And not because of “doomposting,” but because the business and political reality around BioWare has fundamentally changed.

BioWare built its name on: Queer romance options, Player-driven identity, Moral ambiguity, Rebellion against authority, Stories about oppression, faith, politics, resistance, and personal freedom

Those themes directly contradict the values and censorship rules of the entity that now owns EA:

Saudi Arabia’s PIF (93.4% ownership pending deal)

A state where: LGBTQ+ identity is criminalized, Media is censored if it challenges religious/state values, Art and entertainment are used as political tools, Public criticism is dangerous, Female autonomy is restricted

BioWare’s brand is literally everything Saudi cultural authority rejects.

any future BioWare games like Mass Effect 5, any new IP, any Dragon Age game will require approval from an ownership structure that prioritizes: “Global market compatibility", “Brand safety”, “Cultural alignment”, “Risk minimization”

BioWare’s storytelling approach is the opposite of all of that.

Even before PIF stepped in: EA removed branching storytelling (“too expensive, most players won’t see it”), They cut replayability, They replaced choice-based design with linear action systems, They pushed Frostbite on every project, They caused the departures of nearly every foundational writer, creative director, and systems designer

BioWare was already surviving on legacy fumes.

Now? Their new majority owners oppose nearly everything BioWare stands for.

Does that mean BioWare will shut down? Not necessarily.

But the BioWare that existed, the BioWare of Inquisition, Origins, DAO, ME1–3, KOTOR is basically dead artistically.

Even if the studio name continues, the creative soul is gone or will be tightly controlled.

At this point, preserving the legacy of BioWare storytelling probably won’t come from EA at all, it’ll have to come from ex-BioWare talent forming independent studios or fan-driven projects and studios like Larian and Owlcat

  • Damarcusart [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    2·
    6 days ago

    Frostpunk also comes to mind, because the dubious decisions you make come around somewhat organically and you have a reason for making them. The latter choices seem kind of evil for the sake of evil, but until you get to the end of the tech tree, every step towards evil feels natural.

    The biggest problem I had with Frostpunk was the idea that you’re literally fighting for humanity’s survival, and any sort of compromise with “authoritarianism” is permanent and irrevocable, the idea that your people could suffer through even just a few months of hard work to ensure their own survival is just non-existent in the game. Every “bad” choice is just permanent, but the game takes place over the course of a few months, how pampered do these survivors need to be when their own literal survival is on the line.