So many studios today that make great games owe a lot of their prominence to BioWare paving the way for the modern styles of CRPG: Obsidian Entertainment CD Projekt Red Larian Studios Owlcat inExile (the successor to Interplay) Bethesda (to some extent, especially w/ Fallout) And many others!

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BioWare was supposedly working on a new Mass Effect game, and EA cut their funding on all other projects to prioritize it. But clearly, we're never going to see that. What we'll probably have to look forward to instead is Exodus, made by ex-BioWare devs.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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