandemic Studios (itself founded by former Activision employees) would be joining forces (with each maintaining their own branding), with private equity fund Elevation Partners investing in the newly named VG Holding Corp. partnership. On 11 October 2007, it was announced that VG Holding Corp. had been bought by Electronic Arts for million (equivalent to $ billion in).[9] BioWare therefore became a unit of EA, but still retained its own branding.

In 2007, BioWare released the science fiction role-playing game Mass Effect. The following year, BioWare released on the Nintendo DS, its first title for a handheld game console. Later, EA announced that BioWare would merge with Mythic Entertainment, another division of EA who would rename itself as BioWare Mythic after the deal.[10]

The growth of the MMORPG group as part of Electronic Arts in 2008 resulted in three additional studios being added to the BioWare group outside BioWare's original home base in Edmonton. The first, located in Austin, Texas, and headed by industry veterans Gordon Walton and Richard Vogel, was created to work on the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG project. Both the studio and the project were announced on 13 March 2006. On 2 March 2009, BioWare announced it had opened a new studio in Montreal, Quebec, to assist with existing projects as necessary.[11]

During the mid-2000s, BioWare staff developed a number of video game projects which were ultimately canceled. A handheld spin-off for Mass Effect franchise titled Mass Effect: Corsair, inspired by the gameplay of Star Control and played from a first-person perspective, was briefly explored as a potential project for the Nintendo DS in 2008.[12] A sequel to Jade Empire was under development at one point. The project transitioned into a spiritual successor codenamed Revolver, which was canceled by 2008. Trent Oster led a team which worked on a spy-themed role-playing game codenamed Agent prior to his second departure from BioWare in 2009.[13] Unused concept art for Agent and Revolver are featured in the art book BioWare: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development, published in January 2021.[14]

On 24 June 2009, Electronic Arts announced a restructuring of their role-playing and massively multiplayer online games development into a new group that included both Mythic Entertainment and BioWare. Ray Muzyka, co-founder and general manager of BioWare, was appointed the group general manager of this newly formed "BioWare Group". BioWare's other co-founder, Greg Zeschuk, became the Group Creative Officer for the new MMORPG studio group. BioWare's studios remained unchanged and continued to report to Muzyka. Near the end of 2009, BioWare released the critically acclaimed fantasy role-playing game .[15]

2010s: Muzyka and Zeschuk's departure, Mass Effect on hiatus, Anthem

In January 2010, BioWare released the sequel to Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, which would go on to receive critical acclaim and many awards. The company announced that it would be opening up a new customer service office in Galway, Ireland, in 2011.[16] BioWare completed three major games between 2011 and 2012. The massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is based on BioWare's previous contribution to the Star Wars franchise,[17] and was announced on 21 October 2008, although BioWare had first mentioned an unspecified new collaboration with LucasArts in October the previous year.[18] The other games were Dragon Age II, the sequel to Dragon Age: Origins, and Mass Effect 3.[19] [20] [21] [22]

Following the release of Mass Effect 3 in March 2012, numerous players complained about its endings failing to fulfill the developer's earlier promises regarding the conclusion of the trilogy. In response to the controversy surrounding the game's ending sequence, BioWare announced on 5 April that they would reschedule their post-release content production and release an "Extended Cut" DLC that would expand the original endings and address the most common points of critique.[23] The Extended Cut was released as a free download on 26 June 2012.[24] On 18 September 2012, the next day after the official announcement of the third Dragon Age title,[25] both Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, two of the remaining co-founders of BioWare, simultaneously announced they would be retiring from the gaming industry.[26] [27] After almost a year without a formal head, EA appointed Matthew Bromberg the group general manager of the BioWare label on 9 September 2013. Former CEO and president of Major League Gaming, Bromberg worked as the general manager of BioWare Austin since 2012; after his promotion, Jeff Hickman took over as the general manager in Austin. Aaryn Flynn remained in charge of BioWare Canada (Edmonton and Montreal) and Jon Van Caneghem, the head of Victory Games and Waystone Studio (also parts of the BioWare label).[28]

After acquiring and dismantling LucasArts, The Walt Disney Company announced in May 2013 that Electronic Arts will produce future Star Wars games, "in addition to the BioWare team, which is already developing for the Star Wars franchise."[29] In November 2013, teaser images from the next instalment of the Mass Effect series were released. At E3 2014, BioWare Edmonton announced working on a new (unnamed) original intellectual property in addition to continuing their established series.[30] Another new IP, titled Shadow Realms is an episodic 4 vs. 1 story-driven online action role-playing game, and was announced on Gamescom 2014.[31] On 9 February 2015, BioWare Austin announced that development on Shadow Realms would not continue.[32] [33]

