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In thinking about the loss of BioWare, which is truly one of the greatest and most important game development studios ever to exist, it occurred to me that a lot of folks might not understand WHY their loss is so upsetting to so many of us. So here's a quick primer on the studio. (A thread.)

BioWare's first game in 1996 was a really mediocre mech cockpit game called Shattered Steel that was more of a tech demo for a deformable terrain 3D engine than a full-on mech game. Nobody had any idea what this studio would do a couple of years later with its first big hit.

That hit was of course Baldur's Gate, which completely redefined the CRPG genre and established three things the developer would become known for: 1) Deep, detailed world-building with lots of sidequests and conditional events 2) Strong interactions with memorable characters 3) A multiplayer mode

If there was any question Baldur's Gate was a fluke, BioWare cemented its status with Baldur's Gate II, which was not only a superior game but one that also rewarded players who carried over their characters (a common feature in CRPGs) with a deeper, more personal story. It's still fantastic today!

BioWare's other 2002 game was MDK2, which they inherited from Shiny. While it's not as unique as the original, it's still a decent action game that showed that BioWare could do more than adapt D&D rulesets for RPG fans - an important quality for their later major action RPG sci-fi series.

The promise of bringing D&D's 3rd edition ruleset into a full 3D game engine seemed unbelievable when BioWare launched Neverwinter Nights in 2002, but even more amazing was that the game was built for players to create their own campaigns, not just play the (excellent) pre-made ones.

But BioWare's take on Star Wars, the incredible Knights of the Old Republic, was their next big moment. Originally released as an Xbox exclusive, the game showed that no matter how bad the prequels were, Star Wars still had it. The storyline & era are some of the most beloved in Star Wars fandoms.

One of the things that made KOTOR so interesting was its light side and dark side reputation system. While the D&D games had also employed reputation to some degree, in KOTOR, the effects impacted the look and progression of your character as well as the story ending. Plus, Revan was awesome!

BioWare was great with licensed games, but they also wanted to create their own IPs, and so they applied the SW:KOTOR formula to wuxia storytelling to make Jade Empire, one of their most underrated games (and also an Xbox exclusive). If you've missed this one, I HIGHLY recommend it. It's excellent!

BioWare tried to apply their RPG formula to something more family-friendly with Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. But it wound up being one of their worst-regarded games since it didn't live up to the potential of being a BioWare game OR a Sonic game. Even so, I feel it's also underrated.

But of course BioWare's far more prominent series, Mass Effect (originally an Xbox 360 exclusive), took the studio in a new direction with an original sci-fi storyline, incredible graphics, strong action sequences and their signature character-driven storytelling, choice-driven gameplay and quality.

The Mass Effect games were groundbreaking for a number of reasons, including the (fully-voiced!) choice of gender for Shepherd, the dramatic choices involving which characters would live or die and, of course, the graphic sex scenes that made this series feel very adult.

The Mass Effect games appeased the sci-fi fandom, but BioWare wasn't done with fantasy. 2009's Dragon Age: Origins created an original fantasy setting and gave players six different origin stories to choose from to impact their storyline. It was a HUGE deal when it debuted for many reasons.

One of the reasons Dragon Age was so successful was because it offered a role-playing experience that was accessible for console players and immersive but still grounded in third person tactical combat. Another was its excellent cast of characters and branching storyline. Who can forget Morrigan?

But the other thing Dragon Age offered was expandability through paid DLC. This started out a bit obnoxious in the original game (some content was paywalled and the characters would give a teaser for what you needed to buy), but it gradually led to a far larger expanded experience with Awakening.

But these three series represent BioWare at its peak, and it's been downhill ever since. Mass Effect 3 was well-received for everything but its ending, which undercut the importance of player choice. ME: Andromeda never found a fanbase. And Dragon Age II and Inquisition, while good, felt rushed.

The waning era of BioWare started in 2019 with the botched release of their live-service game Anthem. EA (now their owner) charged BioWare with making a live-service action title that didn't really play to their strengths. Anthem sold 5 million copies, but is widely considered a failure today.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard was the next sign things were going badly. While I'll defend this game as "better than you've heard," it received middling reviews and definitely feels half-baked in many places. It also takes the story in some weird directions is more more action-focused.