Bioware: Mixed Feelings

 I have seriously mixed feelings around all the reports of Bioware's closure...


One one hand, I almost never like to hear about studio closures and job losses. Bioware has produced some incredible games in its time. Some of them may have had more impact than they deserve, but some were genuinely great. One thing I really enjoyed about them was a sense of iteration and building in several over the years. And the repeated process across the industry of a big publisher buying well-regarded studios only to shut them down shortly thereafter is, frankly, sickening.


On the other hand, Bioware has felt like its quality has been slipping for quite a while.

  • ME3 was raked over the coals for its ending. My problems with it were deeper than that, but I still loved that game.
  • DA: Inquisition was good, but felt full of systems that were under-baked, and were never further developed.
  • ME: Andromeda was also beat up for bugs and design issues, though I still largely enjoyed it in spite of the narrative disconnection from previous ME.
  • Anthem had a couple glimmers of greatness, but fell flat on everything else. Hard. I recall thinking the best thing about Anthem was an open beta because that showed me I would not enjoy playing it.
  • DA: Veilguard... Well, it turned me off enough that I still haven't played it. The tonal shift didn't feel very Dragon Age, though may have been okay on its own.

So, at best, their last several releases have been flawed experiments rather than building and refining what the studio was known for. It feels like a studio that doesn't learn lessons and improve may not deserve to keep going. I wouldn't quite say that Bioware deserved to be shut down, but it's been operating under a cloud of "man, the next game better be really good or they're gonna close" for several games.


Then there's the released clips and info of the Mass Effect game that was in progress, Universe. I'll admit that the look is there, and I want more Mass Effect. But the more details I read, the more qualms I have about the idea.

A 600 year time skip to gloss over and blur the possible ME3 endings together is... a choice. It's not inherently terrible, but I feel like some of the endings would have repercussions extending long after that time frame. 

At the same time, talking about the main races from 1-3 and the Geth becoming a rising power makes it sound like no time at all has passed. The look and feel of what was shown could have been about the same time frame as well. There's no sense of 600 years of social or technological development.

Overall, it gave me the feeling this game would have probably been fine, but not great - I probably would have felt about it like I did Andromeda.


So while I do hate to see Bioware close, and it's a data point in a very disturbing trend, I'm not convinced this is itself some massive loss to the world of gaming.

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