Casey Hudson, the creator of the Mass Effect series, left BioWare in May 2014, while Drew Karpyshyn, writer of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and the first two Mass Effect games, returned in 2015.[34] Dragon Ages writer David Gaider left BioWare in January 2016.[35] Chris Wynn and Chris Schlerf, both of whom had an important role in the development of , left in December 2015 and February 2016 respectively.[36] Alexis Kennedy, co-founder of Failbetter Games and the creative director of Dragon Age: The Last Court, joined BioWare as its "first ever guest writer" in September 2016.[37]

On 13 September 2016, EA announced the formation of EA Worldwide Studios, which would consist of BioWare Studios, EA Mobile, and Maxis, and led by DICE co-founder Patrick Soderlund. At the same time, Samantha Ryan, head of EA Mobile and Maxis, was appointed the new head of BioWare Studios.[38] Released in March 2017, Andromeda was at the center of controversy of equal proportions, if not higher than that around the third chapter; starting with heavy criticisms that were addressed before the video game was released[39] to the lukewarm response received by the specialized press and the fandom[40] with sales lower than the previous Mass Effect games.[41] Given the circumstances Electronic Arts had reportedly frozen the entire Mass Effect series, downgrading the BioWare Montréal branch from a leading development team to a support team,[42] and later merging it into Motive Studios.[43]

During EA's EA Play pre-E3 press conference on 10 June 2017, BioWare revealed Anthem, a new action role-playing game,[44] with BioWare's story writer, Drew Karpyshyn, who previously worked on Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, contributing to the new game.[45] In July 2017, Aaryn Flynn, general manager of BioWare, announced that he would depart from the company. Hudson returned to BioWare as its new general manager.[46] Lead story developer for Jade Empire and Dragon Age creative director Mike Laidlaw announced his departure from BioWare in October 2017 after 14 years with the company.[47] James Ohlen, the lead designer of the Baldur's Gate series, Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, and Dragon Age: Origins, as well as the game director of The Old Republic MMO, left the studio after 22 years in July 2018.[48]

On 24 September 2019, it was announced that BioWare had moved from their old location on Calgary Trail into 3 stories of the Epcor Tower in downtown Edmonton.[49]

2020s: Dragon Age 4, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition and Hudson/Darrah's departures

On 7 November 2020 or "N7 Day", a date first declared in 2012 by BioWare as an annual "worldwide celebration" of the Mass Effect franchise, was announced as well as an all-new entry to the franchise that had just started development.[50]

On 3 December 2020, both Hudson and Mark Darrah, the executive producer on the Dragon Age series, announced their departures from the studio. Electronic Arts stated that work on the Mass Effect and Dragon Age games would still continue at the studio.[51]

On 10 December 2020, a teaser trailer for the next Mass Effect game was shown at The Game Awards.[52]

On 14 May 2021, was released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4,[53] and the Xbox One series.[54]

On 23 August 2023, about 50 BioWare developers were laid off.[55] A group of former employees later sued EA, seeking better severance following their layoffs.[56]

Technology

Between 1998 and 2011, BioWare developed a number of in-house video game engines to serve as technical basis for their games. Some of these engines were then licensed to other companies to develop their own games. Others came with modding toolkits, allowing the fan community to implement original adventures using the technology of BioWare's games.

BioWare created the Infinity Engine to use it as a core component for development of the Baldur's Gate series (1998–2001), which were 2D role-playing video games based on Dungeons & Dragons. The engine was also used by Black Isle Studios to create the critically acclaimed (1999) and the Icewind Dale series (2000–2002). When Beamdog sought out a license from BioWare and started engineering enhanced versions of these games in 2012, they created an updated version of the Infinity Engine, referred to as the "Infinity Enhanced Engine" (alternatively Infinity Plus Engine or Infinity Bless Engine).[57]

