Bioware being closed probably has much more to do with EA than Bioware. Maybe if they sold tens of millions, they would have been kept. Remember EA was bought by private investors, with the intent of trimming down costs https://www.polygon.com/ea-layoffs-leveraged-buyout-debt-18-billion/

@BruceVC, Solasta I is on sale in Steam. Base game 75% off. Bundle with all DLCs 53% off.

1 hour ago, MrBrown said:

Bioware being closed probably has much more to do with EA than Bioware. Maybe if they sold tens of millions, they would have been kept. Remember EA was bought by private investors, with the intent of trimming down costs https://www.polygon.com/ea-layoffs-leveraged-buyout-debt-18-billion/

I'd suspect they'd have tried selling Bioware off (specifically to MS) if they'd been bought out a year or so ago, and may have tried selling them even now had Veilguard done better. That does after all free them from any severance payments and the like as well as generate some money.

Given the current climate among almost all the big players- and the Mass Effect game not being very far along for all the time spent- there would not be a buyer though, now.

Edited Monday at 11:10 PM3 days by Zoraptor

7 hours ago, kanisatha said:

@BruceVC, Solasta I is on sale in Steam. Base game 75% off. Bundle with all DLCs 53% off.

Thanks. I will buy it

Thats a good a deal as reasonably possible 👍

17 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

If the dumbing down/ mass market appeal was the ultimate problem* it most certainly started before EA were involved. Before Elevation Partners too.

It probably did start before EA, seeing as how DA:O turned out.

17 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

*Not sure at all it was the problem, though it contributed. See Bethesda for the counter; the dumber their games got the more successful they were. DAO was still relatively complex compared to, say F4. Which was less successful than Skyrim, but it was always going to be. I'd argue it was the staleness that ultimately did for Bioware, and which is causing a lot of troubles for Bethesda as well- there is nothing quite as bad for killing enthusiasm as being 5 hours into a game and feeling like you've been playing 100. That staleness is also self limiting when it comes to market size: you're only appealing to those who already like Bioware (Bethesda) and those of them who aren't now turned off by the Bioware Magic.

I think bad games killed Bioware. It was hard to recover after Anthem, Andromeda and finally The Veilguard. The games were comically bad when compared to what came before them. Why that happened is anyone's guess. Either EA influence or key people leaving Bioware and not being involved in the making of said game. The game could have work if they focused on their niche and executed on it, instead of trying to make a game that appeals to everyone. Veilguard ended being a mobile game wannabe...

Edited Tuesday at 12:59 PM3 days by Sarex

8 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Thanks. I will buy it

Thats a good a deal as reasonably possible 👍

@Gfted1

This is the same special price as before, it ends on the 2 November

Save 53% on Solasta - Lightbringers Edition on Steam

Edited Tuesday at 06:51 PM3 days by BruceVC

On 10/26/2026 at 7:43 PM, Zoraptor said:

Bioware was well regarded within the RPG genre but the RPG genre was not 'big' enough for what was wanted for Bioware by either EA or Ray and Greg.

So in general, I think in the past I would agree with sentiments express by yourself and Sarex. Baldur's Gate1&2 were the titles that introduced me to cRPG and captured my imagination. BG2 was the first one, and it opened my imagination to what this game could be if expanded further - more reactivity, more choices, more nuanced morality system. However, Bioware never went in the direction I wanted. Tim Cain did with Fallout and Arcanum. Obsidian did with KOTOR2, New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity. In a hindsight, I don't think Bioware strength and objective was in making complex "ambitious" RPGs. It was in taking an RPG and infusing it with an approachable, blockbuster presentation. Success of BG2 didn't lie in being the most sophisticated RPG to date - it was being flashy and approachable enough, that 14 years old me with no D&D familiarity could pick the game up and had a blast going through adventures they crafted. I think Bioware's power always lied in making cRPGs mainstream. I do think at some point they went too far - to me Mass Effect3 was the point where the choices were limited and simplified to the point where they stopped being engaging - the game moved from being RPG-lite/action hybrid to being just a mediocre action game, but again - I suspect production pressures, more than intent.

Honestly, I just think at some point Bioware stopped being able to keep up in a genre they started. Narrative action RPGs in various forms became a thing outside Bioware - and something like CDPR set a new standard. I don't think Bioware could compete with something like Witcher3 or Horizon or God of War, and backpedaling and trying to reestablish themselves in a AA RPG niche just wasn't an option.

6 hours ago, BruceVC said:

This is the same special price as before, it ends on the 2 November

IsThereAnyDeal

Solasta: Crown of the Magister - Lightbringers Edition

Well, it was £3 cheaper at the beginning of the month..... 😁

Austin Wintory's (best known for his Journey OST) mockups for Mass Effect5 job.