The was the successor to the Infinity Engine, featuring full 3D environments, real-time lighting and shadows, and surround sound.[58] BioWare used the Aurora Engine to produce their 2002 Neverwinter Nights, as well as two expansion packs. The game included the Aurora toolset, a collection of tools allowing users to create their own digital adventure modules to be played either in single-player or in online multiplayer. The toolset enjoyed great popularity among the modding community, with over a thousand fan-made modules produced in it within half a year after the release.[59] Obsidian Entertainment (successor to Black Isle Studios) used an updated version of BioWare's Aurora, titled "Electron Engine", to produce Neverwinter Nights 2 (2006) and its three expansion packs (2007–2009). Like the original, the Electron toolset was released with the game.[60] The Polish studio CD Projekt Red used the Aurora Engine to develop The Witcher, the 2007 video game adaptation of the Polish fantasy novel series, although the rendering module was rewritten from scratch.[61]

BioWare used an updated version of the Aurora, titled the Odyssey Engine, to produce Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic in 2003 and their first original intellectual property role-playing game Jade Empire in 2005. The Odyssey Engine was the first BioWare engine to allow developing for video game consoles, with both Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire originally released for the Xbox before being ported to the PC platform. Obsidian Entertainment used the Odyssey Engine to develop (2004), a sequel to the original Knights of the Old Republic. BioWare maintained limited oversight on Obsidian's development of The Sith Lords, as well as Neverwinter Nights 2.[62]

The succeeded the Odyssey Engine and, among other things, supported PhysX hardware acceleration.[63] It was used to produce (2009) and its expansion pack Awakening (2010). Like Neverwinter Nights, Origins was released with a toolset to allow the players to run their own adventure modules on the Eclipse Engine.[64] An upgraded version of the Eclipse Engine, internally known as the Lycium Engine, was used to produce Dragon Age II (2011).[65]

In September 2004, BioWare acquired a license to use Unreal Engine 3 from developer Epic Games.[66] [67] Unreal Engine 3 would ultimately be used to develop the original Mass Effect trilogy (2007–2012), as well as the remastered in 2021.[68] [69]

In 2013, EA confirmed that all future games developed by BioWare will be made on DICE's Frostbite engine.[70] All three of BioWare's latest games (, and Anthem) were developed on Frostbite 3 as part of the general move towards a unified technology foundation across all of Electronic Arts' development studios.[71] [72]

Subsidiaries

Former

Games developed

See main article: List of BioWare video games.

Awards and recognition

The full list of awards can be found on their web site.[87]

In addition to numerous game awards, in October 2008, the company was named one of Alberta's Top Employers by Mediacorp Canada Inc., which was announced by the Calgary Herald[89] and the Edmonton Journal.[90] [91]

BioWare's co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk were named as members of the Order of Canada in December 2018 "for [their] revolutionary contributions to the video game industry as a developer and co-founder of an internationally renowned studio."[92]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: BioWare moves in to new 3-storey downtown Edmonton headquarters. Global News. 24 September 2019. 9 February 2021. 12 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201112030511/http://globalnews.ca/news/5944301/bioware-video-game-developer-downtown-edmonton-headquarter/#:~:text=BioWare%20moves%20in%20to%20new%203%2Dstorey%20downtown%20Edmonton%20headquarters,-By%20Karen%20Bartko&text=From%20a%20three%2Dman%20basement,and%20local%20officials%20Monday%20night.. live.
  2. Web site: Remembering the Early Days of BioWare with Co-Founder Trent Oster . Mike . Williams . 20 August 2019 . 19 June 2022 . 20 May 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220520233657/https://www.usgamer.net/articles/reflections-on-the-early-days-of-bioware-co-founder-trent-oster . live .
  3. Web site: How BioWare revolutionised the RPG . Graeme . Mason . . 30 September 2018 . 19 June 2022 . 19 June 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220619174121/https://www.eurogamer.net/how-bioware-revolutionised-the-rpg . live .
  4. Web site: IGN Presents the History of BioWare . 29 December 2011 . 21 January 2010 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120102161001/http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/106/1062745p1.html . 2 January 2012.
  5. Web site: GameSpy Retro: Developer Origins, Page 12 of 19 . John . Keefer . 31 March 2006 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20070609133032/http://www.gamespy.com/articles/697/697083p12.html . 9 June 2007 . dead.
  6. Web site: BioWare turns 20 today . Jeffrey . Matulef . 22 May 2015 . . 27 April 2019 . 24 May 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150524221345/https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-05-22-bioware-turns-20-today . live .
  7. Web site: Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition interview: Trent Oster on building "BioWare 0.6 Mark 2" . 5 January 2018 . Peel . Dan . 23 November 2012 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180106064001/https://www.pcgamesn.com/baldur-s-gate-enhanced-edition-interview-trent-oster-building-bioware-06-mark-2 . 6 January 2018.
  8. Web site: The History of BioWare . 29 December 2011 . Whitehead . Dan . . 16 November 2007 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170421220023/http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/the-history-of-bioware-article . 21 April 2017.
  9. Web site: Klepek . Patrick . EA Acquires BioWare, Pandemic . http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160522222845/http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3163607. dead. 22 May 2016 . . 11 October 2007 . 14 June 2009.
  10. Web site: Fahey . Mike . 2009-06-24 . EA Combines Mythic And BioWare Into A Giant RPG Robot . Kotaku . 7 February 2024 . 29 September 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110929153407/http://kotaku.com/5302069/ea-combines-mythic-and-bioware-into-a-giant-rpg-robot . live .
  11. Web site: Thorsen . Tor . BioWare Mass-ing Montreal devs . . 2 March 2009 . 22 June 2009 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20090621040131/http://www.gamespot.com/news/6205477.html . 21 June 2009.
  12. Web site: Mass Effect: Corsair Would Have Been First-Person Space Sim For The Nintendo DS. Koch. Cameron. June 29, 2021. GameSpot. July 7, 2021. 7 September 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220907171249/https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mass-effect-corsair-would-have-been-first-person-space-sim-for-the-nintendo-ds/1100-6493393/#comments-block-33562476. live.
  13. Web site: BioWare's cancelled spy RPG 'Agent' revealed. Alice. O'Connor. Shacknews. December 7, 2012. July 23, 2021. 24 July 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210724031222/https://www.shacknews.com/article/76949/biowares-cancelled-spy-rpg-agent-revealed. live.
  14. Web site: BioWare Art Revealed for Scrapped Jade Empire Successor, Project Revolver. Damien. Lawardorn. The Escapist. January 25, 2021. July 23, 2021. 23 July 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210723065815/https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/bioware-art-revealed-for-scrapped-jade-empire-successor-project-revolver/. live.
  15. Web site: Dragon Age: Origins delayed to second half of 2009. Justin. McEloy. Polygon. March 2, 2009. September 26, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20171104140417/https://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/dragon-age-origins-delayed-to-second-half-of-2009/. November 4, 2017. live.
  16. Web site: Electronic Arts to create 200 jobs in Galway . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120313033605/http://insideireland.ie/2010/05/26/archive3648-3708/ . 13 March 2012.
  17. Web site: Glasser . AJ . Star Wars: The Old Republic – What We Know So Far . Kotaku . 22 October 2008 . 14 June 2009 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20090710014602/http://kotaku.com/5066929/star-wars-the-old-republic--what-we-know-so-far . 10 July 2009.
  18. Web site: LucasArts and BioWare Corp. to Create Ground-Breaking Interactive Entertainment Product . LucasArts.com . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140222133545/http://www.lucasarts.com/company/release/news20071030.html . 22 February 2014.
  19. Web site: ActionTrip Mass Effect Interview . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110318044143/http://www.actiontrip.com/previews/360/masseffect_i_2.phtml . 18 March 2011.
  20. Web site: BioWare's Illusive Man Live QA . Purchese . Robert . 28 January 2010 . Eurogamer.net . 2 February 2010 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20100131100321/http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ray-muzyka-biowares-illusive-man-live-q-and-a . 31 January 2010.