9 hours ago, Wormerine said:

IsThereAnyDeal

Solasta: Crown of the Magister - Lightbringers Edition

Well, it was £3 cheaper at the beginning of the month..... 😁

You right Wormie, it was 5% cheaper 🤑

17 hours ago, Wormerine said:

Baldur's Gate1&2 were the titles that introduced me to cRPG and captured my imagination. BG2 was the first one, and it opened my imagination to what this game could be if expanded further - more reactivity, more choices, more nuanced morality system. However, Bioware never went in the direction I wanted. Tim Cain did with Fallout and Arcanum. Obsidian did with KOTOR2, New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity. In a hindsight, I don't think Bioware strength and objective was in making complex "ambitious" RPGs. It was in taking an RPG and infusing it with an approachable, blockbuster presentation. Success of BG2 didn't lie in being the most sophisticated RPG to date - it was being flashy and approachable enough, that 14 years old me with no D&D familiarity could pick the game up and had a blast going through adventures they crafted. I think Bioware's power always lied in making cRPGs mainstream.

Yeah, I agree with you on this. And for me, this is exactly what Larian did with BG3, but going even further, much much further, than Bioware ever did with its post-BG2 games. And of course, For Larian, this approach worked with BG3 in a way it never did for Bioware. But I attribute that entirely to the current generation of young people being much more into whiz-bang cinematics and prettiness of things as well as to the huge popularity D&D enjoys at present.

8 hours ago, kanisatha said:

Yeah, I agree with you on this. And for me, this is exactly what Larian did with BG3, but going even further, much much further, than Bioware ever did with its post-BG2 games.

That's... a strange take. I would say BG3 is an incredibly ambitious RPG. More so then BG2 and definitely more then anything Bioware produced after. In a way BG3 is what I hoped Dragon Age would be - a return to a pure cRPG but with a presentation and production value of Mass Effect.

Now, as I have stated before I am not the biggest BG3 fan, but it's due to me not gelling with "content" and some designs more then what the game is. One definitely can't accuse it of reducing scope and player agency, the way later Bioware games did.

20 hours ago, Wormerine said:

That's... a strange take. I would say BG3 is an incredibly ambitious RPG. More so then BG2 and definitely more then anything Bioware produced after. In a way BG3 is what I hoped Dragon Age would be - a return to a pure cRPG but with a presentation and production value of Mass Effect.

Now, as I have stated before I am not the biggest BG3 fan, but it's due to me not gelling with "content" and some designs more then what the game is. One definitely can't accuse it of reducing scope and player agency, the way later Bioware games did.

Yes, that's why I said Larian went much further than Bioware ever did. They both took the 'big on presentation and production value' route, but Larian went much further than that.

On 10/26/2026 at 2:00 PM, Wormerine said:

BioWare set trends

BioWare did good business. They've been chasing trends though since day #1. (See MMO/RTS/RPG Battleground Infinity, course corrected at that fateful Interplay pitch). After, they applied their "Bioware romance/companion" formula influenced by Final Fantasy/JRPGs to whatever was hot at the time.(Mass Effect? Gears Of War. DA3? Skyrim. And naturally, The Old Republic was meant to be yet another WOW killer. )

Also the days of their commercial heights artistically were the lowest of this industry as far as I'm concerned. It was the peak era of the traditional gatekeepers: Very few publishers ruled the show, backed by physical retail and shelf space made available for safe formulas primarily -- and then exploding production budgets with the Xbox 360 HD era did the "rest". With several established franchises all over the industry starting to chase the "Call Of Duty / Gears Of War" crowd. Including Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, etc. etc. Several genres saw the axe outright (only to re-appear and flourish again in the Digital Era after).

Luckily, that era is over -- and it's even cannibalizing itself. If every game starts to become a little samey, nothing sticks out (plus physical retail at Walmart et all can't gatekeep anymore what's available to a mass audience). Final Fantasy ain't Final anymore? I'll just play Claire Obscur, Persona or get good ol' FF6 in a digital store of my choice. Dragon Age ain't Dragon Age anymore? Let's play BG3, WOTR, Pillars etc. Capcom pivoted back with Resident Evil after 6 -- probably as they realized that going that direction was a dead end. (Why play Resident Evil if you've already got Call Of Duty anyway). Square Enix though? Still learning this the hard way. And whilst I'm not "glad" that Bioware is gone -- they did some good games regardless and it's actual people losing jobs here -- I'm glad that what they stood for as a company is changing.

TL;DR: Bioware: We want Call Of Duty's audience.
BioWare's Muzyka: Line Between RPGs, Shooters Blurring | WIRED
Warhorse: "We just wanna make a damn great RPG."
(And we don't give a damn if Call Of Duty players don't like us -- those who like us are going to be hit hard and tell all their friends about it, unlike Corporate Checklist Compromise 27582 swallowed by the algorithm and same same fatigue outright.

Edited 12 hours ago12 hr by Sven_

On a related note:

Arkane's founder has left the big budget gaming industry himself many years ago (post Prey). He's now mainly playing indie games when he plays in his spare time himself.

Aside of enjoying BG3, the last game in that space he argued he'd touched him personally was...

New Vegas.

(Funny that purely commercially, it was like the safest of bets after the Walmart box office smash of FO3, naturally. But they doubled down on RPG-ness compared to its predecessor -- rather than diluting it, as was the industry norm at this time of homogenization... One of the few games I enjoyed without much caveat myself. And today it's a favourite even amongst the masses of FO fans, who'd lose their **** if a sequel would be announced.)

6:30-7:00ish minutes mark
The Making of Dishonored & Prey | Raphael Colantonio

Edited 11 hours ago11 hr by Sven_