  21. Web site: BioWare says Dragon Age 2 to look 'super hot' . Ransom-Wiley . James . Joystiq . 29 January 2010 . 7 July 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150128160239/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/29/bioware-says-dragon-age-2-to-look-super-hot/ . 28 January 2015 .
  22. Web site: BioWare on RPG Success, Old Republic, Natal and More . Brightman . James . industrygamers.com . 4 June 2010 . 11 March 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110713030058/http://www.industrygamers.com/news/bioware-on-rpg-success-old-republic-natal-and-more/2 . 13 July 2011.
  23. Web site: Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut . BioWare . 5 April 2012 . 5 April 2012 . live . http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20120406112918/http://blog.bioware.com/2012/04/05/mass-effect-3-extended-cut/ . 6 April 2012.
  24. Web site: Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut . BioWare . 22 June 2012 . 23 June 2012 . live . http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20120625091903/http://blog.bioware.com/2012/06/22/mass-effect-3-extended-cut-2/ . 25 June 2012.
  25. Web site: Dragon Age 3: Inquisition Announced . Goldfarb . Andrew . 17 September 2012 . IGN . 17 September 2012 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120919195325/http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/09/17/dragon-age-3-inquisition-announced . 19 September 2012.
  26. Web site: From Ray Muzyka . Muzyka . Ray . 18 September 2012 . BioWare Blog . 20 September 2012 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150321052304/http://blog.bioware.com/2012/09/18/from-ray-muzyka/ . 21 March 2015.
  27. Web site: From Greg Zeschuk . Zeschuk . Greg . 18 September 2012 . BioWare Blog . 20 September 2012 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150321052302/http://blog.bioware.com/2012/09/18/from-greg-zeschuk/ . 21 March 2015.
  28. Web site: EA names new chief of BioWare label (exclusive) . Takahashi . Dean . 9 September 2013 . . 10 September 2013 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20130910035454/http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/09/ea-names-new-chief-of-bioware-label-exclusive/ . 10 September 2013.
  29. Web site: EA and Disney Team Up on New Star Wars Games . Gibeau . Frank . 6 May 2013 . . 25 March 2014 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140421173102/http://www.ea.com/news/ea-and-disney-team-up-on-new-star-wars-games . 21 April 2014.
  30. Web site: E3 2014: Mass Effect Developer BioWare Teases New IP . Dyer . Mitch . 9 June 2014 . . 10 June 2014 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140612013108/http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/06/09/e3-2014-mass-effect-developer-bioware-teases-new-ip . 12 June 2014.
  31. Web site: Shadow Realms First Gameplay – IGN Live: Gamescom 2014 . IGN . 15 August 2015 . 21 August 2014 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150124121615/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65EIZwhXWSs . 24 January 2015.
  32. Web site: An Important Update on Shadow Realms . https://archive.today/20150210082441/https://www.shadowrealms.com/blog/an-important-update-on-shadow-realms . dead . 10 February 2015 . 10 February 2015.
  33. Web site: BioWare's Multiplayer PC Game Shadow Realms Canceled . 10 February 2015 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150211080147/http://www.gamespot.com/articles/bioware-s-multiplayer-pc-game-shadow-realms-cancel/1100-6425195/ . 11 February 2015. 9 February 2015 .
  34. Mass Effect lead writer Drew Karpyshyn returns to BioWare . Andy . Chalk . 21 September 2015 . 22 September 2015 . . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150924161420/http://www.pcgamer.com/mass-effect-lead-writer-drew-karpyshyn-returns-to-bioware/ . 24 September 2015.
  35. Web site: Veteran BioWare writer David Gaider seems to have a new job . . Gamer Network . Robert . Purchese . 9 February 2016 . 10 February 2016 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160210092820/http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-02-09-veteran-bioware-writer-david-gaider-seems-to-have-a-new-job . 10 February 2016.
  36. Mass Effect: Andromeda Lead Writer Leaves BioWare To Join Bungie . Brian . Shea . . 15 February 2016 . 16 February 2016 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160218084526/http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2016/02/15/mass-effect-andromeda-lead-writer-leaves-bioware-to-join-bungie.aspx . 18 February 2016.
  37. News: Failbetter Founder Alexis Kennedy Writing For BioWare . Smith . Adam . 12 September 2016 . . 16 September 2016 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160913145652/https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/09/12/bioware-failbetter-writer/ . 13 September 2016.
  38. Web site: EA Worldwide Studios: BioWare. EA Mobile and Maxis merged . Mascarenhas . Hyacinth . 15 September 2016 . . 16 September 2016 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160916053122/http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/bioware-maxis-ea-mobile-more-brought-together-form-ea-worldwide-studios-1581337 . 16 September 2016.
  39. Web site: Bioware Acknowledges 'Mass Effect: Andromeda' Criticism . 30 March 2017 . tomshardware.com . 11 May 2017 . 1 May 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170501053803/http://www.tomshardware.com/news/bioware-mass-effect-andromeda-criticism,34025.html . live .
  40. Web site: Mass Effect Andromeda Review Roundup: Most Polarizing Game of the Year . 20 March 2017 . 11 May 2017 . tomsguide.com . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170509073028/http://www.tomsguide.com/us/mass-effect-andromeda-review-roundup,news-24695.html . 9 May 2017.